‘I’ve never had a real job’: Shaq talks building his brand through ads, and says he hates ‘wealthy athletes’ who show off. It ‘makes me sick’

One thing was for sure when you were a kid sneaking in some late-night TV on basic cable: you were going to get an ad for back pain relief. Maybe some car insurance. Maybe some candy or soda, and absolutely a few pairs of shoes. And more likely than not, you were going to see one person in those Icy Hot, The General, Nestle Crunch, Pepsi, and Reebok ads: the 7-foot-1-inch self-described “Big Aristotle” mononymously known as Shaq.

Over the years, Shaquille O’Neal has sold part of his name for more than $100 million, appeared in ads for everything from printer ink to car (and car insurance) commercials, and owns the logo on hundreds of millions of sneakers. And yet, he still says he has never had a job.

“I really respect people such as you guys who have to do real jobs. I’ve never had a real job,” O’Neal told Fortune on the sidelines of the Brand Innovators Marketing Leadership Summit at Paramount’s New York headquarters.

“There was a time in my life where my son asked me to help him fill out a resume. I had no idea what I was doing because I’ve never filled out a resume.”

O’Neal was there with Leonard Armato, the agent who signed him out of Louisiana State University, to promote Armato’s new book, Maximize: 7 Keys to Unlock Greatness in You, out in November from Sports Business Journal Publishing, an imprint of Amplify Publishing Group. O’Neal wrote the foreword. The book lays out the plan the two made in 1992: O’Neal would own his name and logo outright, and other companies would pay to market it.

“He owned his own brand, and then we had to find companies to help build value in his brand by using it in their marketing in creative ways,” Armato told Fortune. “Basically it’s called OPM. You build your brand using other people’s money.”

‘He was my version of ChatGPT’

O’Neal said he didn’t understand much of it at first. “Coming out of college, a guy with no college degree, no business experience, I’m fortunate that I hired somebody that was loving, caring and teaching,” he said. “He taught me everything there is to know about business.”

“He was my version of ChatGPT,” O’Neal added. “My favorite prompt on ChatGPT is, explain it to a fifth grader. He would break it down in terms that I could understand.”

The logo was the first lesson. Nike developed and owned Michael Jordan’s Jumpman logo, and Armato wanted O’Neal to keep control of his own.

“He was like, ‘You need a........

© Fortune