How to Sell Ice to the Eskimos

Many years ago Jon Spoelstra was a marketing consultant, and eventual GM of the New Jersey Nets basketball team. At the time he had on his hands the very worst team in the NBA. Not only did they have the worst record of any team in the league, but the players had bad attitudes and the few fans who did show up hated them!

So how did he go from a stadium that was not even half full to selling out every game in just a few months, while the team played as badly as ever?

Brilliance, that’s how!

He change his Unique Selling Proposition. He stopped trying to sell his lousy team. It was pointless — the Nets were terrible and everyone knew it!

He couldn’t change the quality of play without some serious personnel changes and time to work on things. But he could change the USP and turn the team into a profitable business rather than a money pit. Instead of marketing his team, he started to market the stars of the opposition teams.

Come see

Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls!

Shaq and The LA Lakers!

Larry Bird and the Celtics!

In his favor was the fact that many of the stars he was promoting were nearing the ends of their careers, so he added some of that into the mix. “This might be your last…