In the world of sports, one of the many stories being talked about right now is Denver Broncos’ rookie Quarterback Tim Tebow‘s performance in his first year of professional football. Tebow was a force in his college days at the University of Florida, but the NFL is a completely different game. Many are saying he’s nowhere near a fundamentally sound professional quarterback, that he makes poor decisions, and he rarely completes a pass. He actually played a full 60-minute game completing just two (!?!) passes, and yet somehow his team still won the game.
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The question that is confounding sports fans right now is how can such a seemingly underwhelming talent, in a position that should anchor and drive the entire franchise, leads the team to a current and respectable 5-3 record and wins a remarkable 4 of 5 games he’s started? His personal performance doesn’t stack up to his win-loss record.
Playing to Your Strengths
The team owners, GM, President, coaching staff, fans, and anyone who catches headlines on TV can see that Tim Tebow does not appear competent enough to survive in the NFL at his position. Yet the coaching staff seems to be able to utilize Tebow’s skill set in such a way that victory is reached at the end of the day.
Another example that comes to mind under the theme of “mediocre striking it big” is the year-old Dominos Pizza Oh Yes We Did campaign. Dominos got together with their advertising agency, realized the perception of their product deemed their pizza was “below average” and decided to tackle it head on. (Watch the extended advertisement here) Dominos willingly shows how badly their product was received by consumers. The pizza company makes it known that they are aware their product was sub-par and that they are actively changing it. The campaign has led to Dominos winning an Advertising Research Foundation David Ogilvy Award for Excellence in Advertising Research, improved same-store sales growth by 9.9% in 2010 compared with 0.5% in 2009, and myself being curious enough to order a pizza to see how different the changes were.
Unique Marketing
Another case that exemplifies limited resources coupled with wild success was the 1999 horror film The Blair Witch Project. The movie was put together with a $20,000 budget, which is remarkably low. Most of it was amateur footage pieced together in order to complete the story. However the concept at hand was a very new and unique perspective, the likes of which had not made it to mainstream media before.
With such a different approach to movie making, as well as bringing it into the limelight via mainstream media, The Blair Witch Project filmers found themselves with a highly successful movie. The popular Internet critic website of Rotten Tomatoes has the movie listed as an 85% favorable rating out of 100. Blair Witch grossed $248,639,099 worldwide, while spending that mere $20,000 for production.
Believing In Your Product
The last example for this post is, (dare I say it?): the Snuggie®. When the infomercials for the Snuggie first came out, it’s all anyone could talk about: the blanket with sleeves. When Snuggies hit the scene many people thought it was a ridiculous idea (and still do). However three years later, the Snuggie can still be found on shelves of stores nationwide, as well as online.
Allstar Marketing Group took this product and made multiple variations in different colors and sizes, and even created versions designed for dogs. After the Snuggie was released in 2008, Allstar Marketing won the DRMA Marketer of the Year Award in 2009 and has launched several spin-off products since.
So, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s possible to make a “silk purse from a sow’s ear.” If you couple mediocrity with management or marketing genius, in the end, genius can win out. (I do not believe this is a good thing; I’ve just decided it’s a reality.) I’ve also got to believe that somewhere along the line, perseverance and confidence are factors too. It’s the only way I can explain Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos.
