Industry giants are not immune to market risks, one would say, after knowing about Coca-Cola’s mind-blowing losses that were a result of Christiano Ronaldo’s very mundane actions. Ronaldo, at a press meet before his match against Hungary, nonchalantly slid the two bottles of Coca-Cola away and held up a mineral water bottle. This seemingly harmless action caused a market value drop of a jaw-dropping US$4 billion for Coca-Cola.
As he urged his viewers to drink water, his one-word declaration for the drink has caused the official sponsors for the Euro Cup much harm. Even though a spokesperson for the tournament said that every person must have their own drinking choices, Coca-Cola has a lot of damage control to do. The company enjoys a king-like position in the market, which is largely because of the affiliation they have with such personalities.
Was Ronaldo was pissed at Coca-Cola? No one knows. He most likely seems to have done this to encourage better living practices. But this simple action fell very much in favor of those who have been making the world aware of its dangers.
These chance celebrity interactions can also prove beneficial to emerging market players. Elon Musk, two words tweet to encourage people towards the Signal messaging app, when WhatsApp was facing major backlash for its controversial new update, led to Signal gaining record-breaking increase in installations.
Musk also helped increase the value of Dogecoin when he announced Tesla won’t be accepting bitcoin for transactions. Even though he was for it before, the backdown cost a Bitcoin a record three-month low.
Celebrities with such maddening following are always under the marketer’s gaze. Tapping into large audiences like their own will help generate unique brand influencers. It’s a win-win for both, but a lot of criteria have to be met for a successful celebrity endorsement. Ronaldo, who has earlier expressed his distaste towards soft drinks, isn’t going to cut Coca-Cola any slack, nevertheless, in the near future.
