Describe The Relationship Between Athletes And Athletes

During controversies associated with athletes and their brands, relationships between athletes and their fans are crucial to being successful. However, with a high profile crisis such as those like Ray Rice, Tom Brady, Tiger Woods, and many other athletes, relationships between the athlete and fan can become strained and fragmented. With the marketing of an athlete as a brand, fans create and build relationships to connect with a particular athlete. The relationship that fans (also known as consumers) establish with their favorite athlete takes time to mature. Therefore, for fans to build a relationship with a brand (or athlete, which will be used interchangeably) there are certain steps that the brand and the consumer must achieve. According to Bee and Kahle (2006), for a fan to associate with a brand, a fan must 1) have compliance, 2) identify (identification), and 3) internalization (p.105). Within each of the three steps, there are guidelines that both the athlete and fan must meet to achieve success as a brand and relatable for fans. The brand must have 1) social effect, 2) attractiveness, and 3) creditability. The fans, on the other hand, must benefit from and believe the social effect, social anchorage, and creditability (Bee and Kahle, 2006, p.105) of the

brand.
However, during a crisis, many fans will begin to disassociate with the brand (athlete).

In “negative consequences […] consumers may refrain from attending an event or avoid wearing sport-related clothing to avoid public embarrassment or ridicule” (Bee and Kahle 106-07). In a crisis, a fan (consumer) will lose all interest and trust in the brand because of the negative image that the athlete portrays. This conflict between a current negative image and a previous positive image will leave the fan confused about what is the true image that the athlete wants his fans and the media to see. Therefore, leaving the fan with the choice to distance itself from the negative publicity that the brand has

received.
Nevertheless, even if a brand tarnishes itself due to a crisis, there are steps that the brand can take to reestablish itself. The steps that the athlete must take are simply the steps that the athlete took to gain its fans, which are 1) creditability, 2) social effect, and 3) attractiveness. Before the athlete regains its fans, the athlete must gain their trust back. This step is crucial because if the fans do not believe the athlete, they will not re-associate with the brand. The next step is social effect; the athlete will need to work extremely hard to gain the acceptance from his fans. Even if that means gaining back its fan base through extrinsic value to bring them back to the brand. Lastly, attractiveness, which the athlete will have to be open about why the situation happened and that the athlete promises that the crisis will never happen again; in addition, to working on the previous image that the athlete once portrayed to his fans. If the athlete focuses on these three steps to improve itself, the fan base will return.