Marketability: Sidney Crosby gets the gold, other Olympians may boost their stock at Sochi

When it comes to marketability among Canadian Olympians, Sidney Crosby carries the torch.

With 95% of 500 Canadian respondents in a recent poll being able to tell you who he is, Crosby is by far the most recognizable among a group of athletes whose marketability is being measured and monitored as the 2014 Olympic Games come and go.

Celebrity DBI, (Davie-Brown Index) is a data tabulation tool being employed by a company called Repucom Canada, which claims it is an effective tool in measuring the marketing power of personalities in the public eye. Repucom has selected twenty Olympians across a wide range of disciplines and scored them in what the company considers eight key areas: Awareness, appeal, aspiration, breakthrough, endorsement, influence, trend-setting and trust. (The full list of athletes can be found at the bottom of this page)

Crosby needs no introduction to Canadians, as he led the group in five of those areas: Awareness, endorsement, influence, trend-setting and aspiration (Crosby actually finished in a tie for first in this category with skeleton competitor Melissa Hollingsworth). Aspiration measures the degree to which the respondent feels that athlete has a life to which they would like to aspire. Explanations for it and the other categories can be found in the graphic, below, right:
(Click on the photo for an enlarged version)

The data, gathered last November, had Crosby far ahead of the second-most recognized athlete in the group, Canadian women's hockey legend (and Canada's flag bearer for the opening ceremonies at Sochi) Hayley Wickenheiser, who was known by 66% of those asked. Figure skater Patrick Chan was next, at 65%, with freestyle skier Alex Bilodeau at 56%.

Being known, quite obviously, would be about the most important attribute an athlete could have, when it comes to marketability. If no one knows who you are, it's highly unlikely that a major coffee and donut chain is going to ring you up and ask you to do a few commercials.

While the big fish in landing some corporate cash would be a full endorsement, including splashy television commercials, it's far from the only avenue where Olympians can score a payday.

Heather MacLean is President of Pro Speakers, a Canadian company that books speakers for events, including corporate functions. Among Olympians on her company's roster are Chan and Bilodeau, as well as Simon Whitfield, and Christine Sinclair. Maclean says athletes who can command a room with either their personality or their accomplishments, can pocket large dollars for public appearances.

"Speaking engagements and public appearances can be a very lucrative for athletes," she said. "Fees can range anywhere from five thousand to twenty thousand dollars for an appearance."

Although Maclean isn't sure an Olympian can boost their stock high enough to get into Crosby territory with a big performance, she does concede that a podium finish can help in getting those speaking gigs.

“Typically post Olympics there is a significant opportunity for high profile athletes with engaging stories and presentation styles to speak to corporate Canada,” she said.

Having a familiar face and a good story may not be all it takes. Being trusted, having an appeal and being able to influence consumers positively are rather important as well and Crosby scores well in most of the other categories measured by Repucom, as well.

He scored the highest marks in endorsement, with 90% of the people who were familiar with him believing he is an effective spokesperson. 95% believe he is influential.

The category of "aspiration," is an interesting one. Again, Crosby finished in top spot at 93%. However, by this measuring stick, he was tied with Hollingsworth, a bronze medallist at the 2006 Olympics who was then shut out of the medals at Vancouver in 2010. With just 26% of those polled being able to recognize her by face or name, a gold medal run at Sochi could definitely boost her fortunes. Making a name for herself next month might get marketers interested, considering she also scored highly in the category of "appeal" (93%).

It will be interesting to see how and if the Games of Sochi will change the fortunes of some of the lesser-known athletes on Repucom's list. Consider the case of skeleton competitor Jon Montgomery, who ranks well in many of these categories. He lags far behind Crosby in awareness, at 43% but that awareness would be much lower had he not made a name for himself in 2010. That's when he won a gold medal and famously celebrated by walking down the main drag in the Olympic Village, chugging a pitcher of beer.

Montgomery scores highly with a few of the other barometers. Of the people who knew him, 92% found him appealing, compared to Crosby's 91%. Montgomery scored highly in trustworthiness, too, with 83% thinking he was worthy of being trusted.

Meaghan Mikkelson, a member of Canada's Olympic women's hockey team who won gold in Vancouver, has already found some marketing traction, appearing in a television commercial you may recall.

She led all twenty athletes in the survey with 87% finding her trustworthy (Crosby was just behind at 86%, Wickenheiser scored 85%). But she was near the bottom of the list when it came to awareness, with only 24% of those polled being able to recognize her. Should she emerge as a hero for the team at Sochi, she stands to have her awareness quotient jolted and that could lead to even more appearances on television, as well as a few more corporate speaking engagements.

Repucom plans to revisit their process once the Sochi Games are complete, to see what effect the performances of the twenty athletes have had, if any.

The numbers will be detailed and they may well be telling. It will be interesting to see if there is a drop for Crosby in some categories should the Canadian men fail to win gold. Or if his recognizability factor can go even higher. Or if the likes of Hollingsworth and Mikkelson earn a breakthrough when it comes to being recognized, themselves.

There can be little doubt, however, that those numbers will confirm a couple of things that we already know.

One, that Crosby's draw is powerful.

And, two, that a gold medal can give you valuable face time, as well as make an entire nation your pal.

Turning that into something more takes something more.

BELOW: The twenty Canadian athletes being studied by Repucom: (Click the list to enlarge)