Shaquille O’Neal recently spoke about the kind of challenges he had to face in order to build a marketing presence for himself. Appearing on Tom Brady, Larry Fitzgerald and Jim Gray’s Let’s Go podcast, Shaq spoke in length about the kind of impact he had to create in order to “sell things” during the early days of his career.
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Talking about how there were not any marketable big men in the NBA when he broke into the scene, Shaq claimed that only Magic Johnson and Larry Bird were marketable personalities in the NBA when he appeared on the scene in the 1990s. The Big Man added that while Michael Jordan was on the verge of breaking through, he had to use his humor in order to emerge as a marketable star in the league.
Shaquille O’Neal talks about the challenges he faced in order to become “marketable”
O’Neal is undoubtedly one of the first big men in the NBA to create his own brand. Shaq explained how when he wanted to get in the game of selling things, only the likes of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird were truly influential to consumers for their ‘Showtime’ rivalry in the 80s.
Talking about MJ, Shaq claimed that the Bulls legend was still on the verge of making an impact. This, in his own words, presented a range of challenges.
Shaq said, during the Let’s Go podcast, “When I came out, the challenging aspect of my life was, Big Guys don’t sell…Michael [Jordan] was coming up on the scene but there wasn’t really any big guy. I was the first big guy to attempt to sell things, so I had to really show my humor on the marketing side, and it worked.”
Shaq’s famous wit and sense of humor have obviously worked well for him over the years. It allowed him to create a likeable character and a charming persona that everyone adored despite being a 7 ft 1 giant. Shaq claimed that rather than thinking about monetary gains, his business strategy simply entailed making the most of the limited chances players got back then.
O’Neal himself came from a difficult financial situation and revealed that he had limited opportunities initially, after retirement. This meant that rather than thinking about the money, it was simply about ensuring that he made the most of the opportunities that he did get to market himself.
Shaq received an F in marketing class back in college
O’Neal was eventually able to make the most of his opportunities. However, back in college, he had failed in a marketing class after being asked to create a range of products around himself.
“I came up with Shaq hats, Shaq shoes, Shaq shirt and he [the professor] embarrassed me in class. He said, ‘All I see you put a lot of originality in this’ and gave me an F in front of everybody,” Shaq revealed.
What’s more, O’Neal was even told by his teacher that “big guys simply did not sell”. Of course, there is no doubt that the big man simply went ahead and proved his teacher wrong. Today Shaq is a global brand by himself, and has a net worth of $400 million,
