Let’s go back in time and discuss sports history and electronics. For about 100 years baseball was the “National Pastime” while the other sports were side attractions. The NFL took a backseat to college football for many decades. College football was football.
Then a few things happened. The NFL’s 1958 championship game, the first ever to go to overtime, is still called, “The Greatest Game Ever Played” (including from Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League). Then came the Ice Bowl in 1967 (-15° and getting colder with an average -48° wind chill) and the 1969 Super Bowl (1968 season) for which Joe Namath “guaranteed” a win for the AFL’s Jets.
Something else happened during the last half of the 1960’s; color television made its mark on the American public. Baseball was a radio game and all sports on TV looked the same in black and white. When color TV hit, baseball looked the same, white for home team, gray for the visitors. But football jumped out on the screen with bright greens, blues, reds, yellows, etc.
Now it’s no question, the NFL is the premier sport and maybe the best marketing organization in the world. They’ve made an event out of college kids running around in spandex! If you can put a logo on it, you can buy it with your teams colors and logo.
We are visual people. What kind of visual impression are you making in your marketplace? Is it attractive like the NFL or blah like old-time baseball (baseball has changed, now teams have more colors and uniform combinations than one would think possible)? Is your website blah or does it jump out? What about written materials? I received a one-flyer from someone recently and it looked like it was done on a typewriter, other than a red headline.
I get a lot of positive comments regarding my book covers (look to the right) because they’re bold, colorful and attractive (thank you graphic designers). There’s a lot of noise in today’s world. You can’t slip into the background and still get noticed. It’s not just what you say, it’s what you show and as per the quote below, you need to connect with your customers.
“Creativity is just connecting things.” Steve Jobs
