#45 The Ballketing Letter
More on "Unsconscious Branding," system leadership, sports marketing history, the case for "sad days," account based marketing, explaining the obvious behind unconventional ideas & much more!
Hey there, Ballketers.
Welcome to issue #45! Which athlete comes to mind when you see “45”? We did not really doubt on this one…
This week, the brief covers the second part of the main lessons we learned from Douglas Van Paert´s book “Unconscious Branding.” We also bring you a varied selection of podcasts episodes that cover everything from leadership or branding to pitching ideas in an “obvious” way and sport business history.
As we enter the month of August, we might not have as much time to work on the newsletter as we want to take a few days to recharge, think about the evolution of The Ballketing Letter, etc. but we will do our best to bring you valuable content for your sport business!
We will however, keep feeding our “Resource Center" in Notion, where you will find the content we find most valuable organized by format, topic, publisher and even a small summary of each element. There is plenty there to help you out!
Let´s get down to business!
We went back to some pending episodes and this one was a gem. Tim Ferriss interviews surfing legend Kelly Slater and he shares some aspects of his routine, embracing new competition, approach to life and valuing what really matters. The quote summarizes it all...
“When you’re humble, you’re teachable.”
Unconscious branding & 7 steps to drive behavior change (II)
On last week´s issue we brought part one on the lessons we learned from Doug Van Praet´s book "Unsconscious Branding." This week we continue with the four remaining ones we picked up and hopefully, they will help you take your marketing game to a new level.
Shift the feeling: Vince Lombardi once said:
"Leadership is based on a spiritual quality, the power to inspire others to follow."
Think about legendary sport leaders: Larry Bird, Tom Brady, Chris Paul, Seve Ballesteros...
Indeed, before we set out to achieve anything, we need our imagination to create that vision that moves us in the right direction and good marketing communications is able to do precisely that. Moreover, it creates some form of emotion and feelings that drives specific behaviors (tears, smiles, laughter, chills, goose bumps…).
What is interesting is that the paradox of branding is that it has its origins in the "tangible" world but transcends it in a moving way. This is something that brands like Starbucks or Nike have achieved remarkably well; you don´t think of them of "just" coffee or sport apparel…
As Van Praet suggests, marketers "are in the business of selling states of emotion, not products or services," and to reinforce this point he relied on Robert Dilts work on behavioral hierarchy through different "neurological levels" which include:
Spirituality: "Why are we here?"
Identity: Our personal mission
Values and beliefs: Perceptions we hold to be true
Behavior: "What do I do"?
Environment: "Where and when"?
The brands that tap into the "Who we are" and "Why are we here" elements will be more effective, which ties nicely to Simon Sinek´s famous quote:
"People don´t buy what you do, the buy WHY you do it.”
Satisfy the critical mind: A good storytelling strategy is driven by simplicity, coherence and consistency. Coherence, and not content, is king because our minds are designed to seek patterns and when something does not feel right, we notice.
Marketers therefore need to provide a logically connected argument that customers can easily understand and explain to others the reasons behind their purchase decision. Ultimately though, let the product do the work, let it "tell" the story and if you know it does remarkable things, show it.
Change the associations: In reality, branding is a matter of perception and the associations customers make of it with elements of their daily life.
Brands are effectively reduced to memories through associations. So building these conscious and unconscious associations is the true essence of branding.
You want people to link your brand to a benefit without effort and as we said before, this requires coherence and consistency. Context is also key to define the value and meaning of a brand; it is always being evaluated in relation to something else.
Take Action: There is a great Chinese proverb that says:
"Tell me and I will forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I will understand."
The more frequently we do something, the more of a habit it will become. Those of us who work in sport or fitness know this quite well right?
There are 3 key ideas to keep in mind:
The goal of marketing should not only be to turn thought into action through advertising, but action into thought via experience and make that path as friction-less as possible. Marketers are the architects of this process and their goal is to transform intention into positive and repetitive brand experiences.
We are social animals and being able to create communities around our brand, reinforces the sense of belonging to a tribe. The real role of unconscious branding is to connect people to others who share the same belief, which is a concept that Robert Cialdini as updated in the revised version of his masterpiece, “Influence.” Sport clubs understand this and thus it is a powerful reason they can keep their fans engaged for even a lifetime!
