Dannon pivot to Dak Prescott reveals brands’ contingency plans for athlete endorsement deals
The speed with which yogurt giant Dannon replaced former spokesman Cam Newton with Dak Prescott highlights the fact that these brands always have a Plan B.
Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton’s dismissal as a spokesperson for Dannon was quick after he made a sexist comment during a press conference. The speed with which that move was made was quickly eclipsed, however, by Dannon finding a replacement in Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott. That urgency suggests that the logistics for the Prescott campaign were already in place, waiting to be activated.
Endorsement deals can be a win-win situation for both athletes and brands. They allow the athletes to further capitalize on their often small windows of peak celebrity status while giving brands the exposure and familiarity with audiences that have been proven to drive sales. It’s exactly that kind of relationship which formerly existed between Dannon and Newton.
Like yogurt, these relationships often have a short shelf life. That shelf life is shortened even further if the celebrity paid to endorse a product does or says something immoral.
In anticipation of such potential circumstances, morality clauses are nearly always a part of the endorsement contracts between the parties. These clauses allow brands to essentially “fire” the athlete and pivot their branding. Morality clauses aren’t the only action that brands who contract celebrities like professional athletes take, however.
Just like NFL teams, it’s also common practice for brands to have backups. While brands can be quick to exercise morality clauses and cut ties with celebrities, they don’t want to lose the market share that the endorsement deal played a part in bringing to them. A comparable celebrity is often waiting in the wings for her/his endorsement deal to be made official. That’s exactly what recently occurred with Prescott.
The speed with which Dannon executed the contract and even completed some of the logistics of the campaign suggest that not only was Prescott “Plan B” for Dannon but the company might even have been planning on replacing Newton with Prescott anyway when Newton’s contract was up. Prescott is a former SEC turned NFL quarterback like Newton but is a fresher face to NFL audiences. Branding is all about capitalizing on the moment in the Internet age, and Prescott represents the moment in the NFL.
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Any time a professional athlete does or says something that is received as immoral, the brands with which that athlete is associated are thrown into chaos. Limiting the duration and intensity of that chaos requires having a contingency plan, and that’s exactly what Dannon had with Prescott.