Since this past Thanksgiving, the public has been enthralled with the story of the Tiger Woods affair. While I am sure that there is a healthy portion of the population who finds the saga interesting for gossip-purposes, there is also a very 
notable component that goes un-discussed on programs like Headline News or Entertainment Tonight: the idea of the Tiger Woods brand being tarnished, and potentially beyond repair. In a recent blog post, Gwen Knapp of the San Francisco Chronicle made a recommendation to Tiger Woods: “Stop being a control freak.” I wonder if his control is the only thing that made his brand stick for so many years.
Unfortunately, it seems that Woods has backed himself into a corner. He forced his brand not only on the public, but also on himself. As the Brand Personality framework notes, one of the key facets of a successful brand personality is sincerity. Tiger Woods “family man” brand was incredibly successful because he truly seems to love his wife and kids; yet he tarnished his brand when he failed to live it.
As I discuss in How to Start Your Business with $100, your brand should be a way of life, and therefore your brand should really exemplify who you are and what you value.
Do you think Tiger Woods can rebuild his brand? After individuals or companies break from their brand, should they change their brand, or stick by it? Can you think of ways that your brand affects your own business and mode of operations?
9 Comments
Not for nothing, but Tiger Woods is utterly ridiculous. I think he should crawl in a hole.
Ja-Nae, nice post though. Love your stuff.
Places like CNN and Headline News and Entertainment tonight are just looking for things that they can talk about.
Honestly, I think Tiger’s dad is rolling over in his grave right now.
Well, I am the contrarian. I think there has only been slight damage to his brand. Tiger’s brand is about winning and the relentless pursuit of a goal, to beat Jack Nicklaus’s record. It is about the discipline he has shown in trying to achieve that goal. As a result, even after the scandal, he was still voted the athlete of the decade! He is still the only athlete to earn $1 billion dollars in any sport. That’s Tiger’s brand, that is what makes him different from any other athlete, ever. Nike didn’t even have a golf products division before Tiger, now it does $1 billion per year.Its no wonder Nike is staying with him! Since high school Tiger has been dating and marrying skinny white women who look like Barbie. Don’t you think men are envious of a guy who is a rich, successful athlete, has a $22 million boat, private jet, multiple homes, and he marries a model, “dates” an escort, lingerie model, porn star, among others? He is living out the male fantasy. He has everything Hugh Hefner has and then some. Do you remember how Magic Johnson got AIDS? He said there were a lot of women who wanted to sleep with him and he tried to accommodate as many as possible. No one thinks of Magic Johnson and Aids as much as Laker super star and smart businessman. Kobe Bryant raped a woman, while he was married and he got his endorsements back two years later.
John Daly another pro golfer lost $60 million in gambling debts, is an alcoholic, chain smoker, over weight and has been divorced four or five times. He has even lost his tour card and he still has endorsements worth millions.
And what about the Martha Stewart brand, Kmart and Macy’s didn’t take her products off the shelf, instead they added to it. Tiger’s brand is about winning and if he goes out and wins, and breaks Jack;s record, that is what he will be known for and that will be what his brand will be about. However, going forward, Tiger will have to make a choice promiscuous athlete or family man He can be successful either way, but not picking a path and staying with it will hurt him.
Five years from now this will be a distant memory. If I could buy stock in Tiger’s future I would.
For a moment if we can put the past and the damage that has already been done in the rear view mirror then there is no where to go from here but UP.
He is still the most tenacious and the best golfer that any of us have seen.
His actions and steps will now be watched ever more carefully and it’s entirely up to him where he wants to go from here. From what I have read and know of Tiger, “the brand and the person” I think the sky is the limit once again.
I agree with your Blog and I will be back to check it more in the future so please keep up your work. I love your content and the way that you write. It looks like you’ve been doing this for a while now, how long have you been blogging for?
great article, dude! I saw let him rot. But that’s just my personal opinion.
Great article, thank you very much!
great post as usual!
wow.. I really enjoyed reading your post. great stuff.
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