Blog
10.26
In Dallas, athletics imitate life and marketing
Is there a seat on that Texas Rangers bandwagon for one more?
In this town, there should be another full row of seats - not the Captain's chair with personal cup holders, but the bench seats with the springs poking out like the ones in the Day Camp van.
In case you have been in a cave or somesuch, North Texas is experiencing "Ranger Fever."
Sure, it's great for the city, the team and the overall morale of sports fans to have a winner in this town (no offense, Cowboys), but how often does this phenomenon happen in other arenas, like marketing?
Answer: Lots.
Bandwagoning (or bandwagonnering or bandwagonizing or whatever) is something most commercial "movements" have experienced.
Please.
Like you were one of the early adopters of that Twitter thing? Or parachute pants? Or being an "eco-thusiast" although you litter because your justification is, "Well, the birds need food too." (It's okay. Honesty is good for the soul.)
The bandwagon effect has another name in marketing, "Grassroots Outreach."
No one likes being the kid left out. Sure, people embrace being the recluse examining the dirt under their nails, but when the Pied Piper comes to town, everyone wants to know why. (Passer-by traffic remind you of anything?)
Grassroots outreach can be extremely effective because people love supporting a winner. If a few loud (and influential) people are screaming about something in a community, it's amazing how those words are laced with kerosene and everyone else catches fire.
The people must be vocal. The topics have to be engaging. The campaigns have to be focused. And the excitement has to be organic.
Follow that formula and you will be loading up the bandwagon one load at a time.
You know? Like a certain baseball team in the area.
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