Why A Wheaties Box Is As Good As Gold For Olympic Athletes

Forbes

The Breakfast of Champions has long been a lucrative rite of passage for Olympians. Here’s how much it pays to be the face of it.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattcraig/2024/07/28/why-a-wheaties-box-is-as-good-as-gold-for-olympic-athletes/  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00Today on Forbes, why a Wheaties box is as good as gold for Olympic athletes.

00:08Caitlyn Jenner never expected to get rich from the 1976 Summer Olympics.

00:12The 26-year-old American decathlete, then known as Bruce Jenner, was living and training

00:17on $10,000 a year, which is $55,000 when adjusted for inflation.

00:23But after winning a gold medal in the decathlon at the Montreal Games, Jenner was approached

00:27by General Mills with an offer to endorse one of its flagship products, Wheaties.

00:34Jenner tells Forbes, quote,

00:36We were signing the contract, and I remember the guy handing me my copy, and he says,

00:41Congratulations.

00:42You're a millionaire.

00:43I'll never forget that.

00:44I said, Me?

00:47That $1 million deal, around $4.5 million in today's dollars, was a five-year commitment

00:53to become a General Mills ambassador, not only appearing on a trio of Wheaties box

00:57covers and in several TV commercials, but also acting as a spokesperson for the cereal

01:03at health and fitness events across the country.

01:06The contract gave the company 45 days of Jenner's time a year, an astronomical requirement by

01:11today's standards, cementing the association between the, quote,

01:15world's greatest athlete and the, quote, breakfast of champions.

01:19Jenner, who adds that she has given every member of her family a framed and signed copy

01:24of the original box, says, quote,

01:26By far, out of everything I've done in my career, General Mills had the biggest impact,

01:31and everybody remembers the commercials.

01:33It was just a very big deal.

01:36The tradition of putting an elite athlete on a box of Wheaties began in 1934, when General

01:42Mills used a photo of New York Yankees slugger Lou Gehrig on the back of its box as an embodiment

01:48of that champion persona.

01:50Since then, nearly every iconic American athlete has appeared on its cover, from Bob Cousy

01:55and Bart Starr to Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods, up through Stephen Curry and Serena

02:00Williams.

02:02During that time, Wheaties has built a particular connection to the Olympic Games, featuring

02:06more than 100 Olympians over the decades.

02:10Most cover athletes report that the Wheaties box is, if not a fulfillment of a lifelong

02:15dream, at least satisfying a nostalgic itch for the boxes they saw in grocery stores

02:19as children.

02:21When General Mills approaches, it's generally an easy sell.

02:25T. Bettina Cornwell, head of the Department of Marketing at Oregon University, says, quote,

02:30Wheaties has something that brands can't buy, and that's history.

02:34The value that they have is a very clear message that hasn't been changed over the years.

02:39And it's just so wholesome, right?

02:42Because of the immense sentimental value, a Wheaties endorsement is known in sports

02:46marketing circles to be something less than a monster payday.

02:50In the late 1990s, the Wall Street Journal reported that Olympic figure skater Tara Lipinski

02:55had agreed to an offer of $15,000, that's $30,000 today, to appear on a Wheaties box

03:01after the 1998 Winter Games.

03:04But the company instead picked the gold medal winning U.S. women's hockey team, which appeared

03:08on the box, reportedly for no compensation.

03:12Today, when million-dollar sponsorship deals are relatively commonplace, a Wheaties endorsement

03:18for the upper echelon of Olympians tops out around $300,000, with lesser-known athletes

03:24falling in the $75,000 to $100,000 range.

03:28Misty May Trainor, who won three Olympic gold medals in beach volleyball and appeared on

03:32the Wheaties box in 2012, says, quote, even if the money wasn't there, if I use the product

03:38and I believed in them, I want to be with them.

03:41For me, that was an iconic box that I never dreamed I would be on when I was reaching

03:45for that Mary Lou Retton box when I was younger.

03:48Trainor says her agent spilled the beans on the possible deal in London before she was

03:53set to compete in the 2012 Summer Games, because artwork and box design needed to be approved.

03:59But there is a stipulation.

04:01Wheaties was the breakfast of champions, so Trainor and her beach volleyball teammate,

04:05Kerry Walsh Jennings, would need to win gold in order for the campaign to go ahead.

04:10She says, quote, athletes, we will never say it, but it was definitely in the back of my

04:15mind.

04:16When he told me, I was like, oh, I've got to win.

04:19I want this to happen.

04:20I've got to win.

04:22For full coverage, check out Matt Craig's piece on Forbes.com.

04:28This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.

04:30Thanks for tuning in.

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