Unless you’ve been living under a rock you already know the Pats lost. So, if you’re not from New England, go ahead and rub it in while I try not to think of 101 reasons why I shouldn’t tell you to go pound sand.

So, what IS the big deal anyway? Why was the Pats going all the way undefeated such a phenomenon? Well, aside from being a moment in history (isn’t that enough?), it’s just plain good branding. Think about it.

Since the game that the Pats clinched the 16-0 mark, not a day has gone by that we haven’t heard one word, “Perfection.” As if professional teams don’t already hold a branding monopoly (the players are branded, the stadiums and fields branded, the team–even the fans are branded) being undefeated provided leverage for an even larger branding opportunity. An opportunity to turn more NFL fans onto New England’s team, a chance to turn fair weather fans into die hards, a chance to turn football players from opposing teams into Pats Wanna Be’s. New England seized the opportunity to capitalize on something that hadn’t been done before (excluding the ‘72 Dolphins, but then again, the season was two games shorter then).

So, besides trying to find an up side to this devastating loss, I guess I am trying to say that we can all learn a lesson or two about branding when it comes to professional sports. It’s about the fans. It’s about whom you need to fire up. It’s about giving them a reason to love you and it’s about given them an opportunity to shout it from the hilltops. It’s about whom you want supporting you and how you can convince them to do so. It’s about your brand!

Until next year, go Sox! Now that’s a brand!

What? Your agency does not have an official song? Well mine does. As part of our Annual Holiday Party (see last week’s post) some of my staff took a famous Barry Manilow song and rewrote it. Well unbeknownst to me, the good folks at WOKQ-FM helped make it real. So with many apologies and thanks to Barry, WOKQ and all of the other folks, here is our agency song. Be sure to turn up the volume.

I Write The Ads

Okay this sounds crazy and it can be very scary. Common sense asks why one would ever do such a thing as fire customers? Well, simply put, it may make your business more profitable! I can hear you now, “Huh? What’s Al’s problem today?”

Just listen for just a minute. I’m not the only blogger in the universe who writes about this stuff, in fact it’s a pretty common theme.

We, as business owners in this crazy industry, don’t often want to look at the facts of doing business. The point is, some clients don’t deserve us and we don’t deserve some of them. The wise course is to sit down and really look at your client list, the AGI they generate, the thoughts of your Account Executives who handle the client from day to day and consider what I call the “Sleepless at Night Factor.”

Having a client that generates a lot of AGI but an equal amount of AE fatigue and the Sleepless at Night Factor should urge you to consider your options. Why do good AE’s leave? Well my experience over the last 30 plus years has shown me that while money is often a motivator, what generally pushes folks to make a change is they don’t like their clients. Now I admit, sometimes my answer to that is ’suck it up and get to work,’ but the reality is sometimes the AE is right.

Just take a look at your list and talk to your AE’s candidly. You might be surprised.

Oh, and Happy New Year. Here’s to hoping for lots of new business for all of us in 2008.