What Brett Favre Can Teach You About Branding.

Days after Brett Favre’s March 6th retirement speech, sports commentators were still talking about it. Raw, emotional and straight-from-the-heart, Favre’s final press conference was as awe-inspiring as his highlight reel.

In a day where it seems too many pro athletes play in the narrow boundary lines between selfishness and self-indulgence, Favre is a rare example of what happens at the intersection of talent and heart.

As Favre said, "It wasn't about the money or fame." It was about working hard to be the best at what he loved. It was about having a passion for the game. A passion that led to excellence, week in and week out.

And ultimately, Favre’s passion resulted in a die-hard fan base that reached far beyond the borders of Wisconsin. Otherwise, his retirement would not have attracted the national attention it received.

As a marketing consultant, I talk to business owners every week who are so stressed and overwhelmed. You can hear it in their abrupt, almost lifeless speech. You can see it in their tight-lipped expressions.

People get so bogged down by the pressures to keep the money coming in, that they lose sight of what drew so many of them to create businesses in the first place. Passion.

I've been in that same place myself. But I also know that's not the place where I do my best work.

I know life is complicated. Family. Personal finances. Careers. Health problems.

But I believe until we take a healthy passion in our livelihoods, life will never be all it can be. Because the people we're trying to convince to purchase our goods and services pick up on that passion. And I believe they can tell if it’s missing.

The commitment to passion always translates into a commitment to excellence. And an excellent experience is exactly what consumers are looking for when they consider spending their money on goods and services.

So here’s the question. Are you bring a passion to your business? And is that passion reflected in your marketing communications? Because for those people who are not yet your customers, the demonstration of that passion in your marketing materials is as close to your actual product and service that they will come to experiencing your brand.

There are several ways for your marketing to demonstrate that passion. For instance, if your brand promise is that you offer a superior product, your marketing could detail specifics such as the painstaking process of creating your product. Or you could highlight the extensive testing your product is subjected to prior to leaving your factory.

If your brand promise is superior service, then your marketing should give specific examples, rather than merely saying something as general as, “Our folks are friendly.” To demonstrate your passion for serving customers, you could feature personal testimonials from customers who can convincingly express the idea of your commitment to service. Or you could feature interviews with key employees talking about what drives them to serve people.

There are all kinds of ways to demonstrate your passion.

The point is this. People want excellence in a product or service. And I can’t think of a single instance in life where excellence is achieved without passion being involved.

I’ve created marketing communications for over a dozen Fortune 500 brands. And in each case, at one point or another, the communication of their passion for their product or service had played a role in their marketing.

Without passion, Brett Favre would have never made it past the first cut of his high school football team. Even though his dad was the coach.

As a marketer, you want people to remember your message. Passion burns into the memory because it makes the heart beat a little harder. At the very least, it commands respect. And at its most engaging level, it commands enthusiasm and even worship. Who wouldn’t want that kind of customer sentiment for their brand?

If your marketing communications is not persuasively demonstrating the passion it takes to achieve excellence, you’re likely missing some key opportunities to win new customers.

And if you’ve lost that passion, it’s time to start thinking about what it will take for you to get it back. Once you do, you’ll likely find that the enthusiasm it produces for you will not only make a difference in your business, but in other areas of your life as well.

Brett Favre’s passion for the game he played has branded him as one of the greatest football players of all time. He has created a fan base of millions of people, who might never have given the Green Bay Packers a second thought otherwise.

I believe that the more your brand communicates your passion for creating a product or service of excellence, the more your business will create its own loyal fan base.

After all, football players aren’t the only ones who need raving fans.

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Kevin McIntosh
Kevin has spent nearly 20 years in the ad agency business. As a copywriter, he’s worked on the marketing campaigns of over a dozen past and present Fortune 500 brands including RCA, Blockbuster and DuPont.

His four-year old company, Freelance Brand Creative, serves clients throughout middle Tennessee and beyond.