Branding Magic Johnson
When I think of Magic Johnson, the following words come to mind:
- Lakers – He took the Lakers NBA team to many championships.
- Basketball – He played basketball for most of his life.
- HIV – While playing basketball he was diagnosed with HIV.
- Philanthropy – He founded the The Magic Johnson Foundation.
How would you brand Magic Johnson?
Magic reinvents his brand
Before – basketball player
After winning a championship in high school and college, he was selected 1st in the 1979 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Lakers. Johnson won a championship and a Finals MVP award in his first season, and the Lakers went on to win a total of five championships during the 1980s. Johnson retired abruptly in 1991 after announcing that he had HIV, but he returned to win the MVP of 1992 All-Star Game. He retired again for four years after protests from his fellow players, but he returned in 1996 to play 32 games for the Lakers, before retiring for the third and final time.
Johnson’s career achievements include five NBA championships, three Most Valuable Player Awards, and three Finals Most Valuable Player Awards. Johnson was honored as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996, and enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002. He was also rated the greatest NBA point guard of all time by ESPN in 2007.
– Wikipedia
After – a businessman?
Magic owns the Johnson Development, Magic Johnson Enterprises, and the Magic Johnson Foundation. Johnson Development specializes in building projects in urban neighborhoods. He is the only franchisee of Starbucks in the country, owning a 50% share of 72 locations. Magic convinced Starbucks, T.G.I. Friday’s, and Loews theaters to locate where others feared to tread. Not only was he enriching the communities by giving them a sense of inclusion, but through Johnson Development he was cutting deals that no one else could.
Since 1992, he’s built an estimated $700 million portfolio. Even more impressive, he’s responsible for helping the world understand that America’s inner cities have $85 billion in annual spending power.
-Inc. Magazine
A recent interview with Magic
This excerpt was taken from an interview between Alan Colmes, of Fox News, and Magic yesterday.
Alan Colmes: One of the things you talk about in the book is branding and how one brands oneself. And your very personal story about when you were diagnosed HIV positive, you had to deal with branding yourself. You were a brand.
Magic Johnson: Right.
Alan Colmes: And that was something you had to overcome. How did you approach that issue?
Magic Johnson: A great, great question. What happened was a lot of the endorsements that I had, those companies dropped me, so I had to reinvent myself. I had to come back and make sure that I now built a business brand instead of a basketball brand. And so I made sure that, in my investments, that I became successful. I was very disciplined on who I would get in business with, because their brand would help my brand grow, and I would help their brand grow.
Brand Analysis
Right now, you must be asking, “how did Magic pull off that reinvention”? I don’t think he mad much of a choice. Magic couldn’t go back to being a basketball player because he had HIV and retired, so instead his passion for business (that must have been hidden at the time) came to life! Magic was clearly a businessman all along, so when he reinvented his brand, it was more of just unearthing what was already there.
It must have been challenging for him to make a name in business because people saw him as a basketball player. I think we should all consider that you learn a heck of a lot about business when you play a sport (and are paid for doing so). We all have to act like businesses now because we are one! Magic leveraged his personal brand equity in order to open enough doors, so he could gain credibility with the most successful businesspeople. If Magic was a horrible businessman, then his name wouldn’t even help him. You really need to be a strong product.
Magic explains all
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWXha9l5WGg]
