Business lessons from fantasy football

This Year's Board

T'is the season when America's football fans get their statistical nerd on, and I am no different. I've also been playing in leagues since before the Internet, because the nerd runs all the way back to childhood... but in thinking about the exercise and the agency, it struck me that some of the rules that you play by have been of high value over the years in business.

1) Get Your VORP (Value Over Replacement Player) On.

Especially in an auction situation, good strategy is to go the extra mile to get players that have something special. In football, that usually means the player has talent to help you in more than one way (running backs who also catch passes, wide receivers that are good at multiple kinds of patterns, quarterbacks who can run for extra yardage, etc.). In marketing, it's creative people that make pieces that stand out, or can work in tight spaces. Difference makers, in other words.

2) Play your position. 

Most leagues have some form of draft order, which means that you will be making your picks with action likely from a few specific competitors. If you know what they need, and what they value (especially if someone acts on a real team allegiance), that is information you need to use to your advantage... because, rest assured, the other savvy players are doing it to you. In business, this is known as knowing the competition, and it's table stakes for doing work, but you'd be amazed how many people just come and play their own hand, without a care in the world as to how others are working them like a speed bag.

3) You can't win on Opening Day.

There's never been a league where I've drafted so well that I haven't had to work the bottom fifth of my roster like a day trader. Most seasons are too long, and injuries are too prevalent, to just set and forget, especially if you are any kind of league with quality competitors.

From a business standpoint, the corollary is that no matter what your starting advantage might be in a market, the grind is all -- and that winning a client is only the start of a long road. Motors are required.

4) Run through the tape.

Only one person can win a league, and at least a third of the players will know they have no chance halfway through the year. Far too many people will then use this info to throw in the towel and stop playing. Not only does this run the risk of ruining the game for others who are still in contention by making things easier on some members of the league, but it just shows poor character.

In business, the equivalent act is mailing it in as soon as you get a new job, or pulling the chute on a client that shows signs of leaving. Sure, it's defensible in the short term as a matter of prioritizing, but this is the kind of thing that people remember, and not well. It can easily become the defining aspect of your personal brand, and, well, deservedly so. Run through the tape.

5) Do it with your whole heart.

In my league, the winner gets an authentic old-school leather helmet, with the winner's name on a plate on the front of it. It's very stupid, but the extra mile matters, and ties the name of the league together, in a way that's distinctive and special. I also run the league as a real-world experience, with big labels and a room that's prepared just so. The people in my league have the choice to play or not, and any number of other leagues to join. They stay with mine, for the most part. I appreciate it.

In business, the same kind of commitment applies. Go all-in and sweat the details, because those details are how you separate yourselves from other professionals. The people at your company have the choice to work with you or not, and any number of other things they could be doing with their time. Make them want to stay with you, and appreciate you.

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Something else you should do with your whole heart: like or share this column. Feel free to also connect with me on LinkedIn, email me at davidlmountain at gmail dot com, or hit the RFP boxes on the top right. We offer copywriting, direction and strategy, along with design, illustration, photography, coding and hosting. The RFPs are always free. Hope to hear from you soon.

The Always-On Problem

24 7 365

A brief (?) aside, but wait for it, Marketing and Advertising will happen.

I remember when I first realized I had a problem, when it came to being online. I'd spend hours on my favorite site, agonizing over getting the wording just right. I cared way too much about what a specific girl would say about what I wrote. I disrupted my sleep schedule, engaged in the usual hyperdriven levels of teenage drama, and frequently valued the relationships made online more than my immediate friends and family.

The year was 1985, and the medium was bulletin boards, the CB radio level precursor to the Internet as most people knew it. My addiction was to a monochrome screen, download times that were barely faster than a very fast typist. But still, strangers on a screen, potentially from all over the world, reacting to what you write. Magic.

The point? Addiction to screens is not exactly a new phenomenon. At least when I was a teen, I had to be in front of my monitor, in my room, with no one else on the house telephone. (Woe to the kids who used pay sites, or dialed in to boards that were long distance calls. That led to spectacular levels of Parental Trouble.)

Today? It's in your pocket, fast, with mutli-media and so much more. You can check it hundreds of times a day, and many do, without ever thinking about it.

How does anyone say no to it, really?

The answer is that, honestly, they don't. Which also means you have untold opportunities to make a buck off them.

The best time to send your commercial email... is probably when no one else is, particularly if you've got a solid offer and an algorithm that's pushing out relevant goods. I've seen big bursts of clicks on 11pm local sends, because we can't say no to the phone or tablet, and looking at the email is nearly as easy as ignoring it.

How about your content piece? Many of the best that I read are sent in the very middle of the overnight, so they aren't above the radar. Others sprinkle them out during the work day, and avoid falling under the waves in the in box by avoiding the channel entirely.

Your marketing and advertising messages exist in a sea of other moments of interruption. Tests are being co-opted by competitors, search, social, direct mail and more, and nothing ever, ever stops. Particularly if you have consumers spread over many time zones, all of them with the ability to always be on. Especially now, when you not only have the ability to receive the message at any time, but the data shows that many, well, are.

I don't know if it's doing anything good for us as a species. I worry about attention spans, sleep schedules, the damage done to personal relationships, the ability to be truly present and focused. I've seen adults pay very good money to play beautiful golf courses, but still online. I've seen others gambling big sums of money, making decisions at a poker table, still online.

We have the ability to market and advertise to these people all the time.

And if we don't, someone else will.

That's a problem, right?

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Another problem: I need you to like or share this column. Feel free to also connect with me on LinkedIn, email me at davidlmountain at gmail dot com, or hit the RFP boxes on the top right. We offer copywriting, direction and strategy, along with design, illustration, photography, coding and hosting. The RFPs are always free. Hope to hear from you soon.

Being Uncomfortable

Professional Advice

I notice that my opponent is always on the go
-And-
Won't go slow, so's not to focus, and I notice
He'll hitch a ride with any guide, as long as
They go fast from whence he came
- But he's no good at being uncomfortable, so
He can't stop staying exactly the same 

- Fiona Apple, "Extraordinary Machine"

This weekend, I hosted my annual fantasy football league. (Don't worry - the marketing and advertising is coming. Patience.) The league has been running for the better part of a decade. We do a modified auction, which is a single round in position, which means there's a fascinating amount of positional raises and gamesmanship. Combine this with some league quirks (bonuses for a defense that wins the game, year-long scoring instead of head to head), and you've got something with a fair amount of Nerd Appeal.

Which gets me back to the M&A portion of the program. Why haven't we made the jump to salary cap stuff, like true hardcore nerds? Why haven't we tried Individual Defensive Players? Why haven't I gone the extra mile and played in the hottest portion of the market now, which is daily fantasy leagues?

Well, I've got other commitments (lots of 'em!). I don't have time for it. I'm a grown up and all, husband, father, businessman. I just play my one league, and don't want to increase my time commitment.

But if I really want to dig into it, I don't have time for this league, either. There's multiple blogs to populate, projects to deliver, a child that's starting to look at colleges, another that deserves more attention than she gets, because, well, the first one is looking at colleges. Even my dog deserves more time (collie, needs a lot of exercise), and I've fallen behind on my fitness goals. If I want to think more about side entertainment and cash, my poker game could use more reps, and has a lot more chance of thrills and payoffs than my single entry fantasy league. And so on, and so on.

I have time for my fantasy league, because I make time for it. What I'm not making time for is Something New.

And that's a very important and difficult distinction to make for a marketing and advertising pro. We all get to the point where we need to work harder to stay in touch with our target demos, when we have to force ourselves to listen to new music, view new art, watch new cinema and shows, rather than do what's comfortable... because what's comfortable rarely gets you into a good state to sell something new, to someone new.

It's not what audiences do at certain stages of their lives, for the most part, which is the real reason why brands don't target older consumers. It's not that they don't have money, or won't try new things. It's that trying new things is hard, and doing hard things isn't a choice we want to make when we get older. For younger consumers, FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) is much more than the fear of making a mistake.

How do you overcome this? Well, it's a personal question and answer, but for me, it's a discipline issue. I'm not likely to become a world-class athlete, but I still go to the gym. I'm not likely to make it to the final day of a huge multi-day poker tournament, but I enjoy the game, so I'm still going to work on my reads, and try to make things difficult on my opponents. I'm not likely to become a scratch golfer, but I want to be better, so I'll keep playing. Making time for family works better when you have other things beyond them, and can truly value the time, rather than make it feel like an obligation.

As for making sure you stay attuned to new trends and developments in the field... well, that's just being a professional. And being a professional is all about going beyond the comfortable, and always learning something new.

Which means that the real reason why I like my fantasy league just the way it is, and don't want any changes? Because it's actually a leisure activity. No matter how much it might seem otherwise.

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Thank you for making the time for this column; if you like or share it, I'd appreciate it. Feel free to also connect with me on LinkedIn, email me at davidlmountain at gmail dot com, or hit the RFP boxes on the top right. We offer copywriting, direction and strategy, along with design, illustration, photography, coding and hosting. The RFPs are always free. Hope to hear from you soon.