Michael Jordan's advisers strictly police the types of deals he enters to maximize his value, the architect of the six-time NBA champion's marketing strategy said Friday, and a grocery store's unauthorized use of his name in a steak ad hurt the strategy.
Sports management agent David Falk testified in a federal court case in Chicago that's delving into the market value of Jordan's identity. The issue is damages that the now-defunct Dominick's Finer Foods owes the former Chicago Bulls player for invoking his name without permission in a 2009 advertisement congratulating him on his Hall of Fame induction.
His attorneys say each commercial use of his name is worth $10 million. The defense says that's too high.
Falk says Jordan never enters into small one-time deals such as the Dominick's ad because they weaken his value. Instead, Jordan has limited his endorsement and marketing deals to long-term mega contracts with a few major companies such as Nike and McDonald's, Falk said.
He called it the Hope Diamond strategy.
"The Hope Diamond is the most valuable diamond in the world because it's rare," Falk said during a testy exchange with the defense attorney as Jordan looked on. "You can't cut it up into pieces. Certain things are indivisible and keeping them indivisible protects their value."
But Dominick's attorney Stephen Rosenfeld got Falk to acknowledge the issue at hand was to decide the fair market value of the company's use of Jordan's identity in a one-page congratulatory ad that ran for three months.
SMPTE elects board officers, regional governors
SMPTE®,the home of media professionals, technologists, and engineers, has revealed the board officers and regional governors who will serve terms beginning in January 2025.
Three new officers--Richard Welsh as SMPTE president, Eric Gsell as SMPTE executive VP, and Polly Hickling as SMPTE Education VP--have been elected for a two-year term from Jan. 1, 2025, to Dec. 31, 2026. One SMPTE officer, Lisa Hobbs, will be continuing her service as SMPTE secretary and treasurer for another two-year term. Additionally, Raymond Yeung will be stepping into the role of standards VP on Jan. 1, 2025.
“SMPTE’s membership has spoken,” said SMPTE interim executive director Sally-Ann D’Amato. “These officers have been tasked with an important responsibility, one each of them is prepared to tackle head-on. These next two years are looking bright for SMPTE!”
In addition to the officers, 10 regional governors were elected by the Society to serve two-year 2025-2026 terms.
These include the following regional governors, re-elected to continue their service:
Asia-Pacific Region Governor
Tony Ngai, Society of Motion Imaging Ltd.
EMEA - Central & South America Region Governor
Fernando Bittencourt, FB Consultant
United Kingdom Region Governor
Chris Johns, Sky UK.
USA - Central Region Governor
William T. Hayes, Consultant
USA - Eastern Region Governor
Dover Jeanne Mundt, Riedel Communications
USA - Western Region Governor
Jeffrey F. Way, Open Drives
Also elected were four newcomers to the SMPTE Board:
Canada Region Governor
Jonathan Jobin, Grass Valley
USA - Hollywood Region Governor
Allan Schollnick, Voxx... Read More