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Abstract
Athlete brands exist within a network of brand relationships. Thus, considering the joint influences of related brands at different levels (league, team, and athlete) is essential for understanding how athlete brands are built. We focus on growth factors impacting athletes social media followings (Twitter and Instagram) around the critical juncture of team transfer periods. We use data from the NFL Draft, because this moment in time provides a key opportunity to capture combined influences from league-, team-, athlete-, and platform-related factors on athlete brand development. Through comparing a large sample of athlete social media followings before and after the draft, we identify immediate changes as athletes start their professional careers. Results indicate examining multiple factors in the same model is essential for understanding the role each plays in building athlete brands. The league and team represent master brands into which an athlete brand is integrated, and consequently athlete brands are provided with benefits from these new brand relationships. Results further demonstrate network effects, highlighting the importance of possessing a strong brand before a high-profile event.
Keywords: athlete branding, social media, network effect, brand relationship, nonparametric regression
http://doi.org/10.32731/SMQ.291.302020.03
Introduction
An athletes personal brand is one of their most valuable assets. A strong athlete brand is associated with greater earnings from salary, transfer fees, and endorsement deals (Parmentier & Fischer, 2012) and can help maintain a positive image even when on-field performance declines (Pegoraro & Jinnah, 2012). Social media platforms allow athletes to construct their personal brand without much financial investment, as they are easy to use and have other benefits related to reach and accessibility (cf., Eagleman, 2013; Geurin-Eagleman & Burch, 2016). Consequently, an athletes social media profiles are now an inseparable part of their brand and a key mechanism for athletes to pursue branding initiatives (Geurin, 2017). For example, soccer player Michael Lahoud leveraged his community efforts and social media following to negotiate a contract with a new team and to develop a unique and distinct athlete brand (Kunkel, Scott, & Beaton, 2016).
As the value of athlete brands is increasingly recognized in the industry, athletes social media perfor- mance has garnered particular interest among academics and practitioners. Building on research establishing the factors that contribute to growth and success of athlete brands...