Controlling the message: How professional athletes are using new media to build their own unique brands

In the world of sports, the concept of branding is now reaching far beyond the teams and leagues we watch and support. We may cheer for our favorite team every time they are in action, become a fan of the squad’s Facebook page, and follow the official Twitter feed for all the latest news.  Sports teams at all levels are taking advantage of the vast branding possibilities new media has to offer, with each setting out to create the uniformity and standards across mediums worthy of the term ‘integrated’.  But while your favorite team is busy creating an integrated branding strategy designed to keep you engaged long after you leave the stadium, your favorite player is developing a unique brand of his own – and changing the way we interact with professional sports.

In the past, an athlete could often be misrepresented in the press, based on a misconstrued quote in the daily newspaper following a poor performance.  Now? an athlete can bypass the mainstream media altogether, breaking news related to them via their Twitter account or Facebook page and rendering the media obsolete.  Shaquille O’Neal, one of the greatest NBA players of his generation, chose to break the news of his retirement himself – using his Twitter feed. This way, his mass of followers – the people directly responsible for helping him build his social media brand – would be the first ones to know of such a huge announcement.

Athletes are using social media to hold contests for fans (such as Cincinnati Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips, who used Twitter to hold contests for fans and reverse the public’s perception of him as a dirty player) to help create the brand they desire for themselves.  While we as fans are given a window into the lives of our favorite sports stars we have never had before, the athletes themselves can create their own unique brand using a variety of new media channels.

Whether it be a personal website detailing their positive contributions in the community, a Twitter feed where they answer fans questions, or a Facebook page where they post content solely for the eyes of their Facebook fans, an athlete can engage with his or her fans in whatever way they see fit.  And, if done correctly, they can create a brand that can lead to an incredibly positive public image, and future endorsement deals down the road.

What do all these avenues have in common? Each new media channel available to an athlete allows them to control the message, a valuable commodity they have never had until this point.  They can essentially create their own brand from the ground up, controlling exactly what their fans see and hear and remain at the controls of all the content.  And if they get any advice on branding, they will make sure their messages are uniform across all mediums, one of the signature signs of an integrated strategy.  Some basic branding knowledge and an integrated approach can make an athlete’s brand more famous then the team they play for, which is an incredibly powerful tool at the disposal of the 21st century sports star.