Hiya,
Most brands say they want to be more human. But they are being human, just shitty ones. What they should be aspiring to be is more humane.
There is the odd brand that puts people first and surprise, surprise, consumers like it. And yes, they still hand over their money.
Take the Savannah Bananas, a minor-league baseball team from Savannah, Georgia. Their stadium seats only 4,000 but they have an audience of millions.
3.7 million on TikTok alone (That’s almost 4 x the New York Yankees).
You don’t have to like baseball to like the Bananas. Because they don’t see themselves as a baseball team but as an entertainment company.
And their sole focus? Fans first. Because they understand, just as I heard in this podcast interview, “marketing is ⅓ what you say and ⅔ what other people say about you.”
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One of their mottos—Whatever’s normal, do the opposite.
The Bananas don’t have a CMO, they have a Director of Fun.
Where most baseball stadiums are littered with advertising and logos, they’ve eliminated it. FROM THE ENTIRE STADIUM.
When the new owner heard about a young family leaving a game because the old policy didn’t allow any outside food or drinks, he eliminated the policy.
Not only that, he made each ticket all-inclusive. A $20 ticket includes all-you-can-eat hot dogs, burgers, chicken sandwiches, chips, soda and water.
Instead of buzzwords and 9-page briefs flying around boredroom tables, they have jam sessions to come up with, “You-wouldn’t-believe-it moments.” (I get asked a lot for tips for coming up with activation ideas. Start with prompts like this.)
These jam sessions have led to ideas like—
- What if our cheerleading squad was a group of grandmas and we called them The Banana Nanas?
- (A few years later) Why don’t we also do grandpas and call them The Man-nanas?
- What if we had a player bat on stilts?
- What if the players wore kilts?
- What if the team routinely broke out into choreographed dances during games?
- What if our first-base coach was not even a coach but a dancer?
What if? What if? What if? I could list 100 more things they’ve done.
When the owner Jesse Cole and his wife took over this team, they sold two tickets in the first 3 months. After this change in direction, the waitlist for tickets is now close to 70,000.
The average college summer team does about $30,000/yr in merchandise sales. They do that in 2 weeks.
Sure, there’s no direct revenue from having zillions of followers but that’s not their goal.
To quote Jesse Cole, “When you focus on long-term fans over short-term profits, the profits catch up”
“Every day, people think we’re crazy. And I like that,” Cole said. “Every night, we do five to 10 things we’ve never done before in a live crowd on the field. Every single night. And a lot of them don’t go well. But when they do, it’s pretty special.”
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What can we learn from all this—
- Whatever you're working on, make a list of whatever's normal. What's everybody else saying or doing? Then mess with those things.
- For brands or personal brands, play the long game. Don't think you have to do "what works". It's not the only way. It might take longer to grow but it will pay off in the end.
- Advise the brands you work for to focus on storydoing vs storytelling. If they ask you to present them in a different light, ask them what they're doing differently.
- If you're coming up with ideas or activations, start with prompts like, "You-wouldn't-believe-it moments".
- Whether it's for a brand or your own brand, doing shit is fun. There's always a reaction and if what you're putting out there is positive, it's what you'll get back.
Article links:
Nothing’s too crazy
The business of the Savannah Bananas
The Book: Fans First (not an affiliate link)
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That's it for this week. I'll miss you.
Have a confident and creative week.
❤️
Dan
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PS. I've made some stuff to help you put a sock in your inner critic's pie hole.
PPS. To 🪓 me anything, hit reply.
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https://mailchi.mp/nelkencreative/bananabusiness
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