Most marketable distance runner?

too religious and moralistic.[/quote]

That is a huge part of what makes Hall marketable. He is the Tim Tebow of running.

dsfasfdsa wrote:

Objectively, it's Ryan Hall. With women, it's Kara Goucher.

(Limiting myself to Americans and the American market; obviously it would be Geb in Ethiopia, etc.)

Objectively, you cannot be objective.

Objectively, you'd need evidence.

Kara Goucher, agree, now that she has a toddler, even more so. Put her in an ad with her kid; BOFFO.

hot sushi wrote:

Brie Felnagle. She is so hot. I would love eat my dinner off her butt.

From high school prom. Google other pics.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/61875668@N00/53828487/

You'd probably eat random butt.

--Here dress is way-y too slutty for a prom.

Great for a date, low class / tasteless for a prom.

jagermeisterrr wrote:

EVAN JAGERRR!

I'm a straight dude, and I gotta agree with this. Girls and mom's love his mop top.

His giant Nike poster "plays" well in stores.

Yatha Sidrha wrote:

Men's side

German Fernandez (if he get's his winning together, he's got Ricky Martin looks)

Chris Solinsky (if he get's his winning together too, he's the kind of guy you have a beer with, like Kennedy in the old days).

Women's Side

Lauren Fleshman (needs to win more often, but all charm)

Alice Schmidt (classy, needs to win more, verbal)

If not these people, then people like them. You know, people who actually think instead of regurgitate the same crap all the time.

GF has no personality and is not marketable.

Solinsky is too angry just beneath the surface and not marketable.

Agree with your women's picks. I'd add Erica Moore. Great personality and verbal skills.

Duckfano wrote:

Assuming she gets faster and keeps running Alex Kosinski. She is beautiful and I think could appeal to both men and woman. I know a lot of people on here don't like him, but I think Cento has market appeal too. My wife thinks he's hot, and I think he's our best shot in the 1500 (assuming he's healthy again). Kids got a lot of personality. People seem to love him or hate him which is what makes people pay attention. See also marketability.

Kosinksi, would need to sound a little less "little girl" like.

Centro, not sure how he'd do on camera in commercial.

He has a great attitude though.

Not this camper wrote:

I think that many of you are confusing MARKETABLE with your FAVORITE athlete. They are far from the same. Women are responsible for 80% of all buying in the US. That means that if it is a woman it should not be a woman that is too beautiful or someone that is threatening to other women.

Men think that MARKETABLE is the woman that they want to sleep with. That is 100% wrong if you are trying to sell a product.

Geezus. Dumb much? If you want to sell a product then you want a non-sexy woman?

What the studies show is that men will watch the commercial with the sexy woman more than the one's without the sexy woman...they just won't remember the product later. You have to find a way to tie the tv commercial in with the display at the store etc.

You first comment is wrong too. Women feel like if they buy the whatever of incredibly hot woman, then they will be hot too. Look at make up etc. Victoria's Secret etc.

crazy person wrote:

You guys don't seem to get it. Who already has their face on boxes in the store and random ads on the internet? Ryan Hall. This thread is done.

Just because they are already out there does not mean there are not others whom others find more marketable.

It's why companies change their spokes models every so often.

snia121 wrote:

Ryan Hall. Posed nude for ESPN Magazine, see him now on an Asics commercial on different channels, all over Nissan, Garmin ads. He's the one.

The only reason he is the one is because he runs the Marathon and he's already in the games.

TimCatch wrote:

He was the flag bearer at the 2008 Olympics, not 2004. However, you are correct in that he is the most marketable US distance runner.

Most marketed and more marketable are diff things.

Concerned Citizen wrote:

DKCCC wrote:

While Tirunesh is a great talent, nobody will be interested in her once they hear/read/say her name. Look at all the big sports personalities-do any of them have "weird" foreign names? Hell, she's not even American. Or are you not talking about marketability in America...?

Yao Ming, Hakeem Olajuwon, Dirk Nowitzki, Manute Bol, Hideki Matsui . . .

I see your point, but the major difference is to America, Tirunesh would be "Just another African". Americans are interested in good people whose race is stereotypically not common in the sport because they are seen as an underdog. Remember Linsanity how everyone was freaked out that an Asian from Harvard could be a stud?

DKCCC wrote:

Concerned Citizen wrote:

Yao Ming, Hakeem Olajuwon, Dirk Nowitzki, Manute Bol, Hideki Matsui . . .

I see your point, but the major difference is to America, Tirunesh would be "Just another African". Americans are interested in good people whose race is stereotypically not common in the sport because they are seen as an underdog. Remember Linsanity how everyone was freaked out that an Asian from Harvard could be a stud?

I agree with you that Tirunsh Dibaba would probably not be terribly marketable, but I think it would be because 1) she doesn't speak English, 2) she lives a long, long way away, rather than being an African with an unfamiliar name.

I think the Jeremy Lin thing didn't have that much to do with him being Asian; I mean, his first name is Jeremy, for one thing. I think his story would have been just as compelling if he had been John Smith from South Carolina who went to Harvard and had been sleeping on his brother's couch before going big-time in the NBA.

duderanch wrote:

Brie Felnagle

Yes +1000

Concerned Citizen wrote:

I agree with you that Tirunsh Dibaba would probably not be terribly marketable, but I think it would be because 1) she doesn't speak English, 2) she lives a long, long way away, rather than being an African with an unfamiliar name.

I think the Jeremy Lin thing didn't have that much to do with him being Asian; I mean, his first name is Jeremy, for one thing. I think his story would have been just as compelling if he had been John Smith from South Carolina who went to Harvard and had been sleeping on his brother's couch before going big-time in the NBA.

I can agree with that. I'm in high school so a lot of kids were like "Asian basketball player, what???" Sorry, I don't know much about sports that aren't running except what I hear from my classmates/family.

Lea MF Wallace.

bi lingual goddess.

Sara Babe. Classy. Beautiful. Stanford Brain. California Girl.

Ryan Hall stars in an Asics commercial that has been run during the NBA Finals this year.

/thread

Ryan Hall is kind of a little b*tch and he looks like one too. Not sure why so many people say him other than he is in commercials. He's in commercials because he is sponsored by Asics. The Nike guys would be in commercials also if they were sponsored by Asics. The answer is Symmonds. Being polarizing is OK.

ad.man wrote:

Current American

Lopez Lomong. Currently in a Visa ad on the national television networks narrated by Morgan Freeman. A movie about his life is a possibility.

This. You know you have hit the big time when Morgan Freeman is narrating your life story on TV.