Opportunity Missed

Sometimes the best thing that can happen to a really good creative person is to get a ridiculously challenging assignment. It brings out the best in talented people.

Conversely, having too much fodder has the potential to set yourself up for failure. Great expectations can lead to disaster if the finished product isn’t spectacular.

I know this from years of creating ads for Michael Jordan and Gatorade, and directing creative teams to do the same. We did some great work but it was never easy. Having the single greatest sports asset on the planet at our disposal was awesome and amazing but also added a great deal of pressure to create greatness every time.

So I understand the challenge the folks at Y&R had when creating ads for the upcoming Winter Classic at Wrigley Field. The Blackhawks and the Red Wings playing a hockey game outdoor at Wrigley Field; how cool is that? Tremendously, opportunity-filled cool. The mind races with possibilities.

Unfortunately, Y&R’s minds didn’t race very far, choosing to produce what could be the most unremarkable, uninteresting ad of the year, considering the fodder they had.



Sometimes, the first thing you think of is the most obvious, but because it's pure and simple and great, you just say, obvious be damned, it’s great. In this case, they nailed simple, but definitely not great. They should have pushed much harder for something far more surprising.

For example, something like this…



Fresh, surprising, unexpected use of film and music. Not at all what you’d expect.

Sure, I’m biased. But “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” to promote an emerging American sport? Cool and unusual. “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” to promote a hockey game at Wrigley? An uncontested layup. Too bad.

There are other ads in the campaign that I haven’t seen that may take a different tact. If you see them, please pass them on. Hopefully, they take better advantage of the opportunity.

HEY! MARKETING WORKS!

Thank you, John McDonough. You are a smart, creative marketer who makes things happen.

People could have said that you had an easy job running the marketing for the Cubs. It’s the Cubs, after all. How hard is it to put a microphone in someone’s hand and create memories that last



a



lifetime?



But that was just one of his innovative, game changing ideas he had for the Cubs.

He and Head of Business Operations Jay Blunk have brought that fresh thinking to the Blackhawks, turning an entity that for years has been an afterthought for 99% of Chicagoans into a front page team that fans are excited about.

The latest news out of the United center is around the Winter Classic, the January game between the Hawks and Red Wings in Wrigley Field. Blunk and McDonough are trying to get President-elect Obama to the game. 44’s a big Chicago sports fan, and it’ll be a seminal moment in Chicago sports history. Why wouldn't he want to come? Think it might attract a little attention if he does? It’s genius.

People talk about the emergence and importance of non-traditional marketing. These guys have been doing it for years. And it works because it’s so different. It doesn't hurt that they’re their own clients. Streamlines the decision making process quite a bit, wouldn’t you say?

But it all starts with great ideas, of which they have many. Good for them. I hope, for their sake, the Blackhawks tear it up this year.