New York
CNN
—
Tom Brady has a new employer: Delta Air Lines.
The seven-time Super Bowl champion is expanding his professional business ventures beyond the NFL, joining Delta to train in-house staff and appear in outdoor advertising campaigns.
Delta said Wednesday that Brady will become a “strategic advisor” to the airline.
The company said Brady will collaborate with Delta to develop and advise on “teamwork tools” for the airline’s more than 90,000 employees and to participate in select marketing campaigns.
In his first year, Brady will work with Delta employees to “onboard, culturally familiarize, and immerse” the company and appear in Delta CEO Ed Bastian’s video series with business leaders, philanthropists, and more.
Allen Adamson, a marketing expert and co-founder of consulting firm Metaforce, said that although details of the partnership weren’t specific, it appears Delta wants to use Brady as more than just a celebrity brand spokesperson in ads.
“Having a celebrity somewhere is less credible to younger consumers,” he said. “Delta is trying to look at how it can benefit the association internally.”
Adamson said Brady can appear at staff trainings to talk about teamwork and managing adversity.
This type of celebrity hiring deal has a long history, and a poor track record.
BlackBerry hired Alicia Keys (Get it? Keys…) to be its Creative Director in 2013, and she quickly tweeted about it — on an iPhone. (She said it was Hacked). The collaboration ended after only a year.
Intel hired will.i.am and Polaroid hired Lady Gaga as creative directors around the same time. They both left after a few years.
In 2019, Adidas signed Beyoncé Knowles as a creative partner. That partnership ended this year.
Brady has become more involved in business ventures in recent years.
Brady founded health and wellness company TB12 Sports and also owns a media company and the Brady Brand clothing line. He is also a minority owner of British football team Birmingham City, a Major League Baseball team, and a team in the E1 Series, the premier electric boat racing championship.
Brady is expected to take on a role as a sportscaster, after signing a deal in 2022 with Fox Sports that is said to be worth $375 million over 10 years.