Lessons Learned from Norwegian Pants

I watched the Olympic Finals of both men’s and women’s curling the past two days and really enjoyed it.  Despite growing up in Canada, I never tried my hand at the sport. And now that I live in Las Vegas I’m betting my chances of ever attempting to throw a rock down a sheet of ice and landing it on the button are about as slim as winning the jackpot in Keno.

I am drawn to the strategies of the game, and like golf, the need for deft touch under extraneous circumstances. I am looking forward to watching curling again soon, but living in the US means waiting another 4 years for curling to be televised again at the next Olympic games in Sochi, Russia.

Here is the link to a very common article written on the social-media magazine,  Mashable about Olympic curling.  It does not discuss the skill of the curlers nor the competitiveness of the matches.  It reports on the viral sensation that is the pants worn by the Norwegian Men’s Team.  Chances are you’ve already heard about it.

When choosing their team uniforms, Skip, Thomas Ulsrud decided to ditch the traditional black pant for something more polarizing.  Loud Mouth Golf pants got the call.  These pants are not new to the golfing community.  We often see them rather crudely modeled by our resident loudmouth, Mr. John Daly (I mean that with love and amusement.) But for the curling community this was big and unusual.

There are a multitude of lessons in this for the business owners.  Here are a few of them;

1.  Be unusual. Normal doesn’t get noticed.  I don’t know whether Loud Mouth Golf approached Norway, or vice-versa.  Either way, Loud Mouth put their product in a marketing light I am positive they never thought of 6 months ago and the results should be increased sales.  Well done there.  Sometimes you have to try something a little different to get noticed in this big, colourful world.

2. You must polarize people with your product.  You either love what Norway did or you absolutely hate it.  In today’s world, that’s gold.  Those who love it will talk about it and can now share it via the internet. They will help you grow your brand.   The Facebook page dedicated to just the pants of the Norwegian team, has over a half a million fans…in less than 2 weeks. Sadly, Loud Mouth Golf has no social media links on their website and only 443 fans on their Facebook page (which hasn’t been updated since October 2009).  Additionally, there is no mention of the Norwegian curling team wearing their product on the world stage anywhere on their site.  Dear Loud Mouth Golf, please See #3!!!

3. Be prepared for your break…you never know when it might come.  I heard a story once about a brand new product that was featured on TV.  As a result of the exposure, interest in the product went through the roof.  People everywhere needed to own this thing.  The problem was they couldn’t find it anywhere.  A few days later, as the company rushed to get the product to retail, they realized they weren’t prepared to accept the enormous volume of requests.  More tragic however, was the owner of the company then proceeded to invest huge money into the company to prepare for the next wave of orders, which of course, never came.  He had missed his opportunity to cash in on his 15 minutes of fame.  The company and owner both went bankrupt.

4.  Social media works. Just because it is new to you, doesn’t mean it can be ignored.  This Olympic example of a product going viral should show you that the modern-day word-of-mouth is a necessity for all strong brands.  You don’t need to whole-heartily embrace it but you should at least take the time to understand it…or hire a firm that does.  Ignorance just doesn’t cut it.

5.  Partnership. There were two winners with this pairing.  This seemingly innocent decision to buck tradition put Norwegian curling on the map and potential revenue in the pockets of Loud Mouth Golf.  It’s odd to say this about Norway’s curling team since they’re ranked #3 in the world, but let’s face it, outside of the curling world, who knew anything about Norwegian curling?  Working in partnership can often result in greater positioning, strength, and exposure for both sides. But you much choose carefully and make sure that you are in line with one another’s philosophies and standards.

The Olympics have always been full of stories of inspiration and motivation, but in the last 20 or so years, they have also brought us great examples for marketing and business strategies.  These have come to us in the forms the Eddie “The Eagle”, the Miracle on Ice, and the Jamaican bobsleigh team. Tomorrow, I am hoping that Canadian hockey can illustrate to us examples of tenacity, team work, and winning with grace.

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