The Other Jeremy Lin Effect

photo by teamstickergiant

If you are a fan of the NBA and of Jeremy Lin, no doubt you would have followed the numerous amount of articles and videos created about Lin.  Two of the more humorous ones are the Fung Brother's The Jeremy Lin Effect and The Jeremy Lin Effect 2 (Linsanity).

However, as I follow this great story, I can't help but speculate of the other Jeremy Lin effect - the effect it can have on world missions.  Lin is a follower of Jesus Christ and is not afraid to say it in front of cameras.  Combine that and basketball's worldwide popularity and Lin's Asian (non-Caucasian) heritage and we have a great opportunity to start gospel themed conversations.

Having gone to two Asian countries for missions, my experience is that sports is a great common topic to start conversations around.  Most countries are sports crazy and basketball is usually near the top of the list.  With Lin's rise to fame, it can be very easy to talk him and bring up his faith in God and Jesus.

Here are some intros to get the discussion going, keeping in mind that some people are in various stages in their journey of discovering Jesus:

• Jeremy Lin thanks God and Jesus in some of his interviews.  What do you think God and Jesus has to do with Lin's success?
• The general population seems to like underdog stories like Lin's.  The Gospels in the Bible seem to paint a picture of Jesus as an underdog.  Do you think Jesus is an underdog?  How would you describe Jesus; who do you think Jesus is?
• Lin so far has stayed humble and focused on being true to himself during all the media attention.  He attributes it to the reality that his identity is found in Christ (1:50) and not in basketball.  What/who do you find your identity in and does it help you stay grounded and focused?  What would your life be like if your identity was found in Jesus? 

Even though some of the questions people may have no clue as to how to answer (ex/ the last question above), I think they would be great conversation starters, even here in North America.

Other suggestions on how to segue into gospel-themed conversations with the Jeremy Lin effect?  

Whether Jeremy knows it or not, I think his play on the court can increase the opportunities to help others discover Jesus. 

Burger King Cologne and thinking big

This is a series of posts on the Art of Marketing conference. This one is based on Max Lenderman's session.

There have been a lot of companies that have thought big to reach a wider audience. For instance, Burger King went out of the box by releasing Fire Meets Desire Burger King cologne. Not only did the cologne sell out, the marketing reached a lot more people than just regular Burger King customers.

They also partnered with Microsoft to create $3.99 XBOX games that they sold at regular BK restaurants. They sold out all that were made and kids and adults played games featuring the goofy looking King mascot at home.

Burger King went big to invest in their brand and generated acceptance into people's consciousness (i.e. I used to hate the King, but after watching the cologne add and being exposed to the quirky mascot more, I'm not so much hating anymore). What are you doing to think big?

What my team needs to do:

This is a more difficult issue to apply for non-profits as expanding the core audience is tricky when the organization doesn't want to confuse what message they are sending. However, big thinking can tap into the emotional side of people to identify a need (this idea comes from Switch, by Chip and Dan Heath of which I will blog more extensively on soon) and draw them in.

1. Partner with a humanitarian partner, to appeal to the emotional side of people who agree that the oppressed need to be defended and to bring justice to those who are exploiting the poor. Launch a campaign that will couple the message of Jesus with human freedom.
2. Re-think how we promote our brand. Currently, we barely creep above the threshold of awareness with our audience. What can we do that keeps up there on par with more prominent organizations that reach our same audience?
   

photo courtesy of zieak on flickr

Getting the 15% bump

This is a series of posts based on the Art of Marketing conference. This one is based on Max Lenderman's session.

Experiential marketing and advertising usually gives a 15% bump in sales and is second only to online marketing. We yearn to be with people.

Experiential marketing is where potential consumers are immersed in an experience related to the product or message. In India, telecom companies hire Bollywood-type actors to act out a 30 minute drama to educate the growing middle class on how to use mobile phones and sees 43% of people who watch the show buy a mobile phone.

The North American equivalent is event based marketing.

The US Army travels to festivals, air shows, and car drag races and sets up a tent to allow people to virtually experience what it is like to be in the army. They have a virtual reality game where anyone can get in a Hummer or a Jeep with a mounted machine gun and shoot down the bad guys. If they have a good score, they ask them if they want to shoot bad guys for the army.

As a result, the US Army hit its target goal for recruiting 3 years in a row and it was so successful that they opened a brick and mortar store inside a mall to recruit people into the army using the virtual reality game.

When thinking about communicating a message to students on campus, what kind of experience can we offer that immerses them in a life changing message?

What do you do when you watch TV?

This series of posts are reflections from the Art of Marketing conference. This one is based on Mitch Joel's session:

40% of people sleep (Joel) - and this isn't due to lack of sleep. It is because the way we interact with media has changed so drastically that watching TV is actually boring.

With all the apps and tools on the internet and mobile devices, we are apt to create and use to doing it. Whether it is commenting, writing blogs and reviews, producing videos, inventing new applications, we are always creating and when we come across a medium that we don't have creative control over, we shut our minds off from it.

How are you promoting your product or message? Is it involving your target audience to respond by creating? Are you allowing them to enter into the creative realm around your product or message?

What my team needs to do:

1. Identify strategies, sites and applications in which we restrict our target audiences' ability to create and be involved in our message
2. Revamp strategies, sites and applications so that we allow avenues of creativity around our message while we promote our message
   
3. Are we allowing multiple avenues of creativity to access our message? Is it just via the computer or are we connecting people via mobile devices, specifically iPhones/iPads, Androids, Blackberry, e-Readers?

We Need to Be Artists

This series of posts are reflections from the Art of Marketing conference. This one is based on Seth Godin's session:

Art gets noticed because art, by its existence, is different from what is normal. People crave creativity and when they find art they like, they share it. That makes you, the creator of the art, more indispensable and your career more secure. You become a leader.

However, in a non-profit environment, job security is not the top of the list - the message is. Are we artists in communicating our message? Will it arise from the humdrum of the million other messages out there? Will we lead out with our message?

Action points for the team I am on:

1. Have a crystal clear message we want to communicate
2. What are we doing that is following a manual or tradition? Identify it and scrap it.
3. Discover a way to communicate the message that is easily shared
   
4. Allow an environment where ideas can be acted upon without instruction by empowering others to lead
   

What do you need to do to create art where you are at?