marketing

Marketing Lessons from Dennis Rodman

cpankey 6 Comments
Chicago Bulls Dennis Rodman 1995 - 1996 Season

Image via Wikipedia

I can’t believe I am actually going to write this, since I really could not stand the guy when he played, but the announcement today that he is a finalist for the basketball hall of fame inspired me.

Dennis Rodman – The NBA model of one Bad Man – is a marketing engine. He is in that rarefied air in athletics where the name becomes a brand and industry of its own.  One o the original BAd Boys of the Detroit Pistons, Dennis Rodman did not start of as anything special in marketing. He was a rather bland product if we keep this in marketing terms. He was incredible defender and rebounded for a team with many larger personalities and brand.  He played in a time where the world was being transformed by a rival in Micheal Jordan and legendary figures in Larry Bird and Magic Johnson were still fresh in everyone’s minds. Dennis Rodmans Brand had some serious competition for the limelight.  (Sounds a little like small business vs. Wal-Mart)  Most professional athletes in this position would be ok just being that role player of a brand, serving just their smaller marketplace and being happy about the little niche of customers they would receive as fans. But that does not seem to be what Dennis Rodman was all about. First came a romance with a Supermodel porn star, then a few Tattoos and Body Piercings. Soon to follow colored hair, hair slogans and a very public party and bash profile on all the networks. Dennis Rodman became the tabloid equivalent of Aliens are landing and the government is covering it. The world all of a sudden could not get enough of this Bad Boy, Turned Rock Star Turned Weird character, which by the way was killing it in the NBA as a Rebounder.

A Rebounder… thank about that for a minute, here is a guy that could possibly go into the Hall of Fame as one of the best in his profession, and he was a Rebounder.  Not the guy making the winning shot, or pouring in 50 points, a rebounder, a very skilled and awesome rebounder.  This just does not happen however in Hall of Fame history.  No what I believe has happened is that Dennis Rodman, master marketing genius, decided long ago that he was not good enough to compete with the  Wal-Mart of celebrity Basketball players (Jordan, Magic, Bird , Isiah, etc..) and instead became the brand nobody was trying to become, and he not only filled that void he took it to levels never thought of and transformed an image of culture and popular thought.  Ok, I don’t know he is that smart but what can small business glean from this example in today’s business world?

Marketing Tips learned from Dennis Rodman:

  1. If you can’t own the traditional normal markets, change and own your own market Dennis Rodman would never fit in with the clean-cut image of NBA legends he was playing with, so he choose to explore a different path and found a very profitable audience.
  2. Be the best at something and huge rewards will follow Dennis Rodman became the prolific rebounder of a generation. In a time where rebounding just was not the sexy of a topic on ESPN or talk radio.
  3. Let your hair down and live Stop taking yourself so serious, Dennis Rodman, was like the class clown that knew getting the laughs from all the jocks was actually attractive to 80% who were not jocks in the world. In your business, when was the last time you just let the staff have some fun and be creative.
  4. Creative.. CReative…Creative – Want to change your stars?  Get creative. Colored Hair, Body Jewelery, A flair for the dramatic was a pretty inexpensive stunt that gave Dennis Rodman a powerful brand. What can your business do to stand out.
  5. Ok I can’t finish this without the one mistake you don’t want to do…Dennis Rodman failed to put on the brakes and he has paid a price. In business and Marketing you have to know when to get off the bike and start walking again, keep the glory nad exit quietly, not with a huge crash.

Tell me what you think?  What lessons from Dennis Rodman did I miss?

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Superbowl Commercials – Winners and Losers

cpankey 5 Comments

Ok, before I start I must let you know that I am a Superbowl Fanatic. I love to watch this game. I don’t like Superbowl parties because there is too much non-Superbowl chatter happening. 

BUT!  I do love the commercials.

So here are my best and worst of the Superbowl Commercials of 2011:

1) Doritos – Office dude licks the other guys fingers.  Commercial made me laugh out loud. Everyone has that one product that they hope they can lick the plate in the end. Sniffing the cheese on the guys pants just made this commercial unforgettable to me.  Great work Doritos.

2) Pepsi Max –  Girlfriend throws can at boyfriend who is looking at blonde jogger, He Ducks and the can blindsided the jogger.  Very Funny. I don’t remember any thing else on the commercial but the wandering eyes of this guy just causes all kinds of trouble for this unsuspecting jogger. Of course the best is that they both run off and leave the scene.  HAHA!

3) Volkswagen – Darth Vader in training. Little boy is trying to conjure up the force and move objects. Dad hits the cars lights with a remote and freaks the kid out because he thinks he actually did it.  Ok I admit I am a star wars freak so it hit a soft spot with me. (They also scored in the end with me for the New Beetle commercial.  Very creative and well done.)

