`ADDING' ON TO HIS LEGACY : ADVERTISERS FLOCK TO RODMAN.

Byline: Mike Tierney Atlanta Journal-Constitution

In sporting goods circles, it's an easy word-association test. Converse - makers of Chuck Taylor, the white bread of basketball sneakers. No inflating pumps, flashing lights, multi- colors, stripes, lightning bolts or tassels. Just your basic shoe.

But this is the glam-slam '90s. No-frills no longer cuts it. First, Converse overhauled management. ``They're having their lunch eaten by Nike, Reebok and Fila,'' says Brian Murphy, editor of the Sports Marketing Letter.

To endorse their footwear, ``they needed a big, fat jolt of electricity, some star power,'' Murphy says.

So they went out and got a man who:

Once sat in his truck, fiddling with a gun, and pondered pulling the trigger. Has been slapped with 10 NBA suspensions totaling 29 games. Head-butted a referee and nearly neutered a photographer with his Nike-covered foot;

Has appeared on national magazine covers in various stages of undress, occasionally wearing garments straight out of catalogs from Frederick's of Hollywood or Dominatrix Digest;

Has unlaced and removed his sneaks on the bench, and unleashed his profane mouth on live TV;

Has converted his body into a human pin cushion, his hair into a laboratory for Crayola.

Jim Solomon, new senior vice president of marketing, insists that Dennis Rodman, Converse's new sportsweirdo, is a far better fit than what might appear to be a size-11 shoe on a size-9 foot. He prefers to view Rodman as an ``enthusiastic, hard-working player . . . sacrifices limb and body each game . . . an old-school player who could care less about scoring.''

What's next? Madonna (Rodman's ex-flame) modeling maternity clothes?

``The anti-establishment people are more popular than guys who just quietly do their jobs,'' says David Burns of Burns Sports Celebrity Service.

Murphy's latest top 10 product-peddling list of athletes featured balding tennis brat Andre Agassi and bejeweled look-at-me Deion Sanders. Rodman will crack the cast this year.

Some consumers view him as ``so cool you can chill your soda on him,'' Murphy says. ``He appeals to the rebel in all of us, to the little voice in us that says, `I wanna be me.' There is a place in the endorsing food chain for Rodman.''

Other links in that chain include Kodak, Comfort Inns, the Milk Industry Foundation and Pizza Hut, all geared toward Mom and Pop and their 2.1 kids. Kodak tapped Rodman to showcase a new camera during the holidays. Spokesman Paul Allen says, ``We wanted to break through the clutter of advertising in the Christmas season.'' Allen termed the pitch a success, echoing his peers who used Rodman.

``Risk marketing,'' Murphy calls it, though not as risky as it sounds. ``There is a greater tolerance for controversial behavior. What was considered deviant behavior has been dumbed down.''

Some find trotting out Rodman with your product as plain dumb. ``There comes a time when you exceed the bounds of conformity,'' says Lee Fentress of Advantage International, whose chief clients are NBA straight arrows Grant Hill and David Robinson. ``Mr. Rodman has been way beyond that for two years. I can't imagine a line of shoes (involving) Dennis Rodman.''

Nike would like to provide that line, but Rodman bolted for Converse when a renewed contract could not be struck. ``We didn't want to jettison Rodman,'' Nike's Jim Small says. ``We've never been afraid of controversy.''

Big-time advertisers conduct focus groups before launching campaigns. If Rodman turned stomachs after turning heads, they would deep-six the ads.

Besides, many firms say, Rodman's role is less of a mouthpiece, more of an actor. ``(They) are after athletes who attract attention, not necessarily represent the product,'' Burns says.

Yet other experts argue that viewers cannot differentiate between endorser and performer. Says Ben Deutsch, spokesman for Coca-Cola, ``I think it's one and the same.''

Rodman's quick kick of cameraman Eugene Amos was enough for Carl Jr's to yank a TV commercial starring Rodman. ``We benched him,'' says Suzi Brown of the West Coast burger chain. ``In the past, the things Rodman did to gain publicity were relatively harmless. Because he acted out violently against someone who was doing his job, this was different. I wish he would rescue a baby from a burning building.''

No such heroic acts took place, but the ads resurfaced last weekend.

Any firm that attaches itself to the rich-and-famous can get burned. Ask Pepsi (felon Mike Tyson, single mom Madonna, alleged child molester Michael Jackson). Or, worst-case scenario, ask Hertz (O.J. Simpson).

``There are many risks involved with linking yourself with celebrities or athletes,'' says Deutsch. Coke does business with safe bets such as Wayne Gretzky and Evander Holyfield.

Results of marketing studies are mixed on whether the more effective salesperson/athletes are those with positive images or higher profiles.

No matter to Rodman, whose off-court earnings, estimated last year by Forbes at $9 million, will continue to rise. What could derail the runaway Rodman train?

``It would have to be a felony,'' he says, ``or truly hurt somebody in a premeditated way.''

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Photo

Photo: The controversial Bulls star poses with his own Dennis Rodman dolls.

Associated Press