If Kobe Bryant Jumped Off A Cliff ...Would You?

LOOKS LIKE I AM GOING TO TURKEY FOR MY NEXT SUMMER VACATION!!! :)

If Kobe Bryant jumped off a cliff I am pretty sure there would a line of "die" hard fans who would follow him. That is how big his impact is on society. Bryant is among the elite and has had the ability to capitalize significantly on his athletic success by receiving millions of dollars in endorsement deals over the course of his career.

Please peruse this exhaustive list of as many Kobe Bryant Endorsements I could find; Adidas, Nike, Sprite, McDonalds, Spalding, Upper Deck, Ferraro, Nutella, Russell Corporation, Nintendo, Vitamin Water, Turkish Airlines, ESPN Magazine, Guitar Hero, FC Bareclona, Sina.com, contactmusic.com, Call of Duty video game, and more.

Despite his negative press in years past, despite the inevitable process of aging, despite the emergence of NBA kings like Lebron James, Kobe Bryant still has an estimated $16 million coming in annually from his endorsements alone.

Why on the planet would Turkish Airlines pursue an endorsement deal with Kobe Bryant? Since signing Kobe, "Turkish Airlines earned a $515 million profit in 2009. Compare that to AirTran, which earned $135 million profit in 2009, the highest revenue of any U.S. carrier. The only other U.S. airlines to even earn a profit in 2009 were Alaska, Southwest and JetBlue. Passenger traffic for Turkish Airlines is up 17.1 percent on the year so far this year. The airline has carried 26.9 million passengers from January through November. The company is also adding 42 new planes next year" (Rovell, 2010).

I can't quite figure out the pattern or Kobe Bryant's "Brand" however I can see the one similarity amongst all of these endorsement offers...... It is green, about 6.14 inches long, and spends ever to sweetly; even if it is spent on a really great publicist working overtime during a huge rape scandal.

Rovell, D. (2010, December 13). Kobe Bryant to Endorse Turkish Airlines. Retrieved February 10, 2011, from Sports Biz with Darren Rovell: http://www.cnbc.com/id/40641746/Kobe_Bryant_To_Endorse_Turkish_Airlines