4)Doritos’s – Bringing back the dead.  Cleaver, bringing Grandpa Back from the ashes..   Sick maybe, but cleaver. 

5)Chrysler – Motor City – Built in America – I like the story telling in this commercial. Great timing in a country with little self-worth. Detroit needs it, and America needed to hear it. Well done.

Near Top five

Chevrolet transformers–  I almost missed this commercial and had to look it up online or probably gets a better result.

Five Misses –

1)Bud Light – Movie set.  Just missed to many way to make it funny. Looked desperate.

2)Go Daddy – Joan Rivers – Wow what a disappointment from this creative company. By the way who in Hollywood is being paid off  to sell America and the world the idea that Joan Rivers is anything but old and needs to retire.

3)E-Trade – The old man and the E-trade Baby.  That was just too weird. Maybe the baby is just getting old.  ( Sneezing Cat one was good, made me laugh.)

4)Coke – Dragon Wars??? – Ok this commercial did have some cool effects but I felt like I needed another half hour of film in order to understand why this was relevant. I must not be Cokes Target Market.

5)Brisk Ice Tea with Emmen.  Probably just not the right target audience here again, but that seemed like a total waste of 3 million dollars.

So what are your favorites? 

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Targeted Global Marketing

cpankey 1 Comment

I remember speaking with business owners in years past about why they believed they did not need the internet. You remember them, the business owners who had no need for the world to find them, they were a local business.

Then we switched gears and started promoting Hyper Local  Marketing, and that made sense to many and online ad revenues in local market’s started to climb. Well today as I am communicating with companies half way around the globe that either have interest in my services or are a company which can help me serve my local business community with more creative and unique solutions, I realized what social media has done is create a Targeted Global community.

A targeted global community, a community with Hyper (Local) interests, wich is to say that they are personal and intimate interests not held with in geographic boundaries.  A small business can now communicate with resources 24/7 from all corners of the globe. They can find new and innovative solutions, creative ideas, cost savings, product improvements and yes even business partners and customers.

So the is the first rule of Marketing  still true?  (Location, location, location)?

I don’t know as I write this I have the funniest feeling that I am late to the party and everyone has already figured this out, or have they. I still see thousands of business owners without a web site, without a social media connection, without a diversified supplier list. They look at social media as a giant waste of time because they know that if they just pick up the phone  and dial the next prospect or that old reliable service ( which doesn’t seem to be as good as it once was) that business will get done and sales will come.These are the battles that business owners must get through in a hurry.

Business Real estate is being taken right now. Taken by the few which have jumped in both feet and said I will not quit. They are determined to build relationships in a very targeted global community. With people who offer wisdom, service, solutions that they need to move to the next level of business.   They are securing real estate in places like Facebook, Twitter, My Space, Linkedin, WordPress, you tube, Manta etc…  A Global Mall-without-walls of business and consumer communication that is building new empires and new celebrities.

Targeted Global Marketing, sounds like an oxymoron, but on LinkedIn today I spoke with business people in three different countries in the matter of an hour on the same topic. Business was good.

Get on Get started and start your Global Targeting today.

Who is talking about you?

cpankey Leave a comment

I had the pleasure today to once again hear Bret L. Simmons speak about the power of Social media and personal branding.  In the course of training with a hundred local business leaders in our community Bret used me as an example. I admit it felt really cool too have someone I respect  recognize me in a room of  my peers  in our business community.  

I know this is not about me, but it got me thinking about contacts we make in life and if we understand  what the value of what others say about us has to our business.

Bret today spoke of how he uses twitter to speak of both: positive company interactions and negative interactions. Social Media has allowed him to see instant reaction in both the positive and negative of customer service.  Wow, have you thought about the power of social media as it relates to customer service.

What if that last customer was not satisfied for any reason and is right now blogging, texting, or Twittering all their contacts to tell them of the bad experience. I am not sure we would conclude that any press is good press in this case. Of course the same thing is said in the reverse, if we exceed expectations can we count on the same consumer now telling their world about your great company. How do you know if this is happening to you and your business? 

So who is talking about you?

Are you helping them with what to say or just letting it happen? 

Social Media = word of mouth marketing on steroids! 

If you are involved with the running or marketing of a company, be it small or large, you had better be listening to the social media world. The networks of people can quickly become huge and the last thing you want is for a single bad event to turn into a face book page such as 24hourfitnesssucks (which by the way is a real facebook page)

If you are local business that has not adopted social media plans into your business I would suggest redoing your marketing plan for 2011. Include Social media, Invite the public to get more from you in 2011, help them find the right words to say about your company, and start listening to what they are saying.