Odell Beckham Jr. replaces Troy Polamalu as Head & Shoulders pitchman

ByDarren Rovell ESPN logo
Friday, August 28, 2015

The lucrative offseason for Odell Beckham Jr. continued Friday, as the New York Giants wide receiver was named the successor to Troy Polamalu as the new face -- or should we say hair -- of the Head & Shoulders shampoo brand.



Polamalu's flowing mane was the the most famous hair behind Procter & Gamble's marketing efforts for the past seven seasons, but when Polamalu retired, the company needed to find a replacement. Beckham's two-toned black-and-blond hair was a natural fit.



"I don't think my hair is as good as Troy's," Beckham told ESPN.com. "But hopefully I can one day live up to his reputation."



A spot released digitally by the brand on Friday morning features Beckham's career highlights, including his now-famous touchdown catch last November and his getting drafted 12th in the 2014 NFL draft. It finishes with the tag line: "Shoulders were made for greatness. Not for dandruff."



The 22-year-old has become one of the hottest commodities in the sports-marketing world after a year in which he earned offensive rookie of the year honors with more than 1,300 yards receiving in only 12 games.



That has kept his agent Zeke Sandhu and his team busy.



Beckham scored an exclusive autograph deal with memorabilia company Steiner Sports. He beat out Rob Gronkowski in Electronic Arts' "Madden NFL 16" cover vote. Beckham, who already had a deal with Nike, appeared in commercials for Foot Locker and Lenovo, scored an equity stake in upstart sports drink Roar and became ambassador for nutritional supplement brand Exos.



"It has been a crazy offseason, and I feel really blessed and fortunate to do the things I have done," Beckham said.



He has also done his part to stay relevant, posting videos on social media of himself practicing his one-handed catches.



In December, not long after he made his now-famous touchdown catch against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football, he had 170,000 followers on Twitter. Today, he's approaching 450,000 and he has 1.9 million followers on Instagram.



"I don't show things like me sitting on the ground making one-handed catches out of a JUGS machine to perform in front of the camera," Beckham said. "I do it because this is what I actually do every single day to get me ready for games."



Beckham's social media following was one of the factors that sold Roar founder Roly Nesi on pushing hard to make the Giants wide receiver the sport drink's first endorser.



"He has a monster presence on social media, which helps keep him in the news for all the right types of reasons," Nesi said. "When he made that catch, he broke the Internet and burned an image into the minds of the 8- to 18-year-old demographic that we appeal to."



Nesi said that Beckhamnaturally can appear with his shirt off and a helmet, which takes away the awkwardness of a non-NFL sponsor like Roar having to put him in a generic jersey. The company will roll out a Beckham-picked flavor with his image on the packaging early next month.



Beckhamsold more jerseys in June than any other player on the league's official store, NFLShop.com.



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