It was a trip to the mountains of Colorado in 2005 that ruined Kobe Bryant's entire life. Companies were dropping him from endorsement contracts and Nike, who had just signed the Laker to an agreement, put him on the shelf.
But now in 2008 Kobe has regained his "marketing mojo", as our friend Darren Rovell of CNBC put it.
He's having a stellar season on the court and getting named the MVP made his market value shoot up.
The resurgence started last year Kobe Bean appeared on the cover of the Sony video game, NBA '07. Then this year he signed with Coca-Cola to endorse Vitaminwater alongside Tracy McGrady, Dwight Howard and LeBron James. Their first ad together appears in last week's issue of Sports Illustrated. Plus Nike took him off the shelf to promote his new shoe, plus the Hyperdunks he was sporting when he "jumped" over an Aston Martin and will later wear during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
And according to Rovell, Wheaties is possibly considering putting Bryant on the front of the cereal box in the near future. He still has deals with Upper Deck and Gameloft (cell phone games), but we're expecting more deals to come Kobe's way.
1. Good for him. And he should charge they asses a grip for abandoning him.
AB at 3:52PM on May 12th 2008