“Not losing isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” – Vince Lombardi
“We’re not going to lose this game, I guarantee it” – Joe Namath
“Tell them to go out there and not lose one for the Gipper” – Knute Rockne
“Play to win.”
It was only a matter of time until a football nut like me wrote this blog. A lifetime of being a Browns fan leaves you with a lot of information. Mainly on what not to do, but information nonetheless. Surprisingly, there are a lot of great victory lessons that can be learned from watching my Cleveland Browns, then doing the exact opposite.
For those of you that are not football fans, I promise this is a great lesson in business, marketing and leadership. The Prevent Defense is a tactic that has been used for years in football with very little success. The concept is when your team is winning late in the game, you go to a “loose” defense that will allow your opponent to easily make short yardage plays, but make it extremely difficult to make long yardage plays. The idea is to eat up time, keeping your opponent from scoring enough points to win before the clock runs out. Often, a team gets so caught up “playing not to lose” that they many times do. The other team is finding success, gaining momentum, and, mentally, they can see victory; “They can’t stop us, we’ve made 10 positive yardage plays in a row.” Before you know it, your competitor is ahead and time has run out.
We have a client that hasn’t been with us very long and they are very much in the “prevent” mind-set. They have a huge competitor in Omaha and they are so worried that they are going to lose ground to them because they are starting to advertise in Lincoln. Every time we meet, they want to discuss what they are doing. what their ads say, what channels and stations they are on and how we are going to combat it. Simply, we’re not. We are going to play OUR game. They are chasing after us in this market, why turn around and chase after them? We are winning, let’s keep playing to win and put more distance between them and us.
During the two minute warning, when competitors are looming, PLAY YOUR GAME! You didn’t see the success you have now by being cautious, you did it by sticking to your game plan (or marketing strategy). You’ve created a marketing strategy and have stuck with it for one simple reason. IT WORKED. During what some call “winning time”, putting up the prevent defense is the worst thing you can do. By sticking to your guns and using the expertise of a full-service marketing agency like Transformation Marketing, you’ll be able to get that “W” you deserve.