All sporting stars dread getting injured. Not only can it end their sporting careers, it also means no more brand sponsorship deals. So David Beckham's injury on 13 March is terrible news, both for the player, and for Brand Beckham. Describing the incident on 14 March, Mirror.co.uk wrote: "David Beckham's World Cup dream is in tatters after he snapped an Achilles tendon in a match last night. The former England skipper, who has been capped 115 times, was carried from the pitch in tears - knowing the injury had likely put him out the World Cup." 

David Beckham's media coverage trend

Research supplied by Echo Sonar 

But as Beckham is such a national institution, how much difference will not playing in the World Cup make to his public profile? PRmoment commissioned research to see what topics keep Beckham in the news. Looking at online coverage in the last three months, it appears that the World Cup was the main reason he was in the headlines. Recently, his injury has also created a lot of coverage. After that, the subject that gained him most media attention is his high-profile marriage to Victoria Beckham.

David Beckham's media coverage topics
Research supplied by Echo Sonar 

This highlights why Beckham needs to get fit enough to play again as soon as possible if he is to remain a media darling. An article in thisislondon.co.uk on 15 March shows that Beckham is keen to continue his career and not let this injury herald its end: "Beckham faces at least five months out but his agent, Simon Oliveira, insisted: 'This is not the end of his career - as has been suggested. Even if David does miss the World Cup, he is aiming to play with LA Galaxy towards the end of the Major League Soccer season.'"

Right now, brand Beckham is doing well. According to Millward Brown's Cebra research, which analyses celebrity and brand equity to identify appropriate brand partnerships, Beckham has relatively little negative buzz (just 2 per cent), the second highest familiarity score in the study and the highest affinity. He's seen as the third most talented sports star after Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton and is considered more 'calm' and 'reserved' than the average for celebs, though less 'clever' and 'spontaneous'. His strongest brand matches are PG tips, Muller and Tropicana. (Full results of the study are available on 31 March).

Rob Valsler, Media Researcher at Millward Brown, says " “Choosing which celebrity to work with is tricky business for brands. And since millions of pounds are often invested in the association, getting it right is critical. Brands should continuously evaluate whether the celebrity's brand personality is a good match for their current position or even desired position if they are using the association to evolve their brand."

The future problem for Brand Beckham is that his profile is so highly aligned to his sporting success. There is no question that being out of the World Cup is bad news. But at least he has another claim to fame, being part of a celebrity couple. As long as his missus and marriage fascinate readers, Beckham is never going to fade into obscurity.

Methodology

PRmoment asked Echo Sonar to analyse all UK online media coverage of David Beckham. The research period was 1 December 2009 to 14 March 2010. Metrics included weekly trend and topics.