WebProNews

Tag: Mike Vick

  • Michael Vick, Bow Wow Partner For Hair Product Company WaveMasterz

    Michael Vick has been quite busy these days. However, his recent work has nothing to do with a football field.

    This time the famed NFL quarterback is setting his sights on a different type of business venture .

    On Monday, Feb. 17, the NFL free agent took to social media with the announcement of a new business venture that he’s launched with rapper-television host Bow Wow.

    The hair care product company, WaveMasterz, is still in the preliminary stages of business development, but Vick also shared a link to the company’s website.

    Based on the website, which is also still in the developmental stages, the two will be distributing their own product line of hair pomades, brushes, du-rags, and skull caps.

    A line of sunglasses priced at $9.99 a pair are also displayed on the site, but there are currently no purchase options available.

    (image)

    Vick has also taken advantage of social media, creating accounts for the company on a number of social networks. The 4-time Pro-Bowl quarterback also announced that a Twitter account had been created for the new company as well.

    He has encouraged all of his fans to follow the new company for updates about the venture. The Virginia Tech alum also posted a picture of the company’s logo on a newly created Instagram account back in October.

    Almost a week ago, Vick shared an evasive message via Twitter. However, after the announcement of the new company fans can probably associate the tweet with his new partnership. He spoke of the progress the business was making.

    According to the official website, Vick and the New Jack City II rapper are currently planning a celebrity launch tour to begin marketing the company. However, no details about the tour have been released as of yet.

    Image via Michael Vick, Facebook
    Image via Bow Wow, Facebook

  • Fallout From Sponsored Athlete Tweets?

    Fallout From Sponsored Athlete Tweets?

    Earlier this week, we discussed the New Orleans Saints and their sponsored tweets for NOLA.com. Essentially, the idea is to attract more Saints fans to the site, but some are wondering whether or not these kinds of tweets, especially for those who tweet for advertising companies instead of the company being sponsored.

    That, apparently, has been something Michael Vick has been doing for a couple of companies, as you can see for yourself:

    @MikeVick
    Mike Vick    Follow @MusclepharmPres and get his Bizzy Diet Fat Loss plan and the Get Swole plan tweeted out to u. 21 days ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @MikeVick
    Mike Vick    Check out these prizes from the McDonald’s monopoly game >> http://lx.im/1r9q1 – spon 27 days ago via Echofon · powered by @socialditto

    Actually, Vick has been tweeting for a company called MyLikes, and they have companies — like McDonald’s — who buy into their program, leading to tweets from Mike Vick about McDonald’s Monopoly. The truth is, McDonald’s does not employ Vick, but because of their partnership with MyLikes, as well as Vick’s, we have another vicarious partnership between the two, even though neither entity approached one another.

    In fact, I’m not sure how McDonald’s would feel about a person with Vick’s record being a spokesperson, regardless of his post-incarceration popularity. Furthermore, you’ll notice only one of those tweets has the “spon” abbreviation, indicating their are indeed pay-for-tweet posts. Over at Darren Rovell’s awesome sports business blog, he looks at the gray areas surrounding these sponsored tweets:

    Influencers like Vick get paid for their tweets, but what about McDonald’s? Do they know what celebrities are tweeting out their links? I assume they didn’t since confusion ensued when I originally asked if Vick and the brand were associated. That’s a problem if a social media company just guarantees clicks and doesn’t tell the client who is tweeting. In the case of Vick, he’s a potentially controversial figure and once he blatantly tweets about a promotional campaign, it’s assumed that he’s a part of your brand.

    Is that kind of relationship confusion good or bad for product promotion? What happens if McDonald’s doesn’t want to be associated with Vick? Do they tell MyLikes to have everyone tweet about them except Vick?

    Welcome the future of social media marketing. How would you address a sports figure you didn’t necessarily approve of tweeting about your products, all because you signed up with a social media marketing company?