Lol. You think Nathan doesn’t have a strong presence when even Stephen Curry knows who he is. That’s not how these things work for endorsements, but I can assure you he’s recognizable enough. In fact, this isn’t about how recognizable he is before the Olympics. The Olympics are extremely popular and make the most invisible person a super star over night. It’s not about presence, it’s all about potential.
Endorsements for the Olympics are always decided well in advance and have less to do with fame or medals as they do with potential at the Olympics. In the Olympics only a few sports are promoted. Figure skating is the most promoted with ladies figure skating at the top. After the GPF 2016, Nathan was out on short list of Athletes that had potential of medaling at the Olympics. After he landed five quads in nationals and beat nearly all the best skaters at 4CC, he became a potential gold favorite and someone who was highly marketable. Not to mention historically landing five quads, which is an easy selling point.
With all athletes, it’s hard to know who will make it big at the Olympics or even who will make it. So companies make educated guesses based on the past season. Clearly they thought Ashley would make it to thr Olympics. But by October, if a company hasn’t signed an endorsement deal with a figure skater, they’ve lost the chance to make commercials and advertisements with the skater, because they’re so busy competing. Since the US market is so big, and US athletes are heavily promoted, it’s very important they pick their athletes early and hope for the best. Which is why Nathan, Ashley, and the Shibsibs got the most endorsements, but Adam who’s incredible popular after the Olympics hasn’t gotten signed on.
I think Nathan has plenty of presence and fits the company brands well. Nike could not be a better fit. He’s the perfect age and represents the brand image perfectly. Not to mention 90% of what he wears is athletic gear. Going by comments on Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr, and even here Nathan is considered very physically attractive, making him even more marketable to the coveted 18-34 market.
Besides, being not being a mainstream sport never stopped them before. Nike paid millions to Tiger Woods in golf endorsements.
Kaetlyn is has the bad luck of being over shadowed by popular vets. For Canada, it felt like the Olympic were more about Patrick, Tessa and Scott. It makes sense, since they have such huge reputations and made such an impact on the sport. However, it doesn’t mean that Kaetlyn won’t gain popularity in the future.