ICYMI (and the ratings tell us that very few did), Tim Howard is America’s newest hero with his World Cup-record 16 saves in the game against Belgium, or the highest-rated soccer match in the history of U.S. cable TV.
It was great that our American media lauded him for his bluster, that Twitter provided us with the #ThingsTimHowardCanSave meme, and that our political class played along with the ‘U.S. Secretary of Defense‘ Wikipedia story.
Big brands would love to follow suit.
In what has to be one of the most lackluster quotes in a while, Jim Andrews, a senior VP at IEG, a sponsorship consultancy said to AdAge, “He’s gonna attract a lot of interest from a lot of different companies…I don’t think there’s any doubt he could earn a few million dollars in the next couple months.”
And while FIFA figures out how to take advantage of this ballyhoo (his jersey wasn’t even for sale online a week after his rise to fame), Bob Dorfman, sports endorsement expert and executive creative director for the Baker Street Advertising in San Francisco, tells CNNMoney.com that Howard could easily add another $1 million to his yearly income through endorsements.
(His day job is goalkeeper for the Everton Football Club in the UK’s Premier League, where he earns about $3M annually.)
“He now qualifies to pitch any product that protects well — Rust-Oleum, safe family cars, deodorants — or any financial service talking about saving,” said Dorfman. Of course he’s onto something, but if Howard is going to get paid, he needs to do it now before the U.S. populace forgets that the 2014 World Cup was a thing.
In an interview with CNN’s New Day, Howard acted like he was going to do the exact opposite — at least for now.
When asked about his future plans, his response was laid back and introverted: “I’m going to go home and I’m going to relax and hide away, hang out with the kids, get some more tattoos, you know, just be me.”
Will clients pursue Howard as the next big spokesman, or will he gently recede from the spotlight (to the chagrin of so many American advertisers)?