You would think that Atlanta Motor Speedway would have no trouble filling its stands for NASCAR events. Deep in the heart of racing country and one of the sport's largest population centers, the track has nonetheless had some well-documented struggles with paid attendance. And on the heels of a surprising (and considerable) bad year overall for the sport, one would forgive you for being less than optimistic about the possibilities of a sold out Kobalt Tools 500 on March 7.
Atlanta Motor Speedway had to do something to inject some life into their event -- get people talking and inspire them to make the trip out to the track. Driver Jamie McMurray (and a bunch of potholes) made that happen for them by making an old promotion remarkable.
Several years ago, the track's promoters tried to leverage the crowds and timing of racing's most popular event by offering a limited number of tickets to their event at the price of the car number that wins the Daytona 500 (standard tickets are $89). They knew that millions of NASCAR fans would be glued to their televisions for the Daytona 500 (20 million viewers tuned in for the 2006 event), and another 200,000 or so would be in attendance. Two years ago, Ryan Newman (#12) saved fans a ton of money by winning the event. Last year, Matt Kenseth (#17) was pretty helpful with his win as well.
But yesterday, Jamie McMurray inspired me, decidedly NOT a NASCAR fan, to think about the Kobalt 500. McMurray pulled out a surprise win at the "Super Bowl of NASCAR" in his Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet...car number 1.
Credit unions often talk about the "worst case scenario" when they come up with a new promotion. Usually, these discussions center around the idea that if their promotion is too successful "it will cost X." This is a necessary discussion, don't get me wrong. But what is the cost of being bland? Unremarkable?
Atlanta Motor Speedway realized their promotion's "worst case scenario" yesterday. With 2,000 tickets now available for their race at $1 each, the track will make $32,000 less on these seats than they did last year.
But we're talking about them. Had any other car won, we wouldn't be. This, in my mind, was the promotion's "best case scenario".
Is your credit union afraid of success? To me, "safe" bets with your marketing budget cost a lot more than "worst case scenarios."
15 February 2010
11 February 2010
Off Topic: Cloudy with No Chance for a Point
One of the most underrated aspects of being a parent of a toddler is having a legitimate excuse to watch cartoons. Tonight, I watched a movie called "Cloudy with a Chance for Meatballs." If you actually want to watch the movie, skip the rest of this post because I'm going to spoil it for you.
The story basically goes like this: a kid named Flint is a creative genius, but his inventions always end up having pretty awful unintended consequences. Truth is, most of the inventions just really aren't that good. That is, until he creates a machine that, after launched into the sky, makes the sky rain food. Hamburgers, pizza, bacon, eggs, steak, and even ice cream fall out of the sky to the very appreciative citizens of Swallow Falls (who theretofore had to eat sardines for every meal).
Flint's a hero.
Everything's cool for the island until the machine starts creating food tornadoes, hurricanes, and raining larger and larger food items. Flint's invention, the very one that made people love him and excited people across the globe about visiting Swallow Falls, makes him public enemy number one. The island is virtually destroyed.
Flint's a bum.
Those of you who have read my blog over the years know that here is the part of my posts when I typically try to create a connection to the credit union world. I was all prepared to make a point or two about the innovation process, our short attention spans, and risk aversion. Instead, I'm going to tuck my son in and go to bed.
Oh, and don't worry...Flint ends up saving the day, gets a girlfriend, and ends up getting his stoic dad to admit he loves him. All's well.
The story basically goes like this: a kid named Flint is a creative genius, but his inventions always end up having pretty awful unintended consequences. Truth is, most of the inventions just really aren't that good. That is, until he creates a machine that, after launched into the sky, makes the sky rain food. Hamburgers, pizza, bacon, eggs, steak, and even ice cream fall out of the sky to the very appreciative citizens of Swallow Falls (who theretofore had to eat sardines for every meal).
Flint's a hero.
Everything's cool for the island until the machine starts creating food tornadoes, hurricanes, and raining larger and larger food items. Flint's invention, the very one that made people love him and excited people across the globe about visiting Swallow Falls, makes him public enemy number one. The island is virtually destroyed.
Flint's a bum.
Those of you who have read my blog over the years know that here is the part of my posts when I typically try to create a connection to the credit union world. I was all prepared to make a point or two about the innovation process, our short attention spans, and risk aversion. Instead, I'm going to tuck my son in and go to bed.
Oh, and don't worry...Flint ends up saving the day, gets a girlfriend, and ends up getting his stoic dad to admit he loves him. All's well.
08 February 2010
Encouraging Disruption
I wrote a post called "Encouraging Disruption" for the Filene Research Institute blog last week. If you haven't checked it out yet, see it here: http://filene.org/blog/post/encouraging-disruption.
05 February 2010
Help a Credit Union Friend Out
**UPDATED March 16, 2010** GREAT NEWS!!! The $506 we have raised through this initiative plus the miracle contribution from an angel donor have given us the necessary funds to run Jason's ad for 4 weeks!! I will be writing a blog post about this soon, but until then please know this: you all are wonderful human beings! I keep trying to put myself in Jason's shoes, and keep wondering what it would be like if I lost my job and no one went to bat for me. Clearly, credit union people take care of their own...thank you so much for reminding me of that. More details coming soon, I promise.
**UPDATED** A new campaign has started. $261 was raised in our first attempt. I refuse to believe we can't get enough people to donate $3-$5 to make this happen for a true credit union leader. Please try to imagine yourself in a similar situation. Now imagine the comfort you would feel if you knew there were others out there looking out for you.
Please help Jason Lindstrom get this ad placed in the Credit Union Times:
If 500 of us put $3.00 a piece in, we'll have enough. Maybe the Credit Union Times will give us a discount on that ad price as well...
Even better, if you know of an open position within the movement that would fit his talents/skills please pass that along as a comment to this post. Unemployment isn't fair for anyone, especially someone as talented, experienced, and well-rounded as Jason.
**UPDATED** A new campaign has started. $261 was raised in our first attempt. I refuse to believe we can't get enough people to donate $3-$5 to make this happen for a true credit union leader. Please try to imagine yourself in a similar situation. Now imagine the comfort you would feel if you knew there were others out there looking out for you.
Please help Jason Lindstrom get this ad placed in the Credit Union Times:
If 500 of us put $3.00 a piece in, we'll have enough. Maybe the Credit Union Times will give us a discount on that ad price as well...
Even better, if you know of an open position within the movement that would fit his talents/skills please pass that along as a comment to this post. Unemployment isn't fair for anyone, especially someone as talented, experienced, and well-rounded as Jason.
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