Virgil Winston:Marketing Guru
The “big game” is less than a week away and sports fans are all a twitter. No, I’m not talking about the annual Crossword Championship, which is, oddly enough, also going to be held in Arizona this year. I am referring to Super Bowl 42, which may be the year a football dynasty is born. Sports fanatics, writers, gamblers and even screenwriters are busy predicating the outcome. The movie “I am Legend” contains a scene in which a screenshot reads, “Giants lose to Patriots for the second time this season. 23 to 7.” Eerie.
I am usually a big fan of the underdog—I like watching David beat Goliath, but in this case David isn’t so little and Goliath is unbeatable…at least so far. Plus that Tom Brady is a modern day superhero. He’s young, handsome and dating a supermodel. Whether or not they admit it, every guy in America wants to be him, more than they want to beat him…or watch him get beat. Despite Brady’s rumored ankle injury, Vegas is favoring the Pats by 13-14 points, but who can forget that the Giants were beating the Patriots for much of the last regular season game. They didn’t give them a pass then and I don’t assume they will go gentle into that good night this coming Sunday. The bottom line is, regardless of the odds, predictions and guesses; nobody really knows what will happen on Sunday. Or do they? The Magic Answer Ball just might be able to take the guesswork out of who will win. Most companies are filled with employees and clients who look forward to spending Sunday glued to the TV, trading predictions and cheering their team. Why not take advantage of a great marketing opportunity and show potential customers you’ve got game? Play both sides of the fence by sending the Magic Answer Ball imprinted with your logo and the question, “Who Will Win?” The real winner will be your brand, which, in the marketing game, is all that matters. Then you can sit back, relax, and enjoy the game with some nachos and hot wings—my favorite part of any televised sporting event.
Well, I’m off to practice pretending to look surprise when “my” team wins. I already own the Magic Answer Ball…in three colors. Remember the words of my great aunt Fanny who was the coach of my Dad’s T-Ball team, “It doesn’t matter if you win or lose, it’s how you play the game…but you may as well play to win.”