By Brett Pulley and Katie Hoffmann Dec. 12 (Bloomberg) — Accenture Plc , the consulting company that built its marketing around Tiger Woods , removed him from its Web site yesterday, while Procter & Gamble Co. said today it will begin phasing the athlete out of print and TV ads. An image of Woods among cactuses, rotating this week on Accenture’s main page along with photographs of a skier and skaters, was no longer on display last night. Its sponsorship page excluded any mention of Woods and a search of the site for his name returned no results. Accenture pulled print ads from more than one publication, said a person with knowledge of the matter, who declined to name them and sought anonymity because the decision isn’t public. The moves suggest Accenture, which has been linked to Woods since 2003, is taking steps to distance itself from the golfer following reports of infidelity that surfaced last month. Woods said yesterday he’ll take an indefinite break from the game. The publicity may taint Accenture more than other sponsors because the ads tie Woods so closely to its values, according to David Martin , president of Interbrand Corp.’s New York division. “His qualities they’re using as a metaphor for their qualities,” said Martin, who leads the consulting company’s golf branding practice. “They’re in a more precarious position than anybody else.” Celebrity Endorsements Procter & Gamble’s Gillette division, for which Woods is a spokesman, said it was pulling its ads. “As Tiger takes a break from the public eye, we will support his desire for privacy by limiting his role in our marketing programs,” the statement said. References to Woods disappeared from Accenture’s site yesterday evening. Earlier, some links to Woods’s name returned messages saying the requested page couldn’t be found. Later the links vanished completely. Woods issued a statement saying he’ll take time off to mend family relationships and focus on being a better husband and father. “It may not be possible to repair the damage I’ve done, but I want to do my best to try,” he said on his Web site. Woods apologized and sought understanding from both his fans and business partners. The golfer earns $110 million in annual income from endorsements and tournaments, as estimated by Forbes magazine. In October, he became the first athlete to top $1 billion in career earnings. Personal Lives “It would be both premature and inappropriate to comment on the status of specific business relationships,” Woods’s agent, Mark Steinberg , said in an e-mail. “We have had thoughtful conversations and his sponsors have been open to a solution-oriented dialogue. Of course, each sponsor has unique considerations and ultimately the decisions they make we would fully understand and accept.” Accenture spokesman Alex Pachetti didn’t return calls seeking comment. “When you sign up to use celebrity endorsements in your advertisement, you have to be prepared to deal with things that happen to celebrities in their personal lives,” said Tom Bedecarre , chairman of AKQA, a San Francisco-based digital advertising agency. Accenture called Woods the “centerpiece” of its advertising campaign in an earlier version of one Web page taken down. “As perhaps the world’s ultimate symbol of high performance, he serves as a metaphor for our commitment to helping companies become high-performance businesses,” the page, entitled “Accenture and Tiger Woods,” said. Extramarital Affairs Until late last night, the cactus advertisement and some other print ads were visible on parts of the site. Dublin-based Accenture fell 68 cents to $42 yesterday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock has risen 28 percent this year. Accenture hasn’t issued any statements since Woods’s Nov. 27 automobile accident and subsequent reports of extramarital affairs. Other companies with marketing ties to the golfer, including sportswear maker Nike Inc. and video-game publisher Electronic Arts Inc., have said they aren’t changing their media plans or advertising schedules. The Associated Press said earlier today that P&G, the Cincinnati-based maker of Mr. Clean, Nyquil and Tide, was pulling its ads. Spokesman Damon Jones confirmed the report. ‘Every Airport’ Accenture’s advertising campaign is problematic because the ads contain copy lines that are easy fodder for late-night comedians and headline puns, AKQA’s Bedecarre said. “You go through every airport in the world, and there’s Tiger with some kind of copy line,” Bedecarre said. “My sense is this is going to be a chance for people to reassess their plans, and reassess their copy.” Through Dec. 7, there were 20 instances of late-night television shows with jokes and skits that mentioned Woods’s troubles together with products, according to Nielsen Co., which tracks TV viewing and ad recall. Viewers remembered products tied to Woods at a rate 41 percent higher than their typical recall of brands mentioned in late-night jokes, Nielsen said. Consumers’ opinion of the brands dropped 11 percent, almost double the usual 6 percent drop when a product is the butt of a late-night joke. Accenture wasn’t among the names mentioned. Influencing Shoppers “It’s a double-edged sword,” Randall Beard , a Nielsen executive vice president, said in an interview. “The saturation of Tiger in the media has heightened the recognition of his sponsor affiliations. But at the same time for these brands, the controversy is contributing to a more negative impact on public perception.” The No. 1 golfer has plunged to 24th from sixth in the Davie Brown Index of celebrity endorsers, which marketers and ad agencies use to gauge the ability of personalities to influence shoppers. Gary Beckner, Accenture’s director of global marketing, discussed the company’s affiliation with Woods in a 2008 interview with Bloomberg News. As the company prepared to go public in 2001, “we needed some kind of a real impact and we thought Tiger would fit,” said Beckner, who hasn’t responded to calls this week. “We don’t sponsor golfers just to sponsor golfers. It has to be the right fit,” Beckner said. “Right now we have a high- performance position in the market and Tiger Woods is the epitome of high performance. He’s our flagship, our bright shining star. He has a lot of impact.” To contact the reporter on this story: Brett Pulley in New York at bpulley@bloomberg.net ; Katie Hoffmann in New York at khoffmann4@bloomberg.net
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Tiger Woods’s Images Disappear From Accenture’s Web Site; P&G Pulling Ads
