The bigness of David Beckham

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THE MARKETING ARM

************************* Beckham poised to be soccer's celebrity endorser Newest member of the Los Angeles Galaxy already ranks higher than Iverson, Vick, A-Rod in Davie Brown Celebrity Index

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 11 - David Beckham may be newest player in Major League Soccer, but he's already the best-known soccer star among U.S. consumers, according to the Davie Brown Index (DBI), which determines a celebrity's ability to influence consumer behavior. Beckham is the best-known active soccer player in the DBI, and ranks second only to former women's star Mia Hamm among all soccer athletes in the index. "When has an international sports-celebrity been so highly anticipated in the U.S.?" said Jeff Chown, president of Davie Brown Talent, the nation's largest celebrity talent-buying agency, which created the DBI.

"Yao Ming was the last big-name foreign player to break into American professional sports, but he didn't generate near the buzz and excitement that Beckham has. Pele's arrival in New York 30 years ago was big, but this is bigger." Among the 350 celebrity-athletes in the DBI, Beckham ranks at No. 99, ahead of well-known American athletes such as Allen Iverson, Michael Vick, and Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees.

Freddy Adu, one of the league's most popular players, is No. 284 among sports-celebrities in the DBI. "Casual fans - consumers with little or no interest in soccer - will be drawn to 'Brand Beckham,'" said Chown. "His celebrity takes him out of the sports page and onto the front page. That exposure alone is worth millions to sponsors." The DBI provides brand marketers with a systematic approach for quantifying and qualifying the use of celebrities in marketing campaigns by evaluating a celebrity's awareness, appeal and relevance to a brand's image and their influence on consumer buying behavior. Created by talent division of Los Angeles marketing agency Davie Brown Entertainment, the DBI consists of more than 1,000 celebrities and is powered by a 1.5 million-member domestic research panel administered by GMI, a leading provider of global market intelligence solutions.

Respondents evaluate celebrities along eight key attributes:

- appeal - aspiration - awareness - endorsement - influence - notice - trendsetter - trust Davie Brown Entertainment, the entertainment consulting and activation agency of The Marketing Arm network provides full-spectrum entertainment-based solutions for global brands.

Founded in 1985, Davie Brown serves as a conduit between brands and content providers through navigating branded television shows to air, product placement, celebrity and music licensing and endorsements, entertainment promotions, and strategic studio alliances. *************************