Swimmer James Magnussen signs Arena sponsorship
Olympic swimmer James Magnussen has signed a sponsorship agreement with aquatic sports brands Arena.
It follows his sponsorship by Commonwealth Bank around last year’s Olympics which saw him being given pep talks by the three letters C, A and N. The sponsorship fell flat when Magnussen failed to perform and the ad became a reminder of his shortcomings. CommBank has since removed the ad from its YouTube channel.
The 22-year-old swimmer shot to international fame in 2011 when he won the 100m freestyle at the World Championships in Shanghai.
Giuseppe Musciacchio, Arena general manager of brand development, said of Magnussen: “His rapid rise to prominence and his consistently improving results have shown him to be an athlete of immense talent in swimming’s most competitive disciplines.”
Samsung is Magnussen’s other major sponsor.
What a surprise – another negative take on a story. James is a current world champion, plus won silver and bronze medals at the most recent summer Olympics. Aside from his sporting achievements he’s young, good looking and well spoken – perfect for a brand like Aquatic to sponsor.. Yet you say for the Olympics he ‘failed to perform’ and it was a ‘reminder of his shortcomings’ (yes, he didn’t win gold like expected).
As an ex agency person, now client side, I read Mumbrella from time to time for several reasons. The majority of stories and comments are so negative and it seems to be getting worse. Can this industry look favourably on anything?
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Hi Scott,
The thing that was noteworthy about that particular sponsorship was the way it was built so heavily around the assumption that he would win, and the issues it caused when he did not. This is his first big sponsorship since.
Yes he may well be a perfect fit. But that doesn’t mean the strategy was great last time he was used.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
Don’t forget that was also the face of Samsung, and I believe that that sponsorship fell flat for the same reasons ie that it was assumed he would win. My mum always used to say that assuming anything only makes an ass out of u and me.
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Thanks for the response TIm. I agree – for that CBA sponsorship, it was noteworthy. Which was what,12 months ago? Looking at this again, if I were advising Arena (who I called Acquatic firstly) they should’ve supplied more info on what James is doing as part of the sponsorship and why it was a fit (other than both being water related). Even a pic, so they chance of running a CBA one was minimised.
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Yes maybe the whole commonwealth band campaign was premature. But James remains the nations biggest swimmer of current time along side Emily Seebohm, the Campbell sisters and Alicia Coutts. These swimmers along side the relay teams remain the Australia’s best chance of decent medals going into the upcoming Swimming World Championships in Barcelone. So well done Arena for the timing as James goes in favourite by miles to win the 100m free and his last seven swims as pointed out by http://www.swimvortex , has never been done before. He has learnt so much from the 2012 Olympics not withstanding the fact he had only been in the National team since 2010 Pan Pacific games thus had very little international experience. With decent mentors lacking in the national body as was shown by our poor performance and lack of team confidence James has become a swimmer to learn from since the Olympic Games. Handling failure and bouncing back from other issues arising from lack of support from national bodies in the form of team physiologists or mediators. For all swimmers post London 2012 it has not been easy and even more so for the swimmers who had to endure the pressure of the public not just friends, family and national bodies. Most of these athletes are under 25 lack life wisdom and relay on advice from others but now they have learnt the hard way. James not only has Samsung but Subway, his own bar named after him from leading sport nutrition company BSC, which is currently sold not only in leading sport retailers but also woolworths and coles. Arena has just launched their 2nd Edition Carbon Pro Race suit and as I say James is favourite to win the 100m freestyle and unlike other swimmers , the past months during our domestic season and lead up to the World Champs, James has demonstrated he has grown from London 2012 and become a better person but as most will argue a Olympic Silver Medal is hardly failure. Most likely the failure lied in the athletes over confidence in their advisor’s and other support groups provided to these high profile athletes who feel the need to please.
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