The Carl Lewis Rules of Marketing

By Leslie LaRue | 1 Comments | Posted in in Marketing | Permalink

Remember Carl Lewis? The Olympic hero of the 80’s and 90’s? He won a lot of medals, set some world records and was in general, the type of athlete you marvel at. He had the potential to endorse multiple household brands and be a sports commenter for as long as Bob Costas. Until Michael Phelps came along, outside of Mary Lou Retton and Bruce Jenner, there were very few other Olympic athletes who were as widely recognized.

But, somewhere along the way, Carl Lewis decided, “I’d like to have a music career.”

Bad idea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jamJ4-C_TME

This video is quite likely, the most horrible thing I’ve ever seen. My perception of Carl is permanently damaged. It makes me never want to watch him give commentary on a sporting event ever again. Let alone, sing, dance, lift weights or blow bubbles. (?)

Maybe it’s the black unitard, the special effects, or just the song itself. But if there was ever one reason why he never became a household name this video might it. Part of the excitement in the world of marketing is trying new things. But we still have to remember, “Is this a good long-term decision?”

If you’re Carl Lewis, you’re probably asking yourself that very question. Because, whether you like it or not, when you or your company attains a certain level of awareness with the general public, you have to make some decisions on how to market yourself. I'm pretty sure that doesn't nvolve an old lady in yellow sunglasses chasing you around a gym.

So, here are some general rules-of-thumb for anyone trying to make that decision.

(Phelps, are you paying attention here? I don’t want to see anymore of these videos surface.)

1.       Be consistent. – Trying new things is good. But that crazy thing you cooked up late Friday night should support your brand, not define it.

2.       Pick things you’re good at. It’s OK to just be an amazing athlete. You don’t have to sing too. We don’t mind. It’s tempting to constantly widen your services, your product offerings, (your music career) but at what cost? The reason people were inspired by Carl Lewis in the first place was because he is a great athlete. Not a singer/dancer, bubble-blower.  I’m not suggesting we shouldn’t push ourselves to succeed in new ways. But sometimes, use what you’ve got.

3.       Be pro-active, not reactive. It’s very easy to get so busy, that we end up working within the realms of who is contacting us.  To sponsor an event, advertise in their publication, market their product, etc. But does it make sense for your own long-term vision and goal? Spend the extra time doing research on ideas or concepts that fit who you are, not who are filling up your In-Box. Maybe Carl got a great offer from a record company to make this video. But does that mean he should have done it?

4.       Follow through - I recently visited the official Carl Lewis website. He has a blog. He has not posted a blog since January of 2007 and it was a test to see if it was working. If you’re going to do something, do it. Otherwise your audience stops paying attention.

5.       Remember your roots. Success makes us feel good. But it shouldn’t cloud our decision-making. In other words, don’t get cocky and think that now that you’ve established your brand, you can go off the deep-end.  Carl Lewis actually had two endorsement deals, with Coke and Nike. . But he turned Coke down, confident he’d be worth more after the 1984 Olympic Games. Coke cancelled the offer. Nike had Lewis under contract for a few years, despite questions about how it affected his status as an ameteur. He was appearing on Nike television ads, in print and on billboards. After the Games and faced with Lewis’ new negative image, Nike dropped him.

(I think Nike saw the video. Truly, a lesson for all of us.)