Opinion: Is Ronaldo Worth It?

Following the highs and lows of the Portugal captain’s UEFA European Championships final at the weekend, Ed Wooller, head of strategy & insight at PRISM, asks the question…

Is Cristiano Ronaldo worth It?

As both a Champions League and Euro 2016 winner few would doubt the value Ronaldo delivers on the pitch. He has scored at a rate of almost a goal per game for his club and country for the best part of a decade. Three Ballon d’Ors, countless domestic trophies for both Manchester United and Real Madrid, three UEFA Champions Leagues titles and now a European Championship, Ronaldo draws global attention every time he steps onto a football pitch.

Remarkably, in spite of his recently renewed Real Madrid contract making him one of the world’s best paid athletes, Ronaldo actually earns more off the field than he does on it. Endorsement deals with the likes of Nike, Tag Heuer, Armani, Monster Headphones and Herbalife see Ronaldo’s endorsement income exceed a staggering $30m per annum.

On the face of it Ronaldo is an obvious choice for brands. He transcends football and is one of the world’s best known global celebrities with a combined social media following of 220 million.  To put that in context Ronaldo’s social media following is more than 3 times that of all 24 teams at Euro 2016 combined! 

But does this extraordinary level of awareness and fame translate though into impact and ultimately sales for his brand partners? Does Ronaldo’s on field success drive off field success for the myriad of brands he endorses? In order to understand if Ronaldo is indeed worth it we need to explore the 3 imperatives of successful celebrity marketing. 

Choose Wisely

For brands thinking about using high profile sportspeople as ambassadors it is vitally important that an evaluation is undertaken to assess the level of fit between the individual, their fan base and the brand. Ronaldo, like all celebrity ambassadors, is better suited to supporting some brands and industry categories than others.

PRISM’s Global Celebrity Index is a proprietary evaluation model which is used to help brands select and leverage celebrity ambassadors. It comprehensively assesses individuals across three key dimensions; affinity, presence and influence to arrive at an overall index score. Additionally, it calculates efficiency, which is a measure of the value for money that the ambassador is likely to provide when compared to other ambassadors.

Whilst Ronaldo has an obvious affinity with categories like sports leisure, nutrition drinks and watches he is much less well suited to categories with complex decision processes like financial services and automotive that require a high degree of trust in the endorsing individual.  

Even for categories to which Ronaldo is well suited he may provide poor value for money given the extraordinary endorsement sums he is able to command. Although Ronaldo is undoubtedly a valuable brand ambassador for Monster Headphones he provides relatively poor value for money in the personal tech category. When compared with a large cross section of other celebrities Ronaldo has an efficiency score of only 45%, meaning he provides less value for money in this category than the majority of ambassadors.

Build Advocacy

To maximise the value of an ambassadorial relationship it is important to build a genuine and believable connection between the brand and the celebrity in consumers’ minds. It is only through doing this that celebrity endorsement can be translated into celebrity advocacy, an altogether more valuable commodity.

A downside of having such an extensive list of endorsement deals is that it erodes trust in the genuineness of individual brand relationships. In Ronaldo’s case the picture is further complicated by the differences in perception of his on field and off field personas. Connection with the hard working footballing genius is one thing, association with a celebrity prima donna is an entirely different proposition!

How brands should go about building this connection is heavily influenced by the category in which they operate. For Nike there is already an obvious and legitimate connection to Ronaldo and the focus is on amplifying this association through content. Ronaldo provides the stardust that ensures that content like “The Switch” commercial has more than 50m views on youtube.

One moment can change everything. Never give up.
Make them believe. ##SparkBrilliance #JustDoIthttps://t.co/GcCLdJ4gFh

— Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) July 11, 2016

For brands like Tag Heuer and Monster where the connection with Ronaldo is much less obvious, storylines can be developed to build their products into his pre and post-match experience. For example, Ronaldo’s use of the #DontCrackUnderPressure hashtag builds a connection between Tag Heuer and his performance even though watches don’t feature on the field of play.

Be Opportunistic

Events like Euro 2016 provide brands with a unique opportunity to leverage their celebrity endorsement deals at times of heightened interest in sport.  Whilst brands can of course prepare for certain scenarios, sport is by its nature unpredictable providing challenges and opportunities in equal measure. 

Ronaldo, of all the players at the tournament, has been on an incredible roller coaster of a journey from start to end. From early tournament criticism of his play to the extraordinary header in the Wales match. From the petulant refusal to swap jerseys after the Iceland draw to joking with a selfie seeking ball boy after the Wales match. From tears of despair to tears of joy all within the space of one extraordinary final.

Time to focus. Counting down the hours with my @TAGHeuer . See you on Sunday on the field. #dontcrackunderpressure pic.twitter.com/8zbJ3HZqGQ

— Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) July 8, 2016

With the possible exception of Nike, Ronaldo’s brand partners have missed the opportunity to participate in this extraordinary journey in any meaningful way. Apart from the occasional tweet the brands have been noticeably absent from the dialogue that has accompanied Ronaldo and Portugal’s road to being crowned European Champions. 

As to the original question of whether or not Ronaldo is worth it as a brand ambassador the jury is still out. Ronaldo has surely delivered on his part of the deal but I’m not sure the same can be said of the brands that have enlisted his support.

Ed Wooller is head of strategy & insight at PRISM. He supports brands in making a step change in the impact and ROI of their sponsorship and partnership investments.