He has mugged with Mini-Me for Apple computers, and his legs have dangled off the top of a bunk bed in ads for ESPN. He has played the straight man in a Visa commercial that pokes fun at his name. One New York importer is using him to hawk Chinese beer to Texans. Up next? A Gatorade commercial.
Yao Ming, the Houston Rockets' 7-foot-5, 296-pound rookie sensation, seems to be everywhere. Everywhere, that is, except the one place you'd expect: in ads for Nike Inc., the sneaker giant that helped groom him for the global spotlight.
Nike signed Yao in 1999 to a four-year, $200,000 contract, which expires in May. But the Beaverton, Ore.-based company has so far held back from capitalizing on the player's disarming smile, self-deprecating humor, earnest attempts at English and coming-to-America success story.
Now that Yao and the Rockets have wrapped up their season and his Nike sponsorship is ticking down, some wonder whether the company hailed as the sneaker world's most formidable marketing machine hasn't blown an easy promotional layup.
"It's weird," said Robert Dorfman, creative director for San Francisco-based Pickett Advertising, who writes a sports endorsement newsletter. "If you've got him in your pocket, why are you keeping him in your pocket?"
Nike executives acknowledge that they have done nothing to tout Yao in the United States and have barely trotted him out in China, where other companies are using the player as entree into that untapped, basketball-crazed market.
Publicly, they say they hope to unveil a Yao promotional campaign this year if he continues to endorse their shoes. Privately, however, company insiders say they are sitting on one of the NBA's hottest properties for practical reasons: They fear that boosting Yao's profile would only drive up his fee during contract renegotiations or make him more attractive to a competitor.
"We don't want to hype the hell out of the guy and have him jump ship," one insider said.
Such a move would represent a reversal of fortune for Nike, the biggest player in player endorsements and long admired for locking up a stable of marquee names.
Nike tried last year to lock up Yao as he prepared to enter the NBA draft in June, said a source close to the discussions. Nike offered to "tear up" Yao's original contract and give him a new $1.6-million deal through 2006, making him China's highest-paid athlete endorser, the source said.
