Act like a Sports Team and Win

No matter what you do or what business you are in, you can learn a lot from sports teams. Yes, the greatest teams create raving fans, which all of us are trying to do. But it's the way they act big and generate publicity that can have the greatest impact.                   

I remember my first year as the GM of the Gastonia Grizzlies baseball team. To say the team was irrelevant would be putting it nicely. The team had been in town for seven years, yet no one knew it and if they did, they could care less.

We had to start gaining publicity. So, I began to think of everything we did and how to make it bigger.

For instance, we needed a new mascot for the team. The previous one was old and scared most kids. We didn't want to just introduce a new mascot. We had to make people care.

So, we tapped into what was relevant. At the time human growth hormone or HGH was the talk of baseball. Players were getting suspended left and right and the integrity of the game was questioned.

We jumped right on this timely matter. Instead of just getting rid of our old Grizzly Bear mascot, we fired him. For what? The use of BGH, or Bear Growth Hormone. We wrote a press release, staged a fake press conference and held a photo shoot.                              

We sent the release out the next morning, and the story was on the front page of the sports section. A fake firing, for a fake reason of a fake mascot was now getting publicity.            

It was ridiculous but people were talking about it. Months later we introduced our new mascot Chizzle, who was dramatically stronger than our former mascot. Don't worry we announced he passed all of his drug tests.

Years later we announced our new mascot in Savannah and took it to the next level. We had a name the mascot contest throughout the city and had a huge launch of the mascot at a local elementary school.             

Because we involved the city in coming up with the name, everyone was interested and intrigued. What was the name going to be? Would the name be the one they chose?                    

When we showed up to the school there were four news stations lined up. I immediately started to laugh. I thought it must have been a slow news day.

But I was wrong. It was huge news. When our Giant Banana came running out, the kids went crazy! When we announced his name was Split, they laughed hysterically.  

The news stations did interviews with staff, kids and even our non-talking new mascot. Shortly after the announcement, the City news station had over 30,000 views of the announcement on Facebook.

We were told it was by far the most views they've ever received on any video.

So, how does this relate to my business? Should I have a mascot? Well, yes you should. Sports teams have mascots to create even more fans. It works and gets people to identify with you and your brand.             

But that's not the point. Act like a sports team means make everything bigger than it is. Think how can you make a unique and timely press release. How can you hold a press conference, even if you make it a fake one at your office. How can you hype up your staff and make them larger than life? In sports, the mascots and the players are celebrities. So how can you make your staff larger than life?       

If you don't have employees or they don't want the limelight, you're not out of luck. In the next blog, I'll share how you can gain national recognition by just thinking outside of the box with your job offers.

No matter what you do, don't play it safe and try not to lose by doing things that have always been done. Think big, act like a sports team and win.