Super Bowl Heroes Past, Present Rank High as Endorsers

Another Super Bowl Sunday will produce memorable plays and make players into stars. After the game, some of those stars will turn into successful commercial endorsers.

Nielsen Talent Analytics looked at 30 of the highest ranked NFL players by N-Score — which evaluated the endorsement potential of athletes, actors and celebrities — and found that more than half of them are retired.

The highest score among retired players was registered by Joe Montana, who won four Super Bowls with the San Francisco 49ers. He earned an 81 score out of 100, the same score as Peyton Manning, who might be playing his last game on Sunday and stars in commercials for DirecTV, Nationwide Insurance, Papa John’s Pizza and other brands. (Manning and Montana appear together in a Papa John’s spot.)

Some of the other players with high N-cores were Michael Strahan, the Giants lineman turned talk show host on Live with Kelly and Michael; Dan Marino, the ex-Dolphins QB; and Brett Favre, the former Packer.

People polled by Nielsen have high awareness of these players and find them influential. The players are also seen as being successful.

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.