Among Athletes, Adults Feel Most Emotionally Connected To Serena Williams

Americans over the age of eighteen feel the strongeest emotional connection to Serena Williams as compared to all other athletes. Behind Williams is LeBron James, followed by Stephen Curry, Colin Kaepernick and Tiger Woods.

The aforesaid conclusion was determined via a study conducted by marketing firm MBLM, which polled 1,003 adults from October 23 through October 26. The study’s intention was to find out who adults connect with emotionally; the rankings are not based on admiration. Its value could be in better determining the athletes that may be best positioned to sell you products and services.

“This is not a list based on people that are admired, it is people we feel involved with and bonded to,” says MBLM managing partner Mario Natarelli. “These celebrities, by design or by default, have created brands with powerful emotional connections. Personal brands are going to continue to play a tremendous role in impacting our politics, beliefs and behaviors.”

Kaepernick actually came in first place on the entire list when it came to identity, having values people strongly identify with. Millennial men aged eighteen to twenty-four ranked LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Barack Obama as their top three brands.

Overall, sports figures did not perform as well as others such as politicians and celebrities. Barack Obama ranked first overall with a brand intimacy quotient of 77.5. He was followed by Michelle Obama, Tom Hanks, Donald Trump, Dwayne Johnson, Paul McCartney, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Pope Francis and Rihanna.

Serena Williams, who led the list for athletes with a 33.0 quotient score, was ranked twelfth overall on the list. James was fifteenth, Curry sixteenth, Kaepernick nineteenth and Woods twentieth.

The study focused on the degree of positive feelings consumers had toward an individual as well as the number of consumers that identified that person as their favorite, six markers or characteristics — fulfillment, identity, enhancement, indulgent, nostalgia and ritual — that are constantly present among intimate brand relationships (archetypes), depth and intensity of intimate brand relationships (stages), and a quotient score based on prevalence, popularity and intensity.