I was chit-chatting with a photographer today during a shoot and we were, of course, talking about the Olympics. When it came to the remarkable Usain "Lighting" Bolt, the photog posed a great question in response to my comments about loving the way he won in entertaining fashion:
"Don’t you wish though that you could have seen him reach his full potential, and see just how fast he could have run?"
The answer, honestly, is no. Not yet.
Because, like any great marketing campaign or product release, you don’t blow your load all at once. You capture the public’s attention, then you slowly, over the long haul (which in this case is his career) meet your full potential.
But you do it incrementally.
Do I want to see Usain run a 9.5something, which might not be beaten again in the next couple decades? Yes. Will he? Maybe.
But would I rather have seen him do it in the final of these Olympics than finish the way he did? Hell no. He put himself on the map in entertaining style AND he broke the world record. As long as someday he runs as fast as he humanly can and sets that bar so fast that it’s virtually untouchable, he can take his time and just be entertaining.
Since he’s an ESTP, he is probably not thinking about his personal marketing approach. But it’s brilliant.
He captured our attention, BUT…we don’t say, "That’s as fast as any human can possibly run. Therefore, I’m not going to watch anymore, because who cares? It’s been done (like winning the max of gold medals…8.)"
No. Instead, we say, "daaaaammmmnnnnn…the dude broke the world record while doing an endzone celebration, who knows how fast he could run."
Which means we’ll tune in now, every time he runs.
Planned, or not, it’s a genius marketing strategy.
Which brings me to Phelps.
Admittedly, he’s accomplished all he wanted to accomplish, at 23.
NOW WHAT? And does the general public care?
Just a question. Both are valid strategies, not that either guy was looking at the Olympics as a platform to market their brand from.
But frankly, should Nike or Adidas pick up Usain Bolt, they will get more for their money than Speedo will from Michael Phelps over the course of let’s just say the next 8 years.
Why would we watch Phelps again, hypothetically? We know he’s going to win. Might even break the world record. Might even win another 8 golds, which we enthusiastically tuned in this year to see him accomplish. Greatness. Incredible. Already been done…
Bolt? Yeah, we know he’s going to win too (maybe!), but it’ll be gloriously, unapologetically, irreverently entertaining. AND, "who knows how fast he’ll run?!"
And because he is such an unpredictable force, he might NOT win, which would probably be entertaining in its own right!
Can’t wait for the 200m… ;-)
