Manny the endorsement king

MANILA, Philippines - It isn’t just in the ring where Manny Pacquiao reigns as king. No Filipino athlete comes close to Pacquiao in media exposure as a commercial endorser and as his popularity continues to spread worldwide, he’s in line to become a global household name, too.

Early this year, Top Rank chairman Bob Arum hired a marketing specialist to repackage Pacquiao as an international icon. Lucia McKelvey, a stunning blond who previously worked with the International Management Group (IMG) managing celebrity athletes like Tiger Woods, came on board to focus on the Filipino champion. “The world is his oyster and he is completely unsaturated,” she said.

McKelvey, designated executive vice president in charge of business development and marketing, said she needs Pacquiao as much as he needs her. “I understand in the past, there were lots of people claiming to represent Manny in business deals and companies weren’t sure whom to talk to, resulting in confusion and botched negotiations,” she said. “Now, it’s clear.”

New York Times writer Greg Bishop exposed Pacquiao’s previous predicament. “At its disorganized, fragmented peak, Manny Pacquiao’s endorsement strategy was being handled by anywhere between 30 and 50 friends who claimed to represent him and made hundreds of cold calls, often to the same company,” said Bishop. “They brokered potential deals for everything, including sexual-enhancement drugs and poker chips as if playing a giant game of marketing darts. As Pacquiao ascended to boxing royalty, as his earning power ballooned beyond even his greatest expectations, this lack of a strategy came with real consequences. Pacquiao lost a potential Gatorade endorsement, lost an appearance on an EA Sports video game cover, lost, by conservative estimates, a few million dollars in recent years alone.”

There’s no problem finding suitors for Pacquiao in the Philippine context. He’s a much sought after pitchman for products ranging from ice cream to beer to fuel oil to motorcycles to coffee to cameras to laptops to homes to pain killers to energy drinks and whatever else. The sky’s the limit for Pacquiao. He even agreed to appear in a TV commercial for the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office and dispensed with his talent fee for seven ambulances to be delivered to Sarangani, the province he represents in Congress.

Lucia McKelvey

In the international market, Pacquiao is known mainly as a Nike endorser, sharing the limelight with luminaries such as Rafael Nadal, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova. Whenever he fights, Nike produces a new line of Pacquiao apparel and shoes to commemorate his ring appearances.  Limited edition Pacquiao merchandise ultimately becomes collectors’ items with values shooting up at least five times from first sighting on the shelves.

On the weekend of the WBO welterweight champion’s recent fight against Juan Manuel Marquez, the San Antonio company State Street Produce set up a booth at the MGM Grand Garden media center to introduce a fresh vegetable line called Pacquiao Produce. On the table were broccoli, carrots, bell peppers, cauliflower and others. Pacquiao Produce president Allen Reyno, a Filipino who relocated to Los Angeles in 1987, said it was a natural for the fighter to partner with the Texas outfit that sources vegetables from 5,000 acres of farmland in Guanajuato, Mexico. “Manny loves vegetables, particularly broccoli,” said Reyno. “Lucia, who is our angel, made the partnership a reality.”

Arum said what grillers did for George Foreman, vegetables will do for Pacquiao. But that’s not all. McKelvey said she recently sealed a new Pacquiao multi-year multi-million dollar contract with the 20 Billion Euro company Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy of France. Pacquiao will endorse the high-end Hennessy cognac, one of the company’s premium products along with Dom Perignon champagne, Christian Dior perfumes and Tag Heuer watches. McKelvey added that she is close to finalizing another deal but refused to divulge details. It was rumored that the deal involves Pacquiao endorsing an international energy drink.

Bishop said McKelvey estimated Pacquiao’s earning power at more than $50 Million in endorsements and he has actually earned a fraction of the total. He was supposed paid at least $1 Million for appearing in a US TV commercial for Hewlett Packard’s Veer 46 smartphone in McKelvey’s first deal. The commercial aired during the NBA Finals last season. Pacquiao was also featured in a US TV commercial endorsing a gaming casino owned by native Americans near Los Angeles.

Writer Gareth Davies of The Telegraph said according to McKelvey, Pacquiao could be the highest earner in sports. “Several endorsement fields could bring Manny untold wealth when his boxing career is over,” said McKelvey, quoted by Davies.

In a recent issue of ESPN The Magazine, Pacquiao and baseball’s Alex Rodriguez were cited as the best-paid athletes in sports last year. They both earned $32 Million – Rodriguez out of his salary and Pacquiao from his purses in two fights. Pacquiao, however, bankrolled more than Rodriguez because of incremental income from his pay-per-view share. In contrast, Bryant pulled in $24.8 Million from his Los Angeles Lakers salary.   

In the prime of his life, Pacquiao – who turns 33 today – is clearly in a class of his own as an athlete and celebrity endorser.