ESPN.com - Marketing 'Godzilla' in Gotham

ESPN.com: Sports Business

Thursday, April 24, 2003
Marketing 'Godzilla' in Gotham

By Darren Rovell
ESPN.com

The chill in the air and the booming roar coming from Yankee Stadium gave off all the signs of October. But the cool weather was just another sign that it wasn't yet time for spring and the sound was Hideki Matsui's first big moment in pinstripes.


	Hideki Matsui became the first Yankees player to hit a grand slam in his first home game.

As Matsui, the 28-year-old power-hitting rookie outfielder from Japan, circled the bases after smacking a fifth-inning grand slam in the Yankees' home opener, fans continued their chant of "Mat-sui! Mat-sui!" which had begun as he stepped to the plate and didn't stop until he stepped out of the dugout for a curtain call. The sound emanating from homes in his native Japan showed similar approval for their most popular athlete, even though the clocks read 6:45 a.m.

Through the first three weeks of the season, Matsui's stats aren't quite on track to match his last season with Tokyo's Yomiuri Giants, when the three-time Central League MVP dubbed "Godzilla" hit a career-high 50 home runs, knocked in 107 runs and maintained a .334 batting average to boot. He's hit only two dingers so far this season, though his 20 RBI are among the league's best. But even if he doesn't immediately live up to the three-year, $21 million contract he signed in December, Matsui could have his biggest year yet off the base path.

In Japan, Matsui endorsed products that included a cookie, a vitamin drink and ice cream, plus had an equipment deal with Mizuno. Since coming to the U.S., he's already locked into a memorabilia deal with Upper Deck, will continue his work promoting Japan Air Lines and Mizuno, is the cover athlete on a Japanese baseball video game and there are plenty of companies in virtually every sponsorship category -- from carmakers to beverage makers -- lighting up his agent's phone lines. And Matsui stands to make more money now that he is in the U.S. His Japanese team filtered all his endorsement deals and typically took a 30 percent cut -- significantly more than the standard 15 to 20 percent negotiating fee that is customary in this country.

"He obviously has a very established reputation and we've been talking to many companies, but there's definitely no rush to grab deals right away," said Rob Urbach, executive vice president of SFX Sports, which represents Matsui.

Matsui jerseys are selling extremely well, though reports of sales of his memorabilia are mixed.

Revenue sharing

Matsui will continue to stay top of mind with his Japanese fans as more and more games are broadcast in Japan.

In 1999, the first year of a five-year Japanese television deal worth a reported $65 million, 84 MLB games were shown live in Japan. This year, more than 300 games will be shown live, including all Yankees home games, in the wee hours of the morning. After games, channels that have baseball broadcasts often spend another 30 minutes to recap Matsui's performance.

Matsui's first home run in his spring training debut was watched by 33 percent of viewers in Japan with television sets, even though it took place at 3:45 a.m, according to Kota Ishijima, manager of U.S. & Latin American Operations for the Yomiuri Giants.

"When we signed the deal, we gave them a lot of latitude with respect to the number of games," said Paul Archey, senior vice president of Major League International.

The Yankees have set up a baseball-only relationship with the Yomiuri Giants, since revenue from any television, international sponsorship in Japan or merchandising sales of products with MLB trademarks will be split among the league's 30 teams. However, the teams have cashed in on at least one relationship -- heavy machine manufacturer Komatsu, which received a sign in right field, strategically placed in an ideal position to wind up on the television screen thanks the location of Matsui's home runs.

"They saw the benefits of advertising in the stadium, given that there are so many people that are watching in Japan," said Lonn Trost, the Yankees' chief operating officer.

Although Trost declined to disclose details of the deal, the value was seen when Matsui's second home run on April 14 sailed over the Komatsu sign and it was shown over and over again on Japanese television.

-- Darren Rovell

Although Matsui did not become a member of the Major League Baseball Players Association until he played his first regular-season game, Majestic -- which sells Matsui replica Yankees jerseys, batting jerseys and jersey T-shirts -- bridged the gap by signing a deal with Matsui himself. The move has paid off, as Matsui's is among the 10 best selling Major League Baseball jerseys thus far this year, said Faust Capobianco, president of Majestic Athletic. Licensed T-shirts with "Godzilla" on it might appear sometime in the near future as Matsui's representatives have had talks with Toho, the Japanese retail and entertainment company that has produced more than 20 Godzilla movies and owns the trademark.

John Sepenuk, managing director of Asia Pacific for Upper Deck, says some might think the products are pricey, but there are plenty of orders for Matsui-signed baseballs ($549.99), Yankees hats ($599.99), batting helmets ($649.99) and home plates ($799.99). Matsui has even been asked to sign his full name for Upper Deck and sign only his initials at the ballpark to keep scarcity in check.

Some think it's too early to tell if Matsui's nationwide popularity already has matched that of Ichiro Suzuki, the Seattle Mariners outfielder who won the American League Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Players awards in 2001. Gary Engel, a Japanese sports cards dealer who has made more than $20,000 selling Japanese Ichiro items, says he still has 80 percent of his Matsui collection -- all of which he is willing to sell -- because the Yankees' rookie "hasn't had that breakout game yet."

Still, he's well-known enough to be part of a marketing plan in Canada. On March 30, the Toronto Blue Jays ran an advertisement in the Toronto Star that had Japanese writing. Its translation: "Let's boo Hideki Matsui."

Matsui doesn't speak much English, but lack of fluency hasn't discouraged companies from using Ichiro or Yao Ming, the Houston Rockets' center from China, in advertisements. That's been a recent change from the former attitude that a language barrier creates distance between athlete and consumer.