Think about the customer experience as a whole; all touch points matter and, again, consistency along the journey is critical. You need to have a clear vision of the “perfect” experience you want to create, and how can you aspire to deliver it.
The final idea of the book is that there are two ways to win: Beat the competition or achieve your own goal. Van Praet suggests shifting the focus to a more creative mindset rather than a competitive one. As we will see below, brand should look to add value to customers, rather than solely focusing on competitors.
And with this, we end our review of the book. What are your thoughts? Did it inspire any ideas or questions? If so, let us know and we can get the conversation going!
System Leadership: Adapting to a future that is already here
Magnificent conversation in the A16z podcast on the evolution of business ecosystems, brand partnerships, the dichotomy between influence and control, new skills leaders need to embrace to adapt to the changing environment. In essence, system leaders have 4 key traits:
They understand the duality of how things interact with each other (internal & external); they operate in the intersections
They manage context: "Truth = facts + context"
Adopt a product manager´s mindset
Embrace risk in the times of disruption and willingness to "play offense"
They even have examples from Peloton and the sports industry, so make sure you check it out!
Play as a lever for learning & growth
Maybe not tied directly to sport, but this episode of "People I Mostly Admire" was simply wonderful. The essence of this conversation can make you "grow" a great deal both on a personal & professional level. They discuss ways in which we learn and how "play" is a the root of how we learn the things that stick most.
The case for allowing "sad days" at work
At last, and rightly so, there is a great degree of awareness on the impact of mental health on our daily lives, and this includes our work. We are human and we are not "programmed" to leave things out of the walls of our office. Adam Grant shares the case for allowing and treating "sad days" with the same level of importance as "sick days."
To do this he relies, among others, on NBA Superstar Dermarr DeRozan. Moreover, this episode seems pretty relevant this week with what has been going on in the Olympics…
Unconventional ideas need to be explained in obvious ways
If you working on launching a "never-seen" before concept, something that breaks the "norm," you will need to identify a way to explain it to all stakeholders in the market in simple ways. This is the topic of this episode of Masters of Scale, using Birchbox as an example.
We particularly liked the two questions that founders should consider when considering such a dynamic:
Why us? Why does it seem obvious to us?
What is the market not seeing about this opportunity?
Adidas and the origins of "Sports Marketing"
This insightful episode of Cold Call, by Harvard Business Review, looks at the history of Sports Marketing through the origins and rise of Adidas. It frames an interesting debate around values and ethics in the quest towards becoming a world leading brand.
Discovering Brandingmag´s new podcast
Brandingmag has launched a new podcast which promises quite a bit! In their first episode, they discuss the elements that drive differentiation for brands , the difference between big & small brands and competing in emerging or mature markets.
We particularly liked two ideas that were shared during the episode:
Before looking to differentiate from a competitor, you first need to be known for competing in the "same league."
Rather than looking at changing variables & dynamics and how you need to adapt, perhaps it is worth looking at the variables that remain constant within your business during a certain period of time and capitalize on them.
In their second episode, they review in detail the different types of digital business models including interfaces, platforms, and interaction field models. They also provide a framework to embrace when looking to define your business model which includes 4 steps:
Frame the problem you are trying to solve
Design the solution
Build it
Scale it
Finally, an idea we particularly liked was that in today´s environment, brands should focus more on adding value to their customers rather than differentiating themselves from the competition. In fact, it will be those value added features that will lead to that differentiation...
A look into the future of the fitness industry
Interesting analysis on the state of the fitness industry by Liam Killingstad of Front Office Sports where he looks at the future of "brick & mortar" gyms vs digital players through the lens of F45s recent IPO.
Account Based Marketing: An awesome guide that will help your sports brand embrace it.
Andy Crestodina (Orbit Media) shares a magnificent guide that explains what Account Based Marketing is, why it makes sense to embrace it and the full detail on how he implemented the methodology on his own business. If you want to take your marketing to a whole new level, you cannot miss this one!
And that does it for #45! We hope you found it useful and that you learned something new to apply in your sport or fitness business. If you have any feedback, let us know so we can keep making this newsletter better.
And, if you believe somebody else can enjoy The Ballketing Letter, don´t hesitate to share it with them so we can grow the community together.
Keep safe.