Does the "power of celebrity" drive brand and business success?

Google “Deion Sanders” and you get 54 million results in .49 seconds.? You now see celebrities flocking to the luxury suites and sidelines for University of Colorado football games.? Opposing coaches throwing shade at Coach Prime on a weekly basis.? Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff show on-site in Boulder twice within the first 5 weeks of the season.? Deion Sanders is conducting sit-down interviews on 60 Minutes.

There’s no doubt that Deion Sanders and the University of Colorado football program is at the epicenter of all college football discussion right now.

P.T Barnum famously offered these gems:

·???????? “Without promotion, something terrible happens... nothing!”

·???????? “Say anything you like about me but spell my name right.”

Deion Sanders has the complete attention of all fans, pundits and the media.? But is all this attention good or bad?? Is there such a thing as over-exposure?? Will there be a point of diminishing returns and backlash at some point? Or, most importantly, does the university as a whole derive lasting benefit from Deion's brand

The impact of Coach Sanders so far can’t be denied.? The numbers speak for themselves:

• There was record attendance at the spring practice game in April (47K), more than double the previous mark.
• Merchandise sales for the University are up over 500% since 2021.
• Sales for the brand of sunglasses Deion wears have skyrocketed.
• The official Facebook accounts for the University and athletic program has received 30 million impressions since September 1
• Shedeur Sanders, CU’s quarterback, has the highest NIL valuation of all college football players.

But going back to one of my earlier questions:? is all this attention good or bad?? Only time will tell.? In the short term, The University of Colorado is no doubt benefiting from the pervasive and mostly positive coverage of Deion and the football program. But what about long-term?? Is the coverage sustainable and will it yield non-football results for the university?? Will the attention paid to the football program translate to an increase in research grants, undergraduate applications, major gifts donations, attraction and retention of top faculty, expansion of labs and libraries?

There’s always some risk in building the organization’s brand around the personality of the CEO or having the CEO truly be the embodiment of the brand. ?An organization that does this has its fate tied to reputational ebbs and flows of their leader.? The University of Colorado is all about Coach Prime right now.?

From my perspective, I believe the University of Colorado is getting everything they’d hoped for.? After what only can be described charitably as mediocre football performance over the past 20 years leading to tepid interest from the fans, media and potential recruits, they purchased a one-man hype machine to make the University of Colorado football program relevant, different and better. I’m curious to see how the university administration leverages the Deion/football coverage for greater good.