"I think interpreters to some extent, at least in the beginning, give companies a comfort factor," said Jeff Chown, managing director of The Marketing Arm's Talent Link, which brokered a recent endorsement deal between Yao and Apple Computer. Chown said he believes interpreters, who can mute the tone of an athlete's comments, help minimize the risk of damaging the athlete and the brand he aligns himself with.

Creative scriptwriting has helped the most marketable Asian athletes, including Yao, whose misunderstanding of American slang is parodied in a recent Visa commercial. He gets by on facial expressions alone while pared with Verne Troyer, who played Mini-Me in the "Austin Powers" triology, in the Apple ad. Matsui shouldn't have any problem with stage presence, as he's been followed by plenty of journalists and TV cameras over the years and he has already appeared on "Live with Regis and Kelly" and "Late Night with David Letterman."


	The Toronto Blue Jays used Matsui's name to draw fans.

Matsui has been more popular than Ichiro among Japanese baseball fans, and the fact Ichiro has been conservative in aligning himself with companies since he came to the United States two years ago leaves plenty of opportunities for Matsui to carve out a marketing niche.

Despite the fact that Ichiro is currently pitching products for six companies, he has turned down more than $30 million in potential marketing alliances over the past two years, according to his agent Tony Attanasio.

Ichiro has deals in the United States with Upper Deck (memorabilia), Oakley (sunglasses) and Mizuno (signature bats and gloves). His deals in Japan include Pepsi, financial services firm Nikko Cordial and Sato Pharmaceutical, which makes a health drink called Yunkel that Ichiro is said to drink everyday. In the coming months, Ichiro is expected to sign a deal with Starbucks, which became the exclusive coffee of the Mariners this season and has a sign behind him in right field at Safeco Field. At least 300 of the more than 6,000 worldwide Starbucks locations are in Japan.

"How marketable a player is is sometimes the desire of the player himself," Attanasio said. "You could have the greatest marketing plan in the world, but if the athlete is not very interested in endorsing products or services, it doesn't matter." Attanasio said Ichiro will not endorse a product or service he is not interested in, nor will he endorse a product that his fans wouldn't expect him to use.

A worldwide marketing plan is the reality for stars like Matsui and Yao. Yao's appeal is unquestionably tied to China's enormous population. While the population of Japan is approximately 126 million and the United States is home to about 290 million people, China's population is 1.3 billion.

Drawing power

Japanese tourists are the third largest foreign group that visit New York City, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, but travel has been down since Sept. 11 and due to the recent war with Iraq and the threat of SARS.

Matsui's presence could help bring Japanese tourists back to some extent, which would be an important boost for the city since Japanese visitors spend the most per tourist ($1,000) and spent $410 million in New York City in 2000. Continental Airlines, the official airline of the New York Yankees, is running a promotion thanks to Matsui, in which travelers can leave from four prominent Japanese cities on a non-stop flight to New York, between May 13 and June 26, for as $542.

"People are being very conservative with their travel now, so his impact is not as great as we had hoped," said Kota Ishijima, manager of U.S. & Latin American Operations for the Yomiuri Giants.

-- Darren Rovell

Given such a potential audience, the key demographic the Houston Rockets center appeals to is the 200 million people who have money to spend and live in China's largest cities, said Bill Sanders, director of marketing for BDA Sports, the agency that is part of a contingent representing Yao. Approximately 60 percent of those 200 million people were aware of Yao and think positively of him, Sanders said of research done by the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business that was commissioned last fall before the NBA season began.

"It's not just about the number of people," Sanders said. "In order to be marketable, you have to have extraordinary, highlight-reel-type talent, success on the court, integrity and charisma -- and I think Yao's had that."

Though he came off as stiff and uncomfortable during his initial workout in Chicago for NBA scouts and media, Yao since has emerged as a darling of sorts, knowing enough English to drop jokes here and there.

Other U.S.-only deals Yao has signed this year include Upper Deck, which is running his official Web site, www.yaoming.net, and Gatorade. China-only endorsement deals include telecommunications company China Unicom and video game publisher Sorrent, which will debut a Yao Ming cell phone video game in China next month.

"We thought that his presence here would mean mostly more opportunities in China, but he's getting plenty of offers from U.S. companies," Sanders said.

Urbach said relationships in Japan will continue. Mizuno just began a television campaign around a Matsui line of products that will launch next month exclusively in Japan.

"Just because he came here, doesn't mean his popularity in Japan has diminished at all," said Jeff Fiorini, vice president and general manager of Mizuno USA.

"The investment value in Hideki Matsui for companies will be significant because he has played for the best team in Japan and now he's playing for the best team in the United States," Urbach said.

In order for Matsui's value to stay high among companies in Japan, SFX and Major League Baseball International have to do a good job monitoring illegal marketing campaigns. Companies in Japan have been known to use the likeness of Japanese players with their MLB team logos on their products without consent. The illegal practice has slowed down since Hideo Nomo became the first Japanese player to play in the majors in more than 30 years, said Jean Afterman, the Yankees' vice president who represented Nomo with agent Don Nomura before she took the job with the team. "We spent a tremendous amount of time sending cease-and-desist letters," Afterman said.

"Companies in Japan are more clear about what they can't do now, which definitely helps," said Kota Ishijima, manager of U.S. & Latin American Operations for the Yomiuri Giants, who is helping monitor the situation.

At least in this country, given what is expected of Matsui on the heels of the performance of Ichiro, the question is: How many home runs does he have to hit to keep the phones ringing?

Darren Rovell, who covers sports business for ESPN.com, can be reached at darren.rovell@espn3.com.