I doubt Accenture thinks clients "make a decision" based on a spokesperson. It's marketing 101 - creating favorable brand associations that helps get you in the door. It would be interesting if you'd make a post substantively challenging these tried-and-true assumptions - do they still hold water? - but with all due respect, this is a pretty flimsy effort.

Accenture made a press release today about launching a global marketing and advertising campaign. (I am not affiliated with Accenture)

Accenture wants to identify itself and its customers with the best high performance business brand.

Accenture argues that "High performance comes from foresight and preparation to having the flexibility to adjust and adapt when circumstances require it. High performers also focus on "relentless consistency" and take the leap from focusing on outperforming the competition to outperforming themselves."

These are the virtues that embodies Tiger Woods. He is the best High Performance sports figure today in Golf and all the sports. Always consistent. Winning Majors. And even Outperforming himself as is evident this year.

According to the press release,
"Launched three years ago, Accenture's High Performance Business campaign featuring Tiger Woods has achieved tremendous success. It has been the company's most successful global integrated marketing campaign in its nearly 20 years of creating award-winning campaigns. A recent survey of senior executives found that Accenture's brand identity has increased steadily and surpassed those of its competitors since Accenture launched its High Performance Delivered positioning and the "Go on. Be a Tiger" campaign. Accenture's relationship with Tiger Woods is his first and only business-to-business endorsement."

The new marketing campaign will have a new tag-line:
"We know what it takes to be a Tiger."

I believe it is the best move Accenture has made. This is similar to giving your Super Bowl winning coach an automatic five year extension. The campaign with Tiger has made Accenture the most admired brand in Consulting and has positively impacted the Topline revenue.

What remains to be seen is whether this new campaign will provide incremental or exponential topline benefits to Accenture?

I thought my request for an advertising guru to let me and all of us know if famous spokespersons affect sales made it clear that I did not have the expertise and that I was speaking as a layman.

In fact, that is the point. I can go by the seat of my pants which tells me of the $15 billion in revenues very little had anything to do with Tiger Woods or I can ask someone in the field if there is any statistical data to back up the belief that using a person like Tiger Woods is advantageous.

Tiger Woods is the perfect spokesmodel for the type of Suit who would do business with Accenture...