Haven't been around here for a while. Must be fall in the air.
I'm not pretending to know a great deal about this, and her sponsorship/endoresement deals in general, but I do know a bit. I have friends who represent skiers, and I have a very close friend who is in the market research/consumer insights business. He runs a data driven firm that helps enable businesses to evaluate decisions...such as the economic value and upside of these type of relationships. A lot of brands.
On the representation side, it's a real challenge in skiing. There is not an endless stream of good deals on the demand side, even for somebody who people like us see as being bright, fun, engaging, attractive and obviously close to best ever in her sport. How well known are they?
It also gets complicated by the fact that when you begin to negotiate a BIG deal, there are real demands put on the athlete in terms of how many days they will be available for personal appearances, and more so for media commitments, media production, etc. A skier like Mikaela has a very busy schedule, year round, including her voluminous training. On snow and in the gym. She also ears down, and needs a lot of rest. Only so much in the tank. You can only commit to so much. The demands are more than they once were.
She had four equipment deals: Atomic, Oakley, LEKI, Reusch. She was deals with Bose, Longines, RedBull. RedBull has all sorts of deals with athletes. Suffice it to say that MS's is nothing like LV's was. Redbull provided an entire team to run her conditioning and travel with her year round. RedBull was her headgear sponsor {big money}. LV was never seen without a RedBull hat and a can or water bottle, or other signage. MS is occasionally seen with the can, or bottle. She has been quoted as saying that it gives her a boost, and that her stomach can't tolerate coffee.
She has the fairly new deal with Alterra/Ikon. Not sure of what that will entail. She and her family are very close to a few key players there. Barilla has been, other the than Atomic, her biggest deal. I believe that this deal with Adidas has been in the works for a long time, and it may be bigger than Barilla, in terms of compensation. I assume it is. I'd be curious as to what LV's deal with UnderArmor pays her. It's also "big."
Now what's interesting on the data side is that Mikaela, last I knew, was somewhere around 2500 out of 5000 "celebrities" when consumer awareness in the USA is measured. Not just recognition of her face, etc., but some awareness of who she is. I do not know how that needle moves in Europe. I do know that Lindsey Vonn was more like number 500 a couple of years ago, and with her relationship with PK Subban, and "double teaming" their social media, may be higher on the list now. Now, for example, LV has 2 million followers on IG. MS is closing in on 800K. Julia Mancuso has never gotten traction despite a lot of effort and has fewer than 250K. As dumb as it sounds to many of us, IG followers is real currency.
Adidas no doubt sees MS as being able to give the brand a wide boost in the USA. That's what I hear. Makes sense. However, I also hear that MS's agent has been trying to put together a very good deal like this for quite some time. It was not a quick slam dunk. Hard to pitch and sell. Not like Nike, Adidas, Reebok, and UA were all chasing her.
Another interesting "trend" that I have become aware of is that many of the outdoor brands {clothing, shoes}, brands related to outdoor sports and presumably ski brands are staring to take a hard look at the people who they have in their stable as "ambassadors", "team members", etc. People who they actually pay, and pay well, through the people who they comp equipment to {in large numbers when it all rolls up.}
I know somebody who has three long term consulting engagements to work with big brands on this. What are they spending? What are they getting for results? Do the people they have on board do anything to HELP the brand? Do some hurt it? What do these people do for them. The margins in these businesses are so thin that doing this "because we always have", or because "our reps say we have to" is not holding a lot of water when presented with facts, data and logic. The guys and ladies who truly DO drive sales are worth a lot, and probably will command more compensation.
But I've heard some discussion that we have always known. Because local dude has a hookup with friend A who is with ski company X, and gets his free setup does NOT generate a single sale. Or many. All of the duded friends know he skis the stuff "because he has a hookup." Amazing how so many senior level execs are being tuned into that.
It will likely be like the ski and boot deals in the alpine race world. The amount of money is still pretty strong, but the number of athletes earning it has shrunken year after year. We have a family friend who was named to the USST C team about 15 years ago, and immediately got an annual $50K ski contract. Today? Nothing. You'd still get your state of skis provided to you, and perhaps better skis, but the money is not there. Maybe a small stipend to offset some expenses. Not much. The people who can influence sales and results will get paid, and paid well. Think about every young girl racer wanting to ski in and on Atomic. MS.
A subject for another day is Bode's decision to bail on some well known, well heeled brands, to join Bomber and start Aztech. Head, Kjus, Spyder before that. He left a lot of money on the table. But...he's Bode...a contrarian all of his life. And he's doing OK. His new gig in Big Sky will be very good for his family. Neat.
So this deal with Adidas is likely a real home run for MS. Huge. Good for all skiers, I hope. If more skiers can prove that they have wide, cross over appeal, the money will follow.
Just my $.02.
