When Love Is In The Air…
One thing should be really obvious to listeners when digging into our sports mascots episode…
“Todd and Elliot are to podcasting what Tom Brady is to The Great British Bake Off.”
Nope. Try again.
“These two have the kind of wisdom that only gets revealed to a chosen few...Like a MAD Fold-In.”
You’re too kind. Maybe...
“If a train leaves Detroit traveling at 90 miles per hour…”
Well, no. Now you’re starting to lose the plot. Hey! *Finger snaps.* We’re over here!
The thing you should hear when we discuss the origin stories of beloved team mascots is that the two teams listened. Both the Milwaukee Brewers and Syracuse Orange had plenty of opportunities to make wrong turns. We all do.
No, they didn’t require a 16-week validation study. They didn’t get on the latest methodology bandwagon. They didn’t ponder, puzzle over or ruminate.
They simply took notice of the most important people: the people who L-O-V-E them.
We can hear the sound of your eye rolling from here. Sounds like a couple of bowling balls.
“We get it. It sounds sooooo easy!”
Okay, but consider this: brands—beverage companies, media outlets, shoe manufacturers, schools, Coachella, whatever—spend hundreds of millions of dollars to define, poll, review, analyze and understand the voice of their customers, both current and desired. The very stuff that, if they stopped for a moment and put an ear to the ground, they would pick up on for far less money.
At the end of the day, after all the overpaid consultation, how many will come away with something as nonsensical and pure as “racing sausages are fun”? Not too many.
(This conclusion, by the way, makes a helluva lot more sense once you’ve listened to the sports mascot episode. Or maybe we’re going all Dada on you. Who knows?)
Granted, sports have built-in passionate fan bases who are not shy with their opinions. Fan doesn’t mean “fanatic” for nothing. Or Phanatic. Hi, Philly Phriends!
It might be hard to generate that kinda heat for bladder catheters, but the listening is the same. Unless it’s a podcast devoted to bladder catheters. Then it’s totally different. Not our wheelhouse.
What struck us as a good habit to adopt is listening with intent and not over-processing what’s heard. Racing sausages? Good. Build on that. Orange ball? Sure thing. Stick with that.
Yeah, mascots can be goofy, but they humanize stuff. They lead the cheer. They grow excitement. They put a positive face on a team and most importantly, they represent the real bosses: the fans.
Which leads us to our final point. Make sure you listen to the boss. After all, they’re the ones paying your salary.