Video Games, Sports and Athletes as Brands

When it comes to video games…my skills are seriously lacking. I’m pretty sure I peaked with GoldenEye back on the N64. But that is definitely not the case with my brothers, they are video game fanatics. But 99% of that can be explained by the fact that I’m a girl, and well, they are teenage guys. Guys in general just seemed to be drawn to video games like a moth to a flame, and I wouldn’t even be surprised if a study came out next week explaining how guys are born with natural video games skills.

Video games have a way to capture the attention of boys and men (and yes, even some women) unlike any other medium. Players devote countless hours to perfecting their skills. This is the same when nearly any type of video game whether it be Halo, Call of Duty, or NBA 2K11. But slight differences arises from sports video games. Majority of the time, players will inherently choose their favorite team and player, and before I dive into the rest of the advertising that takes place in sports video games, I believe that athletes and teams are in of themselves, brands. They are recognizable worldwide, provide a service, and worth, in some cases, millions of dollars…just like the typical brands that we think of (i.e. Coke, Adidas, etc…)

To many people there is a distinct difference between players, teams, and the brand sponsoring either the team or the player. But in my opinion, now more than ever, players are becoming a brand in and of itself. Sure there are brands that are associated with the respective sports and teams, and numerous players are brand representatives, but overall the big money makers are the teams and players themselves. People aren’t paying money just to look at an Adidas jersey. People are paying money to the Argentinean team play and Lionel Messi score a game winning goal.

So going off of this idea of the player as the brand, I know from talking to my brothers, and even from personal experience, that when it comes to your favorite player, you absolutely love to have the opportunity to own almost anything with their name on it. While talking with my brother I asked him who his favorite NBA player was. His response was Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder and a former University of Texas player. I then followed up with another question as to whether or not seeing Kevin’s face on the cover of the game would make him more inclined to buy the game (versus just have the generic NBA logo or a collage of random players), and his answer was “absolutely, it’s just another way of showing your support for that player and that team”. So picking the right athlete to grace the cover of your latest game could potentially boost sales from sports fanatics who are just itching to own another piece of their team.