M.O.M stands for Missed Opportunities in Marketing. I often write about marketing strategies that went awry or missed the mark. It’s easy to armchair quarterback on the work being done in-house and by ad agencies for brands. What’s difficult is actually pulling together a campaign from scratch. In these M.O.Ms I plan to introduce concepts with sketchwork by rising artists and creatives. My goals are simple; I’m building a portfolio of campaign ideas to garner consulting opportunities and I’m placing a light on artists available for hire even if my ideas aren’t picked up by brands and businesses. I hope you enjoy.
I wrote a book almost ten years ago titled One Hour to Wealth: Your Great Idea is Valuable, Get Up and Write It Down. In that book I delivered my keys to staying motivated in business. I shared those keys on my CB Publishing website.
https://cbpublish.com/2015/01/04/25-keys-points-to-stay-motivated-in-small-business-intro/
In those keys, number 18 states that you need to ‘Conquer Your Region‘. Obviously this was meant for someone starting a business or a small business person, but I’ve come to realize that many big brands are so big they forget to look at the simplest solutions first. Money doesn’t fix everything, creativity can fix almost as many problems as cash. The MLB is no longer America’s pasttime, but the sport will always be the original American tradition. Under Armour was going to sponsor the MLB, but that idea was squashed as the brand encountered a series of stumbles that caused earnings to dip and the stock price to tumble:
The Under Amour x MLB 2020 Deal is Reportedly Off the Table | That’s a Good Thing
While the brand lost the sponsorship, they still have the most famous baseball player in the game in Bryce Harper. Harper is now the 300 million dollar man after signing a lifetime deal with the Philadelphia Phillies. It’s a contract unlike anything the league has really seen. Harper will be the face of the franchise for as long as he is healthy and producing. The All Star is one of UA’s best sponsored athletes. The issue is baseball doesn’t really garner the interest and traffic, but for every city that owns a team the interest is incredible.
Missed Opportunity? I’ve long explained my concept of Niche Out. Nike completely dominates sports and athletic footwear and apparel. Niche Out however allows the big brands to take on the giant in segments that they have the ability to control the narrative. On opening day all Under Armour did was share a picture of Bryce Harper’s custom cleats.
https://twitter.com/UABaseball/status/1111376713911422979
The post only garnered 5 retweets and 35 likes. On Facebook the same post captured 600+ interactions. That’s still not a lot, but it’s kind of expected when you realize that baseball is very limited in its reach. The brand isn’t limited though and because they Missed on Marketing Bryce in a more interesting manner, they missed a chance to create a moment for Philly and their local market.
So what would I have done?
Concept: DJ Jazzy Joel and Fresh Bryce – an obvious allusion to DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince is the concept. The concept is hyper local and creates a symbiotic relationship between the two major sports figures for the city.
The Problem: Baseball isn’t young and fresh although the athletes are actually young and engaging. Unlike football you can see the guys and they are allowed to represent their individuality via footwear. If baseball isn’t front and center with people in Philly how do you utilize Bryce Harper? You place him with one of the biggest athletes on social media in Joel Embiid. The 76ers would be seeded in the 3rd spot in the East if the NBA playoffs started today. Embiid automatically adds personality to Under Armour, but the brand hasn’t really utilized the big man in any fashion. Embiid and Harper allow for a playful interaction and while the Phillies made a great choice for the person throwing out the opening day pitch in a kid who is fighting cerebral palsy, Under Armour had a chance to host a local pop-up during the week leading up to Opening Day. The kid throwing the ball out could have been sporting the Joel Embiid and Bryce Harper shirt and since the brand couldn’t feature the team names, the jerseys would feature Under on Embiid’s jersey and Armour on Harper’s jersey.
Demographics: Conquer Your Region is the strategy and both Embiid and Harper shirts would have been available. Kids and parents would undoubtedly wear the shirt and Under Armour works with local sneaker stores for a limited release of the Slingflex or Spawn. The work with local stores would show an engagement with retail that Nike is currently moving away from because of their CDO. Under Armour should be consistently implementing a local strategy in every city they have an endorsed athlete. With Bryce and Embiid, fans of both sports will appreciate this campaign and utilizing a local approach the city of Philly will be given a moment of pride that continues to establish Philly is the premier sports city in the country having won a Super Bowl in 2018, signing the best player in MLB and with one of the best young teams in the NBA.
Artist Commissioned for the Concept: I wanted something playful and engaging. I explained to Brian that the picture needed to capture how Philly is currently at the height of the sports world with their Eagles winning the big game less than a year ago and the 76ers returning to relevance with a young core led by Embiid. Bryce and Embiid are shown capturing the sun and spreading rays of hope and happiness. MBB did an amazing job creating the idea I had for the missed opportunity. If you’d like to commission MBB you can contact him via his site.
M. Brian Bowens https://www.mbbowens.com/
What do you think of this feature? Was Opening Day a missed opportunity?
