ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, August 30, 1996 TAG: 9608300039
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB BAUM ASSOCIATED PRESS PORTLAND, Ore.
TIGER WOODS' pro golf career is just a day old. But the ad blitz that tees off this weekend is fit for a superstar.
Look out, world. Nike is unleashing its advertising armada on golf's newest darling.
The publicity push planned this weekend for Tiger Woods is remarkable even by Nike standards. Michael Jordan and Bo Jackson never got this kind of attention.
Nike is canceling all of its previously scheduled television ads through Monday night and replacing them with its first Woods ad.
It will be Tiger during college football, Tiger during major league baseball, Tiger during U.S. Open tennis, Tiger during SportsCenter and, of course, Tiger on Monday Night Football.
With clients such as Andre Agassi to Charles Barkley, Nike wrote the book on personality promotion in sports, and the company is certain it has a big-time acquisition in the 20-year-old Woods. Analysts say it's a gigantic coup for an athletic shoe and apparel company that's been an overpowering bully in most sports but a clumsy duffer in golf.
``Tiger Woods is to golf what Michael Jordan was to basketball for Nike,'' said Shelly Hale Young, senior analyst for Hambrecht & Quist, an investment bank in San Francisco. ``It's going to put them on the map.''
The blitz began Thursday when Nike purchased three full pages in the nation's largest-circulation daily newspaper, The Wall Street Journal, for $342,000. The newspaper goes to the homes and offices of 1.8 million subscribers, a good share of them golfers.
In subtle lettering at the center of the ad's first page are the words ``Hello World.''
Turn to page 2 and there's a full page of an irresistibly cute Tiger, at age 4, swinging a golf club. The third page is all text, sort of a heroic poem told in the first person.
Woods recounts his career from the times he shot in the 70s at age 8 to last Sunday, when he concluded his preprofessional career with a dramatic victory that made him the first man to win three consecutive U.S. Amateur titles.
``There are still courses in the United States that I am not allowed to play because of the color of my skin,'' the ad concludes. ``I've heard I'm not ready for you. Are you ready for me?''
Then there's a small picture of Woods and a Nike Swoosh, followed by the words ``Just Do It.''
The TV ad, still being completed on Thursday, will have the same text as the newspaper ad, along with vintage film of Tiger growing up as a golfer. It is to be shown 28 times on various networks, beginning this afternoon during ESPN's coverage of the Milwaukee Open.
The reference to race matches the feelings of Woods, whose father is black and mother is Thai.
``Tiger Woods wants to be an ambassador of change in golf,'' said Merle Marting, spokesman for Nike's golf division. ``His goal is to bring more minorities to the game.''
As he prepared to tee off for the first time as a professional at Milwaukee on Thursday, there was no doubt about his commercial allegiance. He wore a black Nike shirt, black Nike cap and black Nike golf shoes.
There have been several reports that his deal with Nike is for $40 million over five years. Woods is worth it, Young said.
``Just the sheer media exposure that Tiger Woods will bring to Nike will more than pay for his contract,'' she said. ``That's not even considering what it will do for the footwear and apparel sales.''
Phil Knight, Nike's chairman, founder and one of the country's wealthiest men, is not known to be a golf fan. But as Woods competed for his third U.S. Amateur title a few 1-iron drives from Nike's world headquarters, Knight was a prominent fixture in the gallery every day.
``Anyone who questioned Nike's commitment to the game of golf ought to think again,'' Knight said in a statement announcing the signing of Woods. ``Nike has always been associated with the world's greatest athletes, and Tiger Woods will be a very important element in Nike's continued growth.''
There's plenty of room for growth. Golf apparel and shoe sales make up just 1 percent to 2 percent of Nike's $6 billion in annual sales.
Even with the advent in 1993 of the Nike tour, a proving ground for future PGA players, the company's sales have lagged. But improved products and the signing of Woods should change that, Young predicted.
``It's the same strategy they employ on all their sports,'' Young said. ``Get the product right, then sign up the best spokesperson in the industry, the best athlete, and keep the distribution clean. Then, you have a winner.''
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Chart by AP.by CNB