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10.27.2010

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Nostalgia: Now with Instant Replay

By Harvey Hartman

“What does a mama bear on the pill have in common with the World Series? No cubs.”
- Harry Caray

The recent debates for expanded instant replay in Major League Baseball have caused some to question whether the failure to adopt this technology might lead to a shrinking fan base and a decline in relevance among its core audience.

At a time when the NFL is enjoying record popularity and soaring TV ratings, baseball seems mired in a late summer slump. TV ratings and attendance for Major League Baseball appear to be in freefall. Most embarrassing of all, the October 18th Monday Night Football broadcast on ESPN—which featured the tiny markets of Jacksonville and Nashville—outdrew game #3 of baseball’s ALCS featuring the NY Yankees.

And while the metaphors may not at first glance seem comparable, some have suggested the same could be said of the CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) industry—at least within the US. That the continued refusal of many companies and brand managers to recognize the desires of their customer base has led to stagnant growth rates and sales declines in many categories.

But what if there are more complexities at play here? Perhaps there are far more fundamental issues that cannot be resolved with instant replay or a few focus groups?

Baseball remains the only US sport in which players openly acknowledge cheating. Derek Jeter did so several weeks ago when he admitted that a pitch did indeed hit his bat and not his body, as he gleefully trotted to first base. And any fan with even a passing knowledge of the game understands the constant dance between player and umpire; the desire to get away with whatever is possible given one’s penchant for the art of the con. Only in baseball does the oft-repeated sports cliché, “It’s all part of the game,” have such literal meaning.

Make no mistake, this is theatre at its best. An orchestrated game of cat and mouse. This is why angry managers run out onto the field and kick dirt over home plate. A proverbial “up yours jerky,” meant to entertain more than express any real anger.

Likewise the history of baseball is the most colorful of any professional sport in the US. It’s a history of thuggery, liars, heroes, conmen, idols and cheats. Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth were not exactly nice guys. Certainly not role models for children. Cobb—considered by many to be the greatest to ever play the game—once ran into the stands and began beating a heckler who had lost his hands in an industrial accident. After jeers from the crowd to stop because the man had no hands, Cobb reportedly replied, “I don’t care if he got no feet.”

And let’s not forget that there still remains a legion of fans who want Pete “Charlie the Hustler” Rose to be let into the Baseball Hall of Fame despite being banned by baseball for life for his gambling exploits.

But there are also the heroes, the Roberto Clementes, Stan Musials, and Albert Pujols that show us there is more than one way to play the game, more than one way to win.

Given the Major League Baseball’s colorful history, it seems a bit ironic that the sport has recently fought so hard to “clean up its image,” to make baseball more family friendly.

On the surface this seems to make logical sense. And most, ourselves included, acknowledge the danger and inherent problem with steroids and believe in appropriate sanctions. Then again, the cocaine scandal of 1985—wherein Rod Scurry was said to have left the Pirates clubhouse during a game in the late innings to wander the stands in search of cocaine—warranted little in the way of punishment.

You see, in baseball, as in the rest of the real world, there are always winners and losers, heroes and villains.

In other words, Major League Baseball’s declining relevancy goes far beyond the issue of instant replay. Adding an official review to a close call at the plate is not going to generate the sort of appeal currently enjoyed by the NFL. This is a much larger story about a loss of authenticity, a sense that baseball has become just a bit too sterile and polished.

What is even more fascinating to consider is that many of the same features that gave baseball its authenticity and roots are also hallmark features of classic American capitalism—for better or for worse.

Historically speaking, capitalism has always been about hard work, competition and more than a little luck. To the victor go the rising share price, same store sales increases and bonuses.

But one would be naïve not to admit that there has been an equal amount of cheating, deception, and manipulation. This is a game after all, and the stakes are often high. And while today’s CPG companies are usually not dabbling in monopoly capitalism per se, one cannot deny the fact that most have histories of deception and manipulation, of mistakes and failures.

Think Ford Pinto. Bernie Madoff. Enron. Or, more recently, Dell computers. In fact, I am currently typing this on a Dell XPS, which had to have the motherboard replaced, a fact that Dell since acknowledged plagued the entire XPS series.

And yet, with very few exceptions marketers are obsessed with presenting a rosy portrait of their product or service—a family-friendly snapshot often devoid of any honesty, color or authenticity.

This is where I believe both Major League Baseball and CPG alike could stand to benefit from a reality check.

To be certain we as a society deserve—and need—our heroes, our winners, who achieved their success playing by the rules. But if we continue to present a clean-cut, “family friendly” image of baseball, we risk ruining that which made it so colorful in the first place. Suddenly there is no “there” there. No soul or sense of humanity.

Likewise, we also need our losers, several of whom happen to be among the best financially successful franchises in the game. The Chicago Cubs are one of the most iconic sports brands in the world and their brand heritage is all about (mostly) losing.

And the message to marketers should be no different. For starters, fight the tendency to always present your product or brand in the most positive light possible. If you take the “family friendly” approach and worry about ever alienating any segment, you run the risk of appealing to nobody.

Don’t be afraid to acknowledge your missteps and mistakes as well as your triumphs and successes. It’s the sum total of these experiences that give your brand an authenticity your customer so desperately craves.

100% positive all of the time is not real. It is not credible.

The new Domino’s campaign that boldly trumpets their failures—with pizza cheese dripping from the top of the cardboard delivery box—is an ambitious example of this approach. Though I don’t know that it’s always necessary to push the envelope that far, early sales figures indicate it’s working well.

Shortly after McDonald’s recently introduced their fruit smoothies, Jamba Juice retaliated by posting a series of videos on the web in which they threw assorted McDonald’s products into a blender and presented the outcome, the all new Cheeseburger Chill smoothie. The video directs customers to cheeseburgerchill.com where they can download a $1 coupon.

This is the CPG and Restaurant equivalent of spitting in the umpire’s face after a bad call.

And this was compelling because it was audacious and human. It may have been crafted by a PR firm, but it lacks the dullness imparted by seven vertical layers of authority.

So as we head into the world series, I ask those interested in America’s favorite pastime to take a few moments to reflect. To think about a sport in which Gaylord Perry would smear Vaseline under his hat in order to throw the much touted—but technically not permitted—spitball. To consider that famous moment when Graig Nettles’ bat broke super balls came bounding out onto the field. And let us not forget Doc Ellis’ infamous no hitter that he later admitted to throwing under the influence of LSD. As Ellis describes the incident:

“I started having a crazy idea in the fourth inning that Richard Nixon was the home plate umpire, and once I thought I was pitching a baseball to Jimi Hendrix, who to me was holding a guitar and swinging it over the plate. I remember diving out of the way of a ball I thought was a line drive. I jumped, but the ball wasn't hit hard and never reached me.”

And finally there is Steve Bartman, the infamous Cubs fan who interfered with Moises Alou’s attempt to catch a foul ball, leading to what many believe was the Cubs failure to reach the world series.

These are iconic moments of authenticity and