Brand Agassi

Posted: Tuesday, March 2, 2010

I whizzed through Andre Agassi’s autobiography, Open.  I found it to be well written and very entertaining.  I am also a bit biased because tennis is my favorite sport, and I was religious about watching matches growing up, so I already knew a lot about Agassi.  How could I not read his book quickly?

As most know, the book was marketed to the mainstream mass through Agassi’s revelation that he used crystal meth and wore a hairpiece.  It’s funny to think that people would clamor to read the book just because they wanted details on Agassi’s faux locks.  There hasn’t been this much hype about a celebrity’s hair since Jimmy Johnson’s – the Dallas Cowboys coach who was famous for using a bottle of hairspray to keep his hair virtually bulletproof.   

You look at the Agassi brand over the course of his career.  He goes from punk kid, to #1 in the world, to Hollywood husband, to a crystal meth user, back to #1, then on to a marriage with the all-time-great Steffi Graf, then to modern philanthropist.  The story is there.  We live in a society where people are obsessed with sports and celebrities, and watching them go up and down on a roller coaster ride throughout their lives means big bucks because the viewing audience loves entertainment.

Let’s take the Q Score, the metric used to measure a celebrity’s or athlete’s popularity and brand appeal, and apply it to Agassi.  When was his Q Rating the highest?  When he was at the peak of his tennis career?  When he retired from the sport?  

None of his accomplishments or defeats comes close to equaling his popularity as it is right now.  Why?  One would assume that his appeal would go down after his admission about drug use.  But the fans love to root for people who fall, get up and become a better person.  Or, at least those that have always been real and don’t claim to be anything but themselves, like Agassi.  Standout personalities are the ones that get noticed and get paid.  After all, Sampras was a better player, but many non-tennis aficionados don’t know who he is.  

PR pros’ go-to is always the “tell the truth or die” counsel.  Spill your guts and it will be OK. The advice is becoming old hat, but it works and always will. Honesty and sincerity prevails in the court of public opinion.  And when it comes to Agassi’s brand, I guess the “Image is Everything” tagline he’s been brought up with has become much more than stone-washed jean shorts, neon pink Spandex and a wicked forehand.