With Spectacular Start, Robert Griffin III Mania Is in Full Force

You know you’ve got a star quarterback when the President of the United States — between running the country and campaigning to keep his job — mentions your name amid a hotly contested political race, but the immensity of the occasion called for it.

After all, it seemed the Washington Nationals were headed to its first-ever NLCS; leading 6-0 at home against the St. Louis Cardinals, when they suddenly surrendered four runs in the top of the ninth inning and lost, 9-7, breaking the collective heart of a town and region longing for its first championship title in 20 years. That was Friday night.

Enter Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III.

Days later, the rookie quarterback capped a 38-26 victory over the Minnesota Vikings with an electrifying 76-yard touchdown run at FedEx Field, where the team hadn’t won in more than a year. People are already calling it one of the greatest D.C. sports moments of the last 15 years.

Maybe it’s no wonder Redskins TE Fred Davis nicknamed Griffin III, “Black Jesus.”

And, of course, there’s the president’s statement.

“He did comment on the restoration of faith in Washington sports teams created by RGIII’s remarkable performance in the Redskins game,” Obama spokesman Jay Carney said Monday, adding that the president thought the Redskins quarterback’s performance in Sunday’s game against the Vikings was “remarkable and helped boost the city’s spirits after a dispiriting Nationals playoff loss last week.”

President Obama, who embraces the mayoral role of sports in a mayor-less city, is not the only one approving this message. Through six games, the Redskins hold a respectable 3-3 record heading into this weekend’s matchup with their NFC East rival New York Giants. The hype leading up to his second-overall selection before he ever played an NFL down seems justified now — and Griffin has lived up to it with panache.

Among the brands endorsed by Griffin III are Adidas, Subway, Gatorade, EA Sports, EvoShield, Nissan and Castrol Motor Oil. The sheer volume of deals was unprecedented for an NFL rookie.

“Overall, marketers have been extremely impressed with Griffin’s poise in satellite interviews (he’s great at remembering brand message points) and in commercial shoots,” ESPN sports business insider Darren Rovell reported of Griffin III’s appeal before the season. “That’s why he has earned more than any other rookie in NFL history before throwing his first regular-season pass.”

To many, that Griffin III surpassed even the No. 1 draft pick (Indianapolis’ Andrew Luck) in endorsements was a sign that he encompassed the full package.

“If you’re a brand there’s a couple of factors or business measures who you would use to choose which athletes invest in,” says AJ Maestas, president of Chicago-based Navigate Research, which measures the marketability of athletes based on data factors like demographics and other forms of market research. “He not only scores really high in these areas, but the Redskins are a popular team which hasn’t really been that successful, which is major. So that, the positive character combined with the size and influence of the Washington D.C. market that follows him is all extremely attractive.”

Maestas says visibility and character that represents what brands are trying to achieve are the two most important factors in an athlete’s appeal, but that on-field performance is going to be key to his potential earning power his rookie season and beyond.

“Many people have had great rookie seasons, but you can’t name them now,” says Maestas “On-field peformace is the most highly correlated variable and most important factor towards earning money.”

During a warmup before the season-opener, Griffin, an Adidas signee, concealed the Nike logo on his team-issue warmup with the word “heart.” The firestorm that ensued underlined Griffin’s potential impact on the league and its marketers, one that most analysts say eludes most football players — let alone a rookie.

“People have theories about why that’s the case,” Maestas says of NFL players not having branding power in the marketplace. “In football, the ratings and television exposure is great but they’re wearing a helmet so they can be less visible and harder to identify with as opposed to basketball or baseball players … I can’t think of anyone who started off this way in terms of endorsement dollars. There are very few examples.”

There are 2,450,000 adult fans of the NFL in the Washington D.C. area, which is more than half of the total adult population in that area. One of those fans was Phyllis Jones of Annapolis, Md, who touched Griffin III after his miracle touchdown.

“We just couldn’t believe it, we really couldn’t believe it,” she told the Washington Post. “When he left, I think we all just kind of jumped up and down. I gave my dad a huge hug. My hands were just shaking – my dad thought I was going to faint.”

Though Griffin III’s appeal far exceeds racial boundaries, the impact of the city’s racial make up is one of the underestimated aspects of his emergence: 56 percent of the total African-American adult population in D.C. are NFL fans. This data is according to Scarborough Research’s syndicated databases, made up of local and national consumer behavior, lifestyle tendencies and media habits.

In all, there are 11.7 million African American football fans in the U.S. Analysts say it’s too early to predict the level of engagement the African American demographic will have with the brands Griffin III endorses (more than one in four is an NFL fan), but that Griffin’s winning record on and off the field will continue to make an impact.

He’s got at least a few fans in the White House.