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Can Jake pitch biscuits after turnovers?

By Jen Aronoff

McClatchy-Tribune News Service

Published: September 17, 2009

CHARLOTTE - Jake Delhomme's recent on-field performances have left Carolina Panthers fans stewing about his turnovers. But for companies relying on the quarterback to endorse their products, the question is whether he'll still be able to effectively pitch biscuits.

In Sunday's season opener, Delhomme had four interceptions and a fumble, making for a loss remarkably similar to the team's last game that counted, versus Arizona in the playoffs, in January.

Fans booed him, the coach benched him and callers to sports talk radio savaged him. But sponsors use different calculations than the coaching staff in deciding whether to send a player packing.

Endorsement deals depend on athletes' longer-term viability and factors that extend beyond how well they play, such as personality. As a result, the companies Delhomme endorses aren't likely to make any abrupt moves.

"Certainly, (after) one bad game -- even one horrible game, like he had on Sunday -- most endorsers are going to say, 'We're going to hope that was an anomaly,'" said Jim Andrews, a senior vice president at IEG LLC, a Chicago-based sponsorship consulting firm. "If he has a really horrible first half of the season, then I think you start to say, 'OK, is he now a liability for us?'"

Companies that sign sports figures to endorsement deals know to expect on-field ups and downs. As a result, such contracts typically don't include clauses tied to performance. Companies cannot break an agreement just because an athlete is in a slump -- unlike, say, if the person is arrested or penalized for misconduct, a la Michael Vick. So if they feel a spokesman has truly become a negative due to his play, their only option is to pull ads and wait for the contract to expire, Andrews said.

Besides, athletes' endorsement value extends beyond simply how well they play. Although winning is usually a prerequisite for gaining endorsement deals and can only help in keeping them, likability and personal story count for a lot, too. Dale Earnhardt Jr., for instance, continues to rake in endorsement dollars despite not winning a race since June 2008.

Delhomme currently endorses Nike and the Charlotte Metro Credit Union, and he's also appeared in advertisements for SunCom Wireless and Time Warner Cable in the past, said Dave Riggs, director of athlete marketing at Priority Sports and Entertainment, which represents Delhomme.

But his best-known and longest deal is with Bojangles', dating to 2004. He's starred in a string of television commercials for the Charlotte-based chicken chain -- including the "Jerry Maguire" parody in which he exhorts his agent to "Show me the chicken!" -- and has also appeared in stores and on promotional materials. Delhomme's most recent Bojangles' spot, "Genie," was filmed last year and produced by Eric Mower and Associates.

None of the Delhomme commercials is currently airing, and the company was unable to say
Wednesday when they last aired or may appear again. That could change from week to week based on strategy shifts, said Randy Poindexter, Bojangles' senior vice president of marketing, noting that the company has an extensive library of commercials that it rotates to promote the brand and various products.

Bojangles' contract with Delhomme extends through April 2010, and the company has no plans to make any changes to the agreement, Poindexter said, praising the relationship as "special and productive." "Jake is an incredible person with great character who has done a lot over the past six years for the Carolina Panthers, the Charlotte community and Bojangles'," he said.

Delhomme endorses only a few products and is viewed as down-to-earth, friendly, approachable and a team player. In ads like the Bojangles' spots, he's also shown himself to be a good sport, doing things like donning a cape and driving around in a "Dukes of Hazzard"-style car, Andrews said.

"Obviously, endorsement-wise, overall, the team's on-field success helps," Riggs said. "But I think that Jake, to an extent, transcends that. There's a reason why Bojangles' has been with him since 2004."

Ultimately, a player's status as an endorser depends on how fans feel about him -- over time, not after a couple of off games. If Delhomme's play continues to be spotty, then his popularity would likely decline, making him less valuable as a pitchman, said Craig Depken, a UNC Charlotte associate professor who studies sports economics. If he's traded to another team, he might no longer resonate well with people who eat at Bojangles', a regional chain.

Conversely, if he compiles another winning season and goes out that way, he could pitch products even after his playing days are done, as former players have done in markets across the country.

"Goodwill from winning seems to have a very low depreciation rate," Depken noted -- signaling that Panthers fans will probably be open to Jake continuing to show them the chicken, just as long as he's also finding them the end zone, too.