Amway? Yes, Amway
A 30-foot inflatable Earthquakes jersey with the Amway Global logo was on display outside the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose. Photo: Jay Hipps, centerlinesoccer.com.
When the Earthquakes’ new three-year deal with Amway Global was first reported in the press this morning, the response among CLS readers, many of whom were seemingly hoping for a company with Silicon Valley geek credibility, was less than enthusiastic. At today’s press conference at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, even Amway Global managing director Steve Lieberman acknowledged that “most people who remember us think of us as the people who knocked on your door to sell cleaning products,” which means that Amway dealers were the historic forerunners of telemarketers in terms of providing annoying interruptions to your home life.
That’s not the company that exists today, however. Today’s Amway Global is an $8 billion company that operates in 78 countries. You may not have heard of them lately because they’ve operated under the name “Quixtar” in North America for the past decade. The company is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and has chosen the occasion to return to its traditional name, and is partnering with the Earthquakes as part of their effort to reintroduce themselves to the American public. They’re paying the team between $1 and $2 million a year to do it, which is no small sum in the current economy.
That’s good, but it’s not the best part. The company has soccer cred: the company, via its Nutrilite brand of vitamins, sponsors AC Milan, and Nutrilite is also endorsed by Rossoneri star Ronaldinho. You can bet that the Earthquakes are very much aware of their new commercial partner’s association with Milan, one of the most successful teams in world football history. It turns out that Amway Global has geek cred, too: Lieberman noted that the company “is the number one online retailer of health and beauty products in the United States.”
Even that is not the best part, though. That would be Amway’s extensive reach into the local Hispanic community, which has been a target market for the Earthquakes since they wore cloudy jade and answered to the name “Clash.” This morning’s Reuters story on the new deal notes that one reason for the deal is that “Amway also was attracted to the large and growing Hispanic population in San Jose, which boasts the fourth largest concentration of Amway’s field representatives.” The Earthquakes are getting more than cash out of this deal; they’re getting a new avenue into one of their target markets.
There’s also significant potential for an increase in shirt sales due to the partnership. Amway has approximately 3 million dealers worldwide, and if just one of every hundred were to buy an Earthquakes shirt with the Amway Global logo, that would mean sales of an additional 30,000 jerseys. Put it another way: if you’re an American Amway dealer and your kid plays soccer, guess what you’ll be buying for their birthday this year. In any case, the team has just expanded its casual fanbase substantially, and gotten paid to do it.
Actually, come to think of it, even that’s not the best thing. If Amway Global is selling online now, that means they’ve probably dropped the door-to-door thing completely. And they’ve probably never used telemarketers.
I have no issue with Amway, but the upper level Amway IBO’s lie, because they make most of their profit from the “tools”, while most IBO’s lose money. Click on my name for the details.
So it’s $1-2 million/year (instead of the $2-3 million/year as was reported on Reuters earlier)?
That’s a big difference….
raindawg,
Whatever the number is, it’s apparently the best offer San Jose received.
Too many initial “negative” reactions to those I have spoken to about having AMWAY front and center on the Q’s jerseys (you mean that selling scheme, those cheap products, etc.). Of course – most of these people are refering to there experiences or perceptions of Amway from a 20 yrs ago. This may bring in some money, but I hope it doesn’t sour potential new season ticket holders. I am not all that excited to run out and purchase a new jersey.
(I would have preferred the Quixtar North America logo – same company without the negative Amway baggage).
Rick,
It’s not going to happen. Quixtar is going away, this is part of the effort to reintroduce the Amway name to the North American market.
Amway could have fixed their reputation after Rich DeVos’ 1983 “Directly Speaking” speech, but has refused to take appropriate action.
P.S., Quixtar has the same baggage as the Amway name, as most people find out the 2 companies are the same one with a different name. In fact, some people feel “cheated” when they find this out, so the name change back is probably the lesser “evil” of two bad choices.
Amway has high quality soaps and cleaners but are extremely overpriced. Here is to Family Dollar store. LOL
joel,
If you choose to ignore quality and a business opportunity, then keep shopping the Family Dollar store. LOL
two days later Im still dissapointed with sponsor. Too bad not something cool like Tivo who is like 6 miles away.
mmalone,
Perhaps the sponsor says something about the relative cash flow of the companies.
tex
Im sure it does, but that was my fantasy…seattle with xbox san jose with tivo!
Let the netflix downstreaming begin!
With the current economic conditions, both of those companies may not survive. But you can always dream.
If Amway means household cleaning to you, then you have been asleep for about 30 years.