Mack Horton to reap rewards of Olympic success with marketers to clamour for popular swim star

VICTORIA’S first-ever male individual Olympic swimming gold medallist Mack Horton hit the jackpot in Rio on day one — and he’s likely to cash in when he returns home.

Mack Horton after winning the 400m freestyle. Picture: Alex Coppel

VICTORIA’S first-ever male individual Olympic swimming gold medallist Mack Horton hit the jackpot on day one of competition in Rio — in and out of the pool.

Rarely, if ever, has an athlete established such a marketable image for themselves in such a dramatic fashion.

In the space of around 10 hours Horton went from being a relatively unknown medal contender on the Australian swim team to being a young man whose name is known by tens, perhaps even hundreds, of millions of people around the world.

Of course many of those are Chinese and their feelings towards Horton are anything but warm, but the fact that he is so unpopular in their homeland is part of the reason why he is now so popular in his own.

By labelling Chinese national hero Sun Yang a “drug cheat” the morning before the 400m final, Horton showed himself to be a man of principle; one prepared to speak up against injustice while those in higher authority seem determined to shirk the issue.

Mack Horton has quickly become a poster boy for Australian swimming. Picture: Alex Coppel.

At a time when the Russian drug scandal is threatening the very future of the Olympic movement and the public’s faith in sport is being sorely tested, the timing could not have been better.

“All I know is he’s a great guy, very clean-cut and he’s now an Olympic champion, so he ticks all the boxes."

By then backing up his words with action and withstanding a late onslaught from defending champion Sun to win the 400m freestyle and become Australia’s first male swimming gold medallist for 12 years and Victoria’s first-ever, he earned himself a place among his country’s sporting elite.

And then, finally, by finger-combing his fashionably long blond hair, slipping on the most famous pair of glasses since Harry Potter and giving the widest smile this side of Luna Park, he had women from teens to grannies joining together in a collective “ooah”.

Put it all together and you have a triple threat “brand”. Activist, athlete, boy next door: take your pick — in Horton companies and organisations have an ideal spokesman for their product or cause.

Olympic swimmer-turned-sports marketing guru Rob Woodhouse, whose company TLA Worldwide represents Horton, says there are no guarantees that the 20 year-old will make a fortune away from the pool, but all the signs are positive.

Horton showed he isn’t afraid to speak his mind. Picture. Phil Hillyard

“Going into the Games there was an expectation Mack might do something special but you just never know how it relates to marketability,” he said. “All I know is he’s a great guy, very clean-cut and he’s now an Olympic champion so he ticks all the boxes. It’s all good news for him.

“He’s from Melbourne which also helps. Victoria has waited a long time to have an Olympic gold medallist in the pool and all those sorts of things help, so he’s got a great future.

“In terms of marketing Mack is probably more geared towards the clean-cut image the companies want, rather than the edgy sort of thing. That family image, the healthy lifestyle thing. They’re the sort of obvious areas that you’d look to.”

And then there is the added bonus that in having the strength to stand up for his beliefs, Horton established immediate credibility that corporations can cash in on.

“There’s a lot of people in China that are not happy with him. He probably won’t get much work there.”

“He made a strong statement and he was able to back it up afterwards which was incredible,” Woodhouse said. “He’s not saying anything controversial in the sense that it’s all based on fact, so it’s not him just shooting his mouth off.

“There’s been a few athletes — Adam Peaty the British breaststroker is one — and a few of other leading swimmers have been a bit vocal. They all know that FINA and the IOC basically can’t do anything (about drug cheats) and it’s possibly up to the athletes to make the difference.

“So in that way his timing is good and it could be an area that Mack might want to work in. You can advise, but usually they find their own ground in terms of what’s appropriate for them and what they like.”

There is really only one area where Woodhouse is not confident of Horton’s selling power.

“There’s a lot of people in China that are not happy with him,” he said. “He probably won’t get much work there.”

Originally published as Mack Horton to reap rewards of Olympic success with marketers to clamour for popular swim star