Will huge ad money follow Shohei Ohtani from Angels to Dodgers?

Ohtani, as an Angel, has been the biggest ad guy in baseball, with ties to dozens of consumer brands. Experts say he's about to get bigger.

Churu, which sells itself as “Japan’s No. 1 cat treat,” soon might have a new venue, Dodger Stadium, for its baseball-related advertising.

Same for the world’s No. 1 and No. 8 automakers (Toyota and Honda), at least two tire companies (Yokohama and Toyo), three makers of electronic games (including the companies behind Pac-Man and Ragnarok), as well as companies that sell beds, noodles, cameras, robots, televisions, computer chips, inkjet printers and a probiotic drink (Yakult) that claims to get its fermentation from a bacteria known as Lacticaseibacillus casei Shirota.

In all, at least 22 companies, selling products under dozens of brand names, forged advertising relationships with baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani during his six years in Anaheim.

It’s too early to say what will happen specifically to those contracts, but many of those brands – and probably lots of new ones – figure to stick with Ohtani as he morphs from a Los Angeles Angel of Anaheim into a Los Angeles Dodger, starting with his introduction at Dodger Stadium on Thursday, Dec. 15. The same goes for plenty of American companies, Canadian companies, Mexican companies and any European, South American or African companies willing to push some of their soccer ad spending over to baseball.

Everybody has wanted a piece of Ohtani. And Ohtani’s business people – if not the publicly reticent, baseball-focused player himself – have proven eager to help make it happen.

When news broke this week that Ohtani was deferring some $680 million of his $700 million, 10-year contract until well into his middle age, those news reports also noted that he’ll be scraping by on the $2 million a year he’ll get as a player and the $50 million a year or so that he makes off endorsements.

That was all when Ohtani was an Angel, a team that hasn’t played in a postseason game since his arrival. With the Dodgers – a team that’s experienced playoff baseball annually for more than a decade – experts believe Ohtani’s marketing appeal will grow considerably.

“Combining one of the largest sports brands in the world with one of the largest global athlete brands creates a scenario for substantial revenue generation for both,” David Carter, a long-time sports marketing expert who teaches at USC’s Marshall School of Business, wrote via email.

“Ohtani, for his part, will be able to add to his endorsement portfolio as the added exposure gained by playing for the Dodgers will elevate his already top-notch brand.”

Though both the Angels and Dodgers are strong baseball and business entities – Forbes magazine lists the Dodgers ($4.8 billion) and Angels ($2.7 billion) as the second and seventh most valuable franchises in Major League Baseball – the combo of the Dodgers and Ohtani could be mega. Think Taylor plus Travis, but in the Super Bowl, or Messi in Miami FC pink or waving a World Cup trophy over his head.

The ingredients for a long-term version of Ohtani-mania – but playing out in Japan as well as downtown Los Angeles – are already in place.

Baseball is Japan’s biggest sport, beating out sumo, soccer, tennis and golf, according to a Japanese marketing data company, Central Research Services. And the Dodgers are probably the biggest American baseball team (along with the Seattle Mariners, the team that signed Japanese baseball legend Ichiro Suzuki) in Japan, having launched the modern pipeline of Japanese baseball talent to the major leagues with their 1995 signing of pitcher Hideo Nomo.

But Ohtani – a 29-year-old, two-way player frequently compared to Babe Ruth and any number of movie heartthrobs – is probably bigger than both.

Magazines, websites, podcasts, radio shows; in Japan, there are multiples of each devoted to all things Ohtani. He’s on billboards, digital signs and print ads. Time, Newsweek, Esquire, GQ, Sports Illustrated; print magazines old and new have used Ohtani as cover fodder. Go to Google and ask “What pillow does Ohtani like?” and you’ll get an answer (AiR by Nishikawa).

This week, a click on iSpot.tv, an agency that tracks advertising appearances, shows that over the past 30 days Ohtani was featured or otherwise included in no fewer than 40 different TV commercials that aired 29,211 times somewhere on planet earth.

That’s during baseball’s off-season.

Next spring, and for at least a few springs after, all that peanut butter-and-chocolate-level ad synergy of Ohtani and the Dodgers figures to grow.

“Sponsors are committed to reaching consumers,” Carter wrote. “And the Dodger/Ohtani alliance allows them to do so on an international scale not previously available.”

Part of this is embedded in the sport. While boxers and football players might move quickly, or wear helmets, baseball’s slow pace and close-up camera work can turn stretches of every game into stand-alone, character-based dramas.

Whenever Ohtani is at the plate (three to six times a game) it’s a soap opera, with Ohtani, as hero, trying to vanquish the evil pitcher. Some episodes last a few minutes (long at-bats, lots of foul balls, etc.), others last a few seconds (first-pitch pop-up to short). But every one of them, even the shorties, can be high drama with the right context (a meaningful game) or with the right star player (Ohtani).

When Ohtani pitches, the drama reverses – and extends. Every half inning is a full show, featuring dozens of closeups of Ohtani simply playing baseball.

All of these mini-stories can be (and are) watched, over and over, by millions of baseball fans around the globe. And, because of in-stadium signage and computer-generated imagery used in TV broadcasts, each of those Ohtani stories unfolds with Ohtani-friendly advertising playing in the background non-stop. Companies have found them effective at winning consumers over to their brands of cat food and cars and cameras.

“Domestic brands seeking to develop business in Japan and in other parts of Asia will have their interest piqued,” Carter wrote in reference to the Ohtani/Dodgers marriage.

“And international brands will be very interested in aligning with the Dodgers and Ohtani – provided the price is right and the return on investment, one linked to Ohtani’s health and the Dodgers on-field success – exists.”

It’s also working locally, already.

On Wednesday, Dec. 13, USA Today reported that within 48 hours of Ohtani’s Dodger deal becoming public knowledge, the secondary market for Dodgers seats was surging (the cheapest opening day seat available at press time was $407), while Ohtani’s No. 17 Dodgers jersey was leading MLB (before he’s played an inning as a Dodger), and the Dodgers Instagram account was up to 3.3 million followers, tied with MLB’s previous Insta-leaders, the New York Yankees.

Of course, Ohtani’s account was still a bit bigger: 6.5 million.