Cam Newton Becomes New Face Of The NFL During MVP Season

Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton has turned in a virtuoso performance this season with 45 combined throwing and rushing touchdowns, seventh highest in league history. Newton is not your prototypical pocket passer, with a pass completion rate of just 60% that ranked 28^th in the NFL, but the dual-threat QB through the air and on the ground led the Panthers to the best record in the NFL at 15-1. The NFL MVP award is a formality at this point.

Newton’s MVP performance and connection with younger fans has created a marketing juggernaut. “We’ve never seen a rise like this from any athlete like we’ve seen with Cam,” says Peter Laatz, an executive at research firm Repucom. Laatz is referencing data from his company’s Celebrity DBI, which tracks consumer perceptions of celebrities.

Newton has moved up an average 21 spots among active NFL players over the past four months across the eight metrics DBI measures. He now ranks among the top 10 players almost across the board with a trendsetter rating that trails only Russell Wilson. His influence score is fourth-best behind Wilson, Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers. His overall DBI score is on par with NBA MVP Stephen Curry, five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion Jimmie Johnson and UFC star Ronda Rousey.

If you drill into the data even deeper, you’ll find that Newton resonates even greater with the next generation of NFL fans in the coveted 13-25 demographic. Older fans write letters condemning Newton’s “egotism, arrogance and poor sportsmanship.” They don’t like the dancing and the “dabbin.” Young fans love it though. They see a 26-year-old having fun on the football field. He takes victory laps around Bank of America Stadium high-fiving fans. He chest bumps six-year-old cancer patients. He hands the ball to a kid in the stands after each touchdown.

The NFL marketing landscape has been dominated the last decade by a quartet of now 30-something, Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees and the Manning brothers. “Those guys are boring,” says Laatz. “Cam is more entertaining and more relevant with the millennial audience.”

Carlos Fleming, Newton’s agent at WME, has been flooded with requests for his client this fall as the Panthers ripped off 14 wins to start the season, but Fleming has put aside any endorsement opportunities until after the season. Fleming says he only wants to add one or two more sponsors as Newton’s dance card is already relatively full off the field with eight endorsement partners and a TV show to shoot in the offseason.

“We only look at categories where he has a personal interest and products he uses,” says Fleming.

Take $3.7 billion-in-sales Under Armour , which was closely identified with Newton when the QB led the Under Armour-clad Auburn Tigers to the 2011 national championship. Under Armour signed Newton to the largest shoe deal ever for a rookie before he was drafted No. 1 overall in 2011. The Baltimore-based sportswear giant extended the deal last year and made Newton the top-paid endorser in its NFL stable. Newton’s Highlight cleat was the best-selling football cleat in the U.S. last year with Newton getting royalties on every pair sold.

Newton’s 2015 campaign continues a banner year for Under Armour athletes including Curry, golf’s Player of the Year Jordan Spieth, National League MVP Bryce Harper and quarterback Tom Brady, who won the Super Bowl in February.

Gatorade inked Newton to a multi-year deal after his rookie year, joining Peyton and Eli Manning on Gatorade’s NFL roster. It was another partnership with a prior connection with Newton receiving some notoriety at Auburn with his special Gatorade blend of “Cammy Cam Juice.” Newton shows his fun side in his current Gatorade commercial with teammate Greg Olsen and can usually be seen on the sidelines with a Gatorade towel draped over his head.

Newton’s biggest deal outside the sports space is with Belk , which he partnered with after his rookie year to create his own line of apparel and accessories. The royalty-bearing deal features over 300 pieces in the collection sold in nearly 200 stores. Almost everything you see the fashion-conscious Newton wearing off the field is from his Belk line outside of the fox tail he wore to a Nov. postgame press conference.

“Cam wanted to connect with the everyday customers and not be in the high-end fashion space,” says Fleming. “It is an opportunity to create a brand that can hopefully live on after his career.”

Another sponsor is Dannon, which replaced actor John Stamos last year with Newton for an ad campaign for its Oikos greek yogurt. The brand cited Newton’s appeal with young males. Other Newton sponsors include Beats headphones, EA Sports and Carolina’s HealthCare Systems.

No matter how the season ends for the Panthers, Newton will spend a chunk of his offseason hosting and executive producing a television show for Nickelodeon. “I Wanna Be” will feature Newton helping kids make their dreams come true. Twenty episodes is a big commitment for a network, but the pilot tested off the charts with the Nickelodeon demo of 8 to 13 year olds.

“I’m very passionate about mentoring young people, and this show will be the perfect opportunity to help talented kids get the chance to pursue their dreams,” said Newton in a release announcing the show. Newton’s brand is built on fun and the Nickelodeon show gives him a chance to showcase that even more.

Newton signed a new contract with the Panthers in June. The five-year deal is worth $103.8 million and included a $22.5 million signing bonus. Add in an estimated $10 million in off-field earnings and Newton is poised to shoot up Forbes’ annual list of the world’s highest-paid athletes.

But Newton might just be getting started as the new face of the NFL. His team plays Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals with a Super Bowl berth on the line. “A Super Bowl win would put him up over the top,” says Laatz. "The Super Bowl is the biggest stage you can perform on in the U.S. I don’t think his rise is anywhere close to done.”