Roger Federer Is the King of Athlete Endorsements

When the defending champion Roger Federer stepped on the Center Court at Wimbledon for his first round match on Monday, many spectators had to look twice before realizing it was indeed the 36-year-old Swiss stepping onto the court. It wasn’t a new haircut or a beard that threw them off, but Federer’s unfamiliar outfit: for the first time in his professional career, the Swiss maestro wasn’t dressed in Nike. Instead Federer wore gear made by the Japanese brand Uniqlo.

To insiders the switch to Uniqlo didn’t come as a total surprise, because it was well-known that Federer’s Nike contract had expired in March. However, he still wore his Nike gear in the Wimbledon warm-up tournaments of Halle and Stuttgart as well as in training in London, so many had assumed that a deal had been reached after all. Apparently it hasn’t and Uniqlo decided to reveal its surprise coup at Tennis’ biggest stage: Wimbledon.

According to industry chatter, the 10-year Uniqlo deal is worth $30 million a year to Federer, which is probably unprecedented for an athlete at Federer’s age and stage in his career. However, thanks to his sustained success and his flawless demeanor off and (mostly) on the tennis court, Federer is almost universally beloved, which is probably why Uniqlo (and many other companies) decided to sign him regardless of his age. As the following chart illustrates, no other athlete made more money with endorsement deals over the past year than Federer did. According to Forbes, his partnerships with companies such as Mercedes-Benz, Rolex, Moet & Chandon, Jura, Wilson and others netted him $65 million in the 12 months ending June 1, 2018, dwarfing his prize money earnings of $12.2 million over the same period.

Sports Endorsement Infographic

Follr Releases Follr Global, A Sports SaaS Platform For Fan Management, Engagement and Monetization

New white label offering provides a single platform to manage fan communication, brand protection and marketing while increasing content reach and opening new revenue channels and markets

Wappingers Falls, NY (June 26th, 2018) Follr, Inc., a SaaS (Service as a software) company today announced the release of “Follr Global”, a white label software platform that provides sports franchises, media companies and organizations in the entertainment industry with a broad suite of services to help fan management, engagement and monetization. The news follows the companies recent announcement about record growth.

Follr Logo

The Follr platform is centered on Follr Communities, highly customizable Websites that enable fans and supporters clubs to create an online community around a common team, person or shared interest and passion. Each Follr Community provides a single point of entry that provides fans with a broad suite of features that include:

  • An ecommerce platform
  • Marketing tools
  • Communication channels
  • Content and social media aggregation
  • Event management
  • Free and paid memberships
  • Automated social media distribution

Mark Wayman

Mark Wayman

“We are very excited to release Follr Global primarily because it enables large organizations to control every aspect of fan management while concurrently opening up new revenue from latent sources,” stated Follr Product Lead Mark Wayman adding “The fact that we can also integrate Follr Global into existing technologies and provide a complex suite of management tools through one interface is something we expect will save our clients enormous amounts of time and money.”

Follr Global opens up the Follr software to sports franchises and teams looking to manage a distributed fan base while protecting their brand, controlling and owning fan data and leveraging official supporters clubs to increase market share. This is achieved in part by a security hierarchy that enables global design changes, content updates and sharing. Simplification of supporters club administration, coupled with the ability to work with existing sales and marketing software, allows the platform to seamlessly integrate into an organization’s operations. Available as a white label product, it can additionally be customized to match the existing brand of any organization using it.

The Follr platform also provides rich fan demographics through member profiles which detail personal and professional interests and experience.

Stephen Fells

Stephen Fells

“The growth of online sports marketing, especially fan driven conversation and content creation, has created new problems for brands and is compounded by the efforts of many, especially in sports, to reach a global audience,” stated Follr CEO Stephen Fells adding “We have seen this manifest in our own record growth making the timing of the release of Follr Global ideal; this is the perfect time for a centralised solution that solves busines problems for fan based organizations while additionally helping fans to connect with the teams, players and artists they love.”

Follr Global can be licensed. Its release is one of several announcements the company expect to make during 2018.

About Follr, Inc.:

Follr, Inc. (www.follr.com) is a software company founded in 2011. Located in California and New York, Follr provides Web-based business and personal marketing products.

Follr Communities provide vibrant, social communities and groups to engage individuals around a membership, club, group, shared passion or interest.

Follr Profile Websites enable individuals, companies and brands to tell their story using a combination of personal or corporate history, social media profiles (Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare etc.) and content. They are personally branded Websites used as an initial point of contact and represent an aggregation of all online and offline information. Accessed by an enduring, easy to remember URL they represent a more complete picture and story in an increasingly digital world.

The Follr network provides users with the ability to create and edit their Follr Profile Website and Follr Community. It additionally facilitates improved networking while providing access to millions of jobs.

Follr is funded through Blossom Ventures. For more information see the company Website, Facebook or Twitter.

“Follr – Reinventing The Fan Experience”

Contact:

Follr, Inc.
(888) 201-5160
info@follr.com