Just as ranking the top players on the field is no easy gig, ranking the top five players in the 2012 NFL Draft for marketing isn’t any easier. There are a lot of variables involved.

Which city will the player end up in – Of course a LA or NY based player can accomplish much more on the marketing front than a player in a market like Phoenix or Seattle. Will the player become a playboy, or will he learn how to dress better – there are many factors which can affect where we would draft a player in a NFL Marketing draft. All of these players will have to deal with be famous millionaires in a short duration of time, and need to analyze every single off-the field decision they make, and keep a solid off-the-field team around them they can trust (Driver, PR Agency, Agent, Financial Consultants, etc.)

Football is a more difficult sport to market athletes in than some others for a variety of reasons – including that their faces are covered, giving them an instant disadvantage vs. certain other sports. Of course, there are also precious few superstar positions for a football player wanting to get endorsement deals – If one’s not a quarterback, wide receiver or running back – even harder to get deals.

Being a winner on the football field doesn’t mean one is necessarily a winner off the field, and they need to be able to balance the tremendous amount of pressure on anyone in the spotlight — money, fame and women. Having worked with professional athletes and high-profile celebrities, the pressure and demands are nonstop.

If we hosted a marketing Pro Day, we’d have many questions and marketing drills we would run players through – without the benefit of that, here goes our draft:

Andrew Luck, Stanford, QB

• There aren’t many sure things in this business, but Andrew Luck is as close as it gets. Intelligent, charismatic, personable, humble, athletic and an already proven winner and leader at Stanford, Luck is the total package that brands across the country will want to jump on. From a football, as well as marketing perspective, the expectations for Luck will be incredibly high as he likely replaces the poster child for NFL endorsements, Peyton Manning.

• TEAM NIKE signing Luck means a ton – it ensures a solid team will surround him, give him a tremendous national platform in any market and work closely with him on his brand. It’s not often that NIKE sports makes mistakes – and that matters.

Robert Griffin III, Baylor, QB

• RGIII – the name that put Baylor college football on the map, and on paper is one of the most promising draft prospects in the last decade. Overall, Griffin has the potential to be the biggest marketing draw in pro football. With an established nickname like RGIII, it can transcend to the casual fan and average consumer – a sector that is very hard for athletes to tap into, but has huge upside in regards to major contracts and national endorsements.

• He has already been a poster child for college athletes with his stellar academic performance and Heisman Trophy play on the field. If everything is as it appears, Mr. Griffin can help any team win on and off the field. As well-spoken and well-rounded as he is, he’s well rounded and can expect many great marketing opportunities. To go from the Baylor to being the face of Adidas — that’s no easy task for anyone, let alone a 21-year-old.

Dontari Poe, Memphis, DT

Madison Avenue always loves a great underdog story – surrounded by drugs and crime his whole life, Poe’s story is just that. From the New Orleans Saints during their historic Super Bowl run after Hurricane Katrina to the Baltimore Raven’s Michael Oher, people want to feel connected to something larger than the game itself. I think Poe has the potential to rally behind the big defensive tackle – pushing him into the national media spotlight. Poe has the potential to be success that can make some serious noise.

Justin Blackmon, Oklahoma State, WR

Another deadly weapon on the offensive side of the ball, Blackmon is an explosively deep threat that has a huge upside both on and off the field. Blackmon, the young 6’1 wide out has the chance to make a big name for himself and achieve on the marketing front.

Trent Richardson, Alabama, RB

· In terms of pure marketability, powerful running backs are always an attractive draw. Already accustomed to the national media landscape while playing with Alabama and adding his two BCS National Championships, in addition to his status as a Heisman Trophy finalist into the mix – Richardson presents one lethal combination of experience and success that can make some serious noise on Madison Ave. Oh, being considered the next Emmitt Smith by many industry experts doesn’t hurt your stock either.

And at this early juncture, can we lock in on Matt Barkley for the #1 pick in the marketing draft next year?

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

Credit Coca-Cola with a great PR stunt with their plans to put Coke ads in Chinese on the rotating courtside signs at Madison Square Garden. Obviously it’s a blatant (and brilliant) exploitation of Jeremy Lin – and Coke gets the association without even having to sign Lin to an endorsement deal and pay him.

It’s a traditional case of added publicity with an ad buy – as clearly MSG isn’t the place to reach a high volume of consumers who read Chinese – it’s a chance to get tons of free publicity around an advertising buy.  The ads wont be up more than a few months maximum – and the cost of the ad buys has already likely been recouped with all of the free publicity they have received already.

As a Coke spokesperson said “Given that the NBA is a global association for our company and that we do a lot of cross-cultural marketing around the NBA, we agreed.”

She also could have said “It’s a great stunt, sure to get us a ton of free media coverage, and we can be mentioned in a ton of articles about Jeremy Lin, and not pay him. It’s a brilliant PR stunt.”  I would have agreed had she said that.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

“From a Public Relations & branding perspective, the NY Jets acquiring Tim Tebow is an absolute home-run. Already one of the most popular athlete-celebrities in the world, Tim Tebow coming to New York City has the potential to put him a different hemisphere when it comes to his marketing earnings.  Tim Tebow is already a marketing sensation – highly visible, he is appealing and as a New York Jet has the whole world open to him.

As a life-long New Yorker, our city has always been at the center of the media world – 2012 may be the first year we find ourselves at the center of the sports marketing world as well.  There’s little doubt that Tebow will sell a tremendous amount of jerseys and memorabilia – and the biggest immediate winners of Tebow coming to NY are Jockey Underwear and FRS, who Tebow currently endorses.

One wonders – how much will the first picture of Jeremy Lin and Tim Tebow together be worth? Will a brand try and put them together? From a personal perspective, Tebow will need to be prepared for what the big city brings – for good and for bad.  From temptation to privacy, the stakes in the Big Apple are different and one wonders how he will cope with the non-stop pressure. There’s no escape from the constant celebrity status in New York.

Tebow is likeable, and has already broken through the sports barrier as a known American celebrity – he has even more potential if he can make it happen in NYC.”

RONN TOROSSIAN is CEO OF 5WPR, a NYC PR agency, who has represented athletes and celebrities, as well as Evangelical organizations Torossian is also the Author of PR Book “For Immediate Release”.

• Who’s a bigger Public Relations genius than Sacha Baron Cohen ? (or who has created more PR nightmares for certain folks than his character Ali G ?) Never one to miss a marketing opportunity, Cohen is hoping to attend the Oscars playing the Admiral General Aladeen – the character he will be playing in his new movie The Dictator – and folks are worried about what sort of publicity stunt he’ll pull off when there.   He’s succeeded in the past – At the MTV Movie Awards in 2009 in character as the gay fashion reporter Bruno he was lowered from the ceiling and landed on Eminem’s face.  His new movie comes out in March and one wonders what he’s got planned for viewers. I for one as a huge Cohen fan cant wait. More at: http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Sacha-Baron-Cohen-Get-Away-With-Publicity-Stunt-Oscars-29572.html )

• The talk of the boxing world is a brawl which occurred between heavyweights David Haye and Dereck Chisora – and whether it was a publicity stunt to generate interest in a potential fight between them. One was arrested, and the other is being sought by police.  The promoter Frank Warren says its hogwash to suggest that it was a publicity stunt: “I would say they [those suggesting it was a stunt] were total idiots. I’m sure if you think somebody wants to do a stunt like that – to get hit with a bottle, to wind up in a Munich police station … You’ve just got to be a complete moron to come up with a suggestion like that,” Warren told Sky Sports News.

All press is not good press – and I cant believe that this was staged… More for review at: http://www.espn.co.uk/boxing/sport/story/136983.html

Ronn Torossian is CEO of 5WPR, a leading Public Relations Agency.

Ronn Torossian on NBA Star Lin

• The IRS is looking to hire a Public Relations agency – Wow could one imagine a more different engagement? http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2012/02/17/irs-seeks-some-pr-help/
• In the latest case of the PR industry being a convenient whipping boy, the Mayor of Vancouver a city with a yearly operating expenditures of about $1 billion for spending $85,934 for PR consultants in 2011. A tremendously small amount to communicate and for “social media strategy and production, strategic political advice, and public relations.” What’s the cost of communicating poorly one wonders? An absurd criticism. http://www.vancourier.com/technology/Mayor+spent+consultants/6168176/story.html
• Ronn Torossian, Founder of 5WPR was quoted extensively by media on Jeremy Lin – Some highlights:
• CNN.com: http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/15/us/new-york-jeremy-lin/index.html

“Jeremy Lin is a marketing dream come true,” said Ronn Torossian, chief executive of New York-based 5W Public Relations. “If somebody had a checklist of what a brand should be, Jeremy Lin hits every one.”

• Bloomberg – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW_rETYj_es
• ABC Eyewitness News: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9GYIVpfQTQ
• 2 NBC News Appearances: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycaWovqbYI0
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF8F21N05NI
• Reuters.com: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/15/csports-us-nba-knicks-lin-idCATRE81E03W20120215

“He is Tiger Woods before the scandal, I think he has everything going for him,” Ronn Torossian, chief executive of 5W Public Relations, told Reuters. “If he can continue to deliver on the court his possibilities off the court are limitless.

• Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/12/jeremy-lin-knicks-endorsement-deals_n_1271536.html

“We’ve had clients where you just let them be them,” said Ronn Torossian, whose 5WPR agency has represented ex-Knicks Allan Houston and Jalen Rose, and former boxing champion Roy Jones Jr. “I don’t think you need to do a ton with Lin. He’s authentic. He’s clearly hard working.”

• CNBC.com: http://www.cnbc.com/id/46414990

“For me, Jeremy Lin is the American dream, a marketer’s dream,” said Ronn Torossian, a sports marketing expert and president and CEO of 5W Public Relations.