By Michael Marley
This may lose a little or a lot if it has to be translated into Tagalog or any other Filipino dialect. But, in the Brooklyn neighborhood where 79 year old promoter Bob Arum grew up, Manny Pacquiao’s recent run of huge media coverage and newly-minted endorsement deals would be described as not being chopped liver.
Chopped liver, chopped balut, call it what you want but Pacman’s promoter was over the moon Monday afternoon after a glowing, front page (of the sports section) New York Times piece by talented, young scribe Greg Bishop (who made Pacman comparisons to the iconic Bruce Lee) and endorsement tie-ins with Hewlett-Packard for the company’s recently released tablet computer and for State Street Produce, a San Antonio-based company that grows fruits and vegetables in Mexico and sells to restaurants across the U.S.
“Manny, in my opinion, is now the most recognizable and one of the most well liked athletes in the world right now,” Arum said.
Name a product and it seems that Pacman is now hyping it, be it sneakers, his MP8 cologne, his “Sometimes When We Touch” music CD with Dan Hill…clearly, Pacman is on a marketing roll.
Arum told me he “predicts” Pacquiao getting $10 million per year with the State Street deal.
And, on both the fruit and veggie endorsement and the H-P deal, many of Congressman Pacquiao’s poverty-stricken constituents in Sarangani Province, will be beneficiaries.
“These are deals which will provide for free computers and for food for the people in Sarangani,” Arum said.
And Arum, who told me one day last week some “huge Pacquiao endorsements” were “rounding third base” and nearing completion, said there will be more to come, perhaps as soon as before the Pinoy Idol’s Saturday night title defense at the MGM Grand against Sugar Shane Mosley.
Big deals in a short time, that’s what hired in February, ex-IMG agent Lucia McKelvey has delivered to Top Rank and to Pacman, Arum said.
“These are Tiger Woods type deals,” Arum said of his executive v/p/ of marketing. “And Lucia used to make deals for Woods when she was at IMG. This good, clean stuff and these huge, international companies are really taking to this happy kid with the big smile.”
Arum said that USA Today will run a Pacquiao article on Page One this Thursday and that, also two days before the big bout, a Las Vegas endorsement deal may be ready to be announced.
“Lucia is really terrific at what she does,” Arum said.
If Pacquiao keeps adding more whopping deals like this he may just have to go into competition with Wal-Mart. Then all the Pacquiao products can be sold under one roof. Maybe they’ll call it Pac-Mart.