Companies lining up to sign Crosby

Both on and off the ice, plucky hockey phenom Sidney Crosby seems to have it all. He's a swift and strong skater, a magician with the puck, and, just 19, he doesn't seem to mind taking a beating when he hovers in front of enemy goalies.

Add the fact Crosby is attractive and it's understandable why companies are scrambling to sign him as a corporate pitchman.

The Pittsburgh Penguins forward already has endorsement contracts with soft drink maker Pepsi, sports drink Gatorade, Lays potato chips, telecom company Telus Corp., sports apparel maker Reebok International Ltd. and sports card maker Upper Deck Co.

Now, his representatives are in talks with sandwich chain Subway Restaurants and several sources say deals with charge card American Express and a large automaker such as General Motors Corp. could follow.

Some veteran marketing officials wonder whether Crosby might be too coveted for his own good.

"He already has an enormous stable of companies and it begs the question, what's the prow of the ship, what's the primary brand he has a relationship with?" asked John Farquhar, a Toronto advertising executive who once advised Ford with its hiring of Wayne Gretzky as a pitchman. "He's running the risk of becoming a corporate shill."

To be sure, companies that tie their brands to Crosby run a much larger risk than the hockey star himself.

"Where's the cachet of having Sidney Crosby as your endorser if you're sharing him with six or seven other brands?"asked Karen Howe, creative director of Toronto ad agency Due North. "It goes against everything we try to do in advertising. We try to be unique and have different positioning."

Hiring a celebrity spokesperson isn't a new phenomenon. Following the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, companies scrambled to sign gymnast Mary Lou Retton to an endorsement contract after the then-15-year-old won the gold medal in the women's all-around competition and captivated TV audiences around the world.

Soon, mainstream pro athletes, led by basketball's Michael Jordan, became a hot commodity sought by companies looking to stoke interest in their products. In hockey, however, it's rare for players to buttress their salaries with endorsement income.

Bob Stellick, a former Maple Leafs official who now runs a sports marketing agency, said some companies shy away from signing players as spokespeople. On one hand, athletes can be unpredictable. Gatorade cut short an ad campaign featuring Vancouver Canucks star Todd Bertuzzi after he assaulted another player on the ice and faced criminal charges.

Further, some companies see modern-day players as being too far removed from the consumers they want to target, Stellick said.

"Players these days make so much money and live in huge houses and drive big cars; nobody's doing hockey camps any more," he said. "And as players make more money, unless they're like Tie Domi and they want to be on TV, they don't seem to want to take the time to do the commercials."

Crosby is a clear exception. While most other pro hockey players who pursue endorsement contracts command up to $90,000 US a year, Crosby is said to receive at least $500,000 US per deal.

One person familiar with the matter said Crosby may garner as much as $600,000 US from Subway. Crosby's agent, Pat Brisson, said no deal has been finalized. He said he's still in talks with four restaurant chains and three domestic automakers about Crosby.