Maria Sharapova: Marketing a Champion

Background
- Born on Apr 19, 1987 in the Russian Industrial Town of Nyagan (Serbia)

- Started to learn tennis with second hand racquets

- Martina Navratilova happened to spot Marias talent in 1993, commenting

she has talent"
- Yuri Sharapova (Father) took her words & decided to take world- class
coaching to help her reach full potential.

- Yuri & Maria shift to USA in 1995 to achieve their dream carrying only
$700 borrowed from family and friends
- Through hard work & dedication, Sharapova was able to secure a
scholarship at IMGs Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy at the age
of 9 Year's old.

- By 13 Sharapova was wining professional tournaments

- In April 2001 she won her first professional tournament, 2002 she won the
WTA tournament & in 2004 her first Grand Slam
with Wimbeldon championship.

- After Wining Wimbeldon at 17, Maria Sharapova became the

3rd youngest & 1st ever Russian to win the elite tournaments

- Maria is represented by her agent Max Eisenbud of IMG

 IMG
One of the leading agencies in sports, Entertainment & media

IMG a sports marketing company was founded by Mack Mccormick

in 1960 and Arnold Palmer a Golfer was their first client.

Headquarters in Eleveland, OHIO

In 1968 McCormick signed Rod Laver his first Tennis client.

Grew tremendously resulting in break down into smaller businesses

to serve clients better

IMG Tennis One of those businesses.

 Eisenbud & IMG
Eisenbud represents an extensive list of clients

Working for IMG, Eisenbud has access to a large team to assist him
in making contacts & deals

With his expertise in tennis industry Eisenbud tends to personally

attend all tennis related business

Relies heavily on global sales team to assist him

with any business outside the Tennis industry

Eisenbud was promoted to Vice President in 2004 with

Wimbledon win of Maria
 Eisenbud & Sharapova
Eisenbud allocates most of his time & efforts to Sharapova

Has been advising Sharapova on her on court success as well as

creating successful business relationships off the court since she was
11

Shortly after Sharapova won Wimbledon, Eisenbud received almost

700 emails requesting her for media appearance

Sharapova was on high demand all over globe

Before wining Wimbledon Eisenbud helped her get contracts with

NIKE & Prince Tennis Racquets which she signed 6 & 3
years ago
 Management Issues
Many issue facing Max Eisenbud with regards to marketing Sharapova as a
Champion.

1
Market Sharapova in a way that different from Anna Kournikova
Both Blond & Russian tennis players
Kournikova known more for her looks & tabloid presence over her tennis career.
They had to make sure that Sharapova wouldnt fall into celebrity spotlight
He must make sure that she is known for her athletic ability rather than her
appearance
 2

Eisenbud must determine the best balance of short term & long term
opportunities that maximize the management marketing success of
Sharapova
 3
Wining Winbledon opens doors to endorsement opportunities

Eisenbud must pick up endorsement opportunities that aligns with

the desired perception & brand of Sharapova

Facing the decision of talking on the cell phone company

Motorola

Other endorsement opportunities included a UK based Furniture

company, a French luxury goods company, a personal fragile
line & a Skin care treatment
 Analysis to Market Maria Sharapova
Opportunities and Threats
Internal Analysis
IMG Claims to be the worlds premier sports, Entertainment & media
company

IMG has many Strengths

Their operations includes- Broadcasting, music, Fashion, Licensing &

Consulting, Event Ownership, Management of sport academics

They represents clients all over the world

Internal agents & salesperson maximize Sharapovas relationship

with corporate clients.
 IMG being strong in many areas, must monitor the internal environment
for weakness to improve operations

They have diversified too much & too much diversification can lead to
unfocused operation losing focus on promoting brands like Sharapova.

Their sales force can find new companies that would like to utilize IMGs
services & clients

IMG must offer good services to keep their talent & avoiding
them to switch to competition

Dying interest in sport can could be a threat of course IMG

cannot control that so it has diversified to various different
sports
Economic conditions can affect IMG
 IMG has a strong relationship with Clients

Core competency of IMG Ability to scout & retain talented clients

(Sharapova @ 11)
 Analysis to Market Maria Sharapova
External Analysis

1.Industry Trends
2.Industry Environment
3.Competition
 Industry Trend
Sport industry accounted $40 Billion in revenues in US & $80 Billion
worldwide in 2003

Up from $32 billion & $68 Billion just two years earlier

New forms of media provide alternate revenue

Done by new areas of endorsements, Sponsorship &

Merchandising

Favorable economic condition allow people to spend

more
 Industry Environment
ATP & WTA prof tennis player organizations

ATP Men tour

WTA Women Tour

WTA- Highest tier prize- $1.3 M & lowest tier around $10,000/-

Steffi Graf- $22M in career (Highest)

Avg player makes 100,000 a year

 Competition
Competition for Maria Sharapova comes from 2 different sources

1) Competition from other tennis players

More of a direct Competition should do better than other tennis players to
be at the top of the ranking & get best sponsorships & endorsements

2) Other Competition from outstanding athletes in other sports

All top athletes are competing for deals outside the sports in areas like
cars, Watches, Clothing etc
There is a list of top 25 compensated athletes which shows
how athletes makes their money.
For eg: - Tiger woods ears $ 76 M a year - $70 M a year
from endorsements
On other hand 12th ranked athlete makes $ 22 M a year &
only $ 250,000 of this comes from endorsements
 Citing opportunities
Maria immediately on winning the Wimbeldon, tried
calling her mother from her unbranded cell phone and
mobile failed to do
Immediately, Zucker approached Motorola, since he knew
they were coming with the new Razor phone, so it was
easy to reach out to them.
 Recommendations
Limit the number of endorsement deals to no more than 10 at a time

Jeff Chown from The Marketing Arm stated:-

She has great marketing potential. She has the looks of
Kournikova, but the game will keep her in public eye.
Only take endorsement deals that strengthen Sharapovas brand
image
Sign with Motorola for the release of the new Razor Phone
Continue to strengthen contract with NIKE by developing a Sharapova
clothing Line
Highly utilize IMGs recourses to increase public relation opportunities
 Thank You
Ashwini Patil- 58
Samson Pandi- 100
Sanket Bhosle- 12
Tejal Kadam- 37
Muslim Chitalwala- 15