There was a pall over “Mannywood” in the bleachers at Dodgers Stadium the past couple of games, not because the mighty Manny has struck out. Rather, the mighty Manny has been thrown out - of baseball, that is, for the next 50 games for flunking a doping test. Baseball is sport but it’s also entertainment and the Dodgers will much less entertaining without him and they will feel it most in their corporate coffers. Manny wigs, “Mannywood” T shirts and all other Manny merchandise was among the most popular at the register, and since Manny arrived last year, attendance was up about 5,000 per game. Dodger fans can be pretty forgiving but it remains to be seen how unconditionally they will welcome him back after the suspension; but it obvious he will have to keep his nose, and doping tests, clean from now on.

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And then there is Chris Brown who was recently in court to plead not guilty of the chares of beating on girlfriend Rihanna. Not matter what happens in the case, it’s doubtful that he can rebuild his reputation anytime soon. What’s even more doubtful is that he will be able to secure the type of lucrative contacts as pitchman for such wholesome brands like Doublemint which faded as quickly as his reputation.

Partnerships between celebrities and brands can be a lot like a marriage: each partner brings certain strengths to the union and it when it works, the lasting effect can be much greater than the sum of the parts. And when it doesn’t work, it sometimes can end in an ugly divorce.

The best partnerships happen when both parties benefit from the relationship, regardless of the money or time invested. To achieve that, the partnership must be a natural fit and must at least appear to be genuine to the general public. To follow are the ten best partnerships that have worked, followed by the ten worst. Some of these are from my own first hand experiences (for more, check out my book the Cool Factor: Building Your Brand’s Image Through Partnership Marketing), and some are almost legendary in their successes, and some are equally legendary in their futility.

The Top Ten Best What Dreams May Come on dvd

Back to the Future movies 1) Steve McQueen and Triumph – One of the coolest of the cool, McQueen was an avid motorcycle racer and incorporated his love of the bike by featuring Triumph motorcycles in his stunt scenes in The Great Escape, where his character was aptly nicknamed “The Cooler King.” As a testament to his Eternal Cool, McQueen’s brand was offered as a tribute watch by TAG Heuer – almost thirty years after his passing!
2) James Bond and BMW – The James Bond franchise introduced a new “Bond”, Pierce Bronson in 1995’s Golden Eye, and BMW took advantage to launch a new Bond super car supplanting the Aston Martin DB5 that was the mainstay since 1964’s Goldfinger. The first US made BMW, the Z3 was also part of a promotional tie-in with select dealers who placed “007” plates on their showroom cars. A whole generation of fans grew up thinking the BMW models were the original Bond cars until Aston Martin ponied up big dollars to reenter the Bond franchise with another new Bond, David Craig in Casino Royale.

3) Michael Jordan and Nike – In 1984, Michael Jordan was already exploding on the national stage when the fledging shoe company approached him for a five year endorsement deal that was almost laughable in today’s mega dollar athlete endorsement world - $2.5 million. Jordan’s athleticism, charisma and the unique style of the Air Jordan models catapulted Nike and the Jordan’s shoes to the top of the sales heap, where they both remain today.

6) ET and Reese’s Pieces – Hershey’s was reluctant to place M&Ms in Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster ET deeming the alien too frightening for younger viewers. In steps a much less recognized brand for the pivotal scene where ET meets his new earthling friend, and Reese’s Pieces enjoys a sales increase of 50 percent in the first six weeks after the movie’s release – and is indelibly etched into movie goers minds forever.
7) Jimi Hendrix and the Fender Stratocaster guitar – When Hendrix burst upon the music scene, it was like he arrived from another planet, No one had ever looked or played guitar like him. And his coming out party at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 created one of Rock’s most famous images – Jimi taking one of the coolest guitars, the Fender Stratocaster, playing it, beating it, and then finally putting it out of its misery by burning, then smashing it to bits. Today, Jimi stills ranks at the top of many annual polls as the greatest guitarists that ever strapped on an axe, and it’s no surprise that the Fender Stratocaster remains the best selling electric guitar in the world.
Humphrey Bogart and Gordon’s Gin – This is one of the earliest documented, integrated product placements with a major actor and film. In 1951’s Oscar winning film, The African Queen, the producers needed a recognizable brand of alcohol (for authenticity’s sake and because they wanted a large amount of crates supplied for free) for Humphrey Bogart’s down and out character to drown his sorrows in. To the rescue comes Gordon’s Gin with several branded cases behind Bogie, and then an almost unsuspected thing happens – Gordon’s Gin enjoys a sales increase of 35 percent.
9) The Rolling Stones and Budweiser – In the mid 1980’s, Budweiser was the choice of the blue collar customer affectionately known as “Joe Sixpack.” They were being challenged by aggressive marketing from number two brewer, Miller. At the same time, The Rolling Stones were launching a new record and world tour and needed a major sponsor to promote both in a national forum because even the Stones weren’t sure they were still on top after being away from the public eye for some time. After a rumored $17 million payout (one mill to the band and the rest to advertising and promotions, a sponsorship payout unheard of at the time in Rock ‘N Roll) the Stones launched the tour with primetime Budweiser TV spots during the 1987 NBA Playoffs. As a result, the band reestablished it’s dominance in the concert arena, and Bud found a brand new consumer base without loosing their core customer J. Sixpack – and corporate sponsorship of arena Rock bands was forever changed.
10) David Beckham and Emporio Armani underwear – Whether David Beckham can catapult US soccer and the Los Angeles Galaxy to new heights in American soccer looks doubtful at this point, but by donning a pair of the Emporio Armani briefs in a sexy ad, the entire Armani range was boosted 30 percent. Some stores in London even showed an astounding sales increase of between 100 and 150 percent for the brand. The ad didn’t hurt Beckham’s sexy image which could eventually help him when he makes the leap to an acting career.

The Bottom Ten Worst

1) Madonna and Pepsi – One of the all-time worst partnership launches. In 1989, Madonna was at the top of her game and Pepsi needed to expand its market beyond just the “Pepsi Generation.” But Madonna’s reputation was for pushing the boundaries, which certainly added to her success, can also be risky when you are banking on a long term partnership and a payout of $5 million for usage of the song, as Pepsi found out with the release of Madonna’s video and commercial for “Like a Prayer.” The commercial was innocent enough but dare I say it, all hell broke loose when the video was released featuring Madonna making love to a black man in front of a burning cross, among other images deemed sacrilegious by the religious right. After hundreds of thousands of boycotts against Pepsi, they finally dropped the campaign. By the way, the original “innocent” commercial was only broadcast once.
2) The Beatles and Nike – The Fab Four would never allow their art to be compromised by licensing their music to commercials. But in 1987, Nike licensed the original recording from Capitol Records and Michael Jackson, who owned the publishing rights, for $250,000.00. Fans were outraged and even Paul McCartney jumped into the fray by adding, “Songs like Revolution don’t mean a pair of sneakers, they mean Revolution.” After lawsuits and more outrage by the very fans that the song that Nike intended the commercial to appeal to, the campaign was dropped. However, that was then and currently there are several Beatle songs, and ex-Beatle member’s songs, appearing in commercials in for major brands like JC Penny, Target and Fidelity.

Ed McMahon - Not long after the legendary Carson sidekick signed on to appear as a rapper in a series of freecreditreport.com commercials, he is forced to fight foreclosure when he falls $644,000.00 behind on the payments on his Beverly Hills mansion. Maybe he should have followed in the footsteps of Orson Welles by embracing the product he was trying to pitch just a little bit more.
9) The cute creatures in Madagascar and McDonalds - DreamWorks Animation and McDonald’s teamed up to promote the theatrical release of MADAGASCAR: ESCAPE 2 AFRICA by encouraging kids to take “One Minute to Move It.” The global promotional tie-in features TV spots, store signs and online content that encourage kids to spend at least one minute a day doing something active or creative. That whole one minute each day will no doubt go a long way in helping the kids to work off the sizable amount of calories from the fat content in Happy Meals.
10) Donald Trump and VISA - I’m not sure about wisdom of VISA when wanting to encourage most consumers to up their credit card purchases in these tough economic times, they partner with a celebrated pitchman who’s most known for the catchphrase “You’re Fired!”