Right now Jeremy Lin is the hottest thing in New York since the hot dog itself. It’s been a little over a week since the fame that comes with names has taken over. From Linsanity to Lintendo and Linderella, it seems people all over the USA can’t get enough of this player.
What Does Jeremy Lin Have To Do With Marketing?
The reason why he was picked up by the New York Knicks is of special interest with marketing. Whats interesting however is the fact that Jeremy Lin is not an NBA rookie. He was never traditionally drafted in the NBA, and was overlooked by lots of teams. Then he was picked up and dropped 2 times in a row by NBA teams who thought he wasn’t valuable enough to keep. So why all of the sudden so much fame, and how is he making the New York Knicks more profitable than ever? And more importantly, what can you learn from the success of Jeremy Lin to incorporate with your own marketing?
Jeremy Lin Reaches Beyond New York
Several factors have lead to not only the Knicks benefiting from Jeremy Lin’s fame, but also the NBA as a whole profiting. Lets dig down a little bit and examine this from a marketing standpoint.
What factors are causing the Knicks and the NBA to profit from Lin? What is causing people to go out and buy up Lin Jerseys online, and why are even domain squatters getting tons of traffic to their sites and likely profiting from the Lin-sation craze?
The first and foremost factor is nationality. If you know a little bit about basketball history, you might remember how Yao Ming was supposed to be a huge success for the Houston Rockets, but instead he was plagued with injury and never was able to show off his full potential. Yao Ming was still able to generate a huge amount of interest and revenue into the NBA from the Asian market despite injuries. What teams are looking for is the opportunity to appeal to Asia even further, and Jeremy Lin is leading the Knicks in that direction.
Aside from the Asian market, the Knicks are still able to capitalize on Jeremy Lin for another reason. The fact that he was a bench player and that nobody expected him to succeed as a starter for any team. Many people love the story of an underdog who overcomes all odds against him and shows he has what it takes to be a winner. It’s easy to love a player that delivers when nobody expects much from him. Now everyone wants to be a fan, and Knicks games at home and on the road are selling out. That benefits other teams in the NBA too, which normally would have mediocre ticket sales at best.
A third factor is that He’s playing for a team that gets attention. The Knicks have been waiting a long time for something special like this, and it was a fluke they even came across Lin’s ability. Lin was put in the game when most of the Knicks starting players were injured. Leading to an almost savior like scenario for the team.
Applying Lin To Your Marketing
Taking a hard look at how broad your marketing reach goes can give you an indicator of what areas there is room for potential within your market. Does your business appeal to Spanish speaking people, African American or the Asian market? Extending yourself to cater to people of other ethnicities can be a huge boost in revenue.
Do you offer the unexpected? If you have the same service as your competitor what differentiates you from them? If you offer something that people don’t usually expect, its memorable to them. People will tend to remember things that they don’t expect from a service rather than the things they do expect. A good habit is to under promise and over deliver.
Use brand trust. People like names they are familiar with. If I were to ask someone whether they liked “Bounty” paper towels or “Clear Value” brand paper towels I am willing to bet more people would choose Bounty even though “Clear Value” sounds good. Simply because Bounty has a trusted name to a broader market of people. If you have the ability to associate your name with trusted brands, people will view you as credible.
