The Human Desire To Win!

These first couple weeks of November are sacred.

The leaves on the trees here in Atlanta are right now at their peak. The nights are cool enough for the fireplace, but the days are still warm enough to wear shorts.

And it’s also a time when the best rivalries of football take place.

I spent Saturday afternoon in Athens watching the Georgia Bulldogs take on Auburn. It was a game that will long be remembered.

The Dogs were passionate about winning that game.

Earlier in the week, the seniors on the team requested that the whole team play the game wearing black. Doesn’t sound like much, except the team never before in history wore black jerseys despite the fact that the team’s colors are red and black.

With many of the games taking place in 90 degree+ weather, the majority of the fans don’t wear black either.

The coach went to the press last Tuesday and asked fans to wear black and not red.

98,000 fans come to the game and sit in the stadium. Another 20,000 fans tailgate in the parking lots around the stadium and watch the game on their portable flat screen TVs.

My father called me and told me not to even show up to the game dressed in anything but black.

My dad is a big time Georgia fan.

When I entered the stadium wearing my black polo shirt, black sweat-shirt and black hat, nearly all of the other 98,000 Georgia fans were also dressed in black.

Talk about brand loyalty!

After proudly singing the Alma Mater and National Anthem, we all waited anxiously to see if the team would be playing the game in black.

The team leaders coming out to toss the coin had on red jerseys, but black shoes and socks. I made a bet with the fan next to me that the team leaders had black jerseys on under the red ones and that the team would run out on the field wearing black.

Sure enough they did. And the stadium literally rocked.

Georgia went on to win the game. The score was 45-20. At the end of the game, dance music hit the airwaves and fans young and old stayed in the stadium and danced. The players actually got up in the stands and danced with them.

A few weeks ago, when Georgia scored their first touchdown in the Florida game, the entire Georgia team ran out onto the field and celebrated. They ended up getting penalized 30 yards. They knew they would have to pay the price, but the spirit it generated fueled the team to go on and win the game.

The coaches actually planned having the team do it.

How many of you reading this right now spend your marketing dollars getting the public to change behaviors? How many of you are brave enough to break with tradition and conventional rules and execute what some might call heresy?

I do admit it. There are a number of times that I question if we are crazy doing what we are passionate about doing here at BrandVenture. Then I quickly realize that the clients that sit on the defensive and cannot even begin to consider anything other than their standard way of doing business do so clutching onto a sinking ship.

Go Dawgs! Georgia was passionate about winning that game.

Here at BrandVenture, we are passionate about our journey into the Human Desire to Win!