Top Athletes With Photogenic Families Are a Big Hit With Advertisers

Several years ago, a big sports marketing firm received an odd request from officials at Hanes underwear. Hanes was searching for top athletes willing to strut around in their briefs. Just as important, the athletes also had to have family members willing to appear in the ads.

Hanes quickly signed on ex-football star Lyle Alzado, who showed up in a Hanes’ spot with his son. That commercial was so successful, Hanes has since focused almost all of its campaigns on superstar athletes who are seen horsing around with family members. Among them is a new campaign featuring Michael Jordan with his wife--as well as his father.

While Hanes is hardly the first to create ads that use jocks with their spouses, parents and kids, it is the clear leader in this “All In The Family” trend.

A new campaign for Franklin Securities Fund features Joe Montana giving his three kids a piggy-back ride. A recent Coca-Cola spot featured Michael Jordan with his mother. Mike Tyson appeared in a Pepsi commercial with his then-wife, Robin Givens.

There are plenty more. Orel Hershiser was in a Johnson’s Baby Shampoo ad with his son. Jimmy Connors appeared with his kids in TV ads for Sony and Nestle Crunch. William (Refrigerator) Perry appeared in ads for hair-care products with his wife. And in one Hanes ad, Joe Montana even lugs in the family dogs.

Madison Avenue has discovered that athletes, alone, don’t always sell merchandise. But place them in the oh-so-squeaky-clean company of their families and, voila, the public suddenly buys the message.

Before many advertisers sign on athletes these days they actually require that the athletes send them complete family dossiers--including photographs and even videos of the rest of the family.

“Advertisers pay so much money for these athletes, more of them are asking themselves: How can we stretch our talent dollars?” said David Burns, president of Burns Sports Celebrity Service, the Chicago firm that helped link Hanes with Jordan, Montana and their families.

So many advertisers are using celebrity athletes these days that bringing the family into the ads is about the only way to stand out, said Robert Graham, vice chairman of Long, Haymes & Carr, which created the Hanes campaign.

Some skeptics see the trend as nothing more than a bunch of advertisers imitating each other. “People who write ads spend a lot of time looking at what others do,” said William D. Wells, recently retired director of marketing services at the Chicago office of the ad agency DDB Needham Worldwide. “When one type of ad works, everyone else does it.”

But many top agency executives insist that families broaden the appeal of the athletes. Some say it actually helps loosen up the athletes in front of the camera. Others say it just brings them down to earth.

“It somehow feels more believable when the family is there. And that is one of the goals of advertising, to be believable,” said Dennis Kuhr, creative director at the Los Angeles agency Dailey & Associates.

If the athletes are big enough stars, they can call the shots on the look of the commercial and on which family members appear in it, said Bob Kuperman, president of the Venice agency Chiat/Day/Mojo.

The contract that Montana signed with Franklin Securities Fund specifically calls for the use of his entire family--including his three children. “We probably wouldn’t have bought just Joe--we bought the entire family,” said Laura Komar, manager of advertising at San Mateo-based Franklin. “It brings it to a level that any investor can understand. You might not be able to relate to a multimillion-dollar athlete, but you can always relate to a father with kids.”

Advertising experts point out that this use of family in advertising began years ago in politics. “Every campaign picture of a politician features the wife, the children and the family dog,” said Harold Kassarjian, professor of marketing at UCLA. “I don’t know how much the issue has been researched, but I can tell you that every politician believes it works.”

Hanes particularly likes matching jocks with their young sons, such as it did with ex-football greats Howie Long and Steve Largent. But it is only too happy to use parents too.

Three years ago, when Hanes first considered using Michael Jordan, it also requested tapes of his father. “There’s always the risk that the rest of the family won’t film well, but we’ve never had that problem,” explained John Ceneviva, vice president of marketing at Hanes.

In a Coca-Cola spot, Michael Jordan’s mother sits on the porch watching as her son appears to make a superhuman jump while delivering a six-pack of Coke to kids gathered in a treehouse. Her only words are, “That’s my Michael.”

But with just those words, “his mother steals the show,” said Bob Bertini, a Coke spokesman. Similarly, several years ago, a Diet Pepsi ad before a championship fight featured Mike Tyson preparing to beat the stuffing out of Michael Spinks. But Tyson cowers in the presence of his then-wife, Robin Givens, who snaps a towel at his behind. When she orders him into action he meekly responds, “Yes, dear.”

Several years ago, two big advertisers wanted Joe Klecko, an all-pro defensive lineman with the New York Jets, to appear in TV spots with his wife. But his camera-shy wife declined--and Klecko lost out, said Martin Blackman, a New York consultant who represented Klecko.

“It’s only fantasy to think that we can be on the same playing field with these athletes,” Blackman said. “But when it comes to situations that involve things like wives and kids, we’re all on the same ball field.”

All in the Family Madison Avenue has discovered that athletes can be more appealing to consumers in ads when they have family members with them. Here are some advertisers who signed on top athletes and their families in recent years to pitch products:

Advertiser Athlete Family members Hanes Underwear Michael Jordan wife and father Joe Montana wife Howie Long son Steve Largent son Lyle Alzado son Coca-Cola Michael Jordan mother Pepsi-Cola Mike Tyson wife at the time Franklin Securities Fund Joe Montana wife, three children Wheaties Walter Payton wife Johnson’s Baby Shampoo Orel Hershiser son Ultra-Wheels roller skates Wayne Gretzky wife Sony video cameras Jimmy Connors children TCB Lite hair care line William Perry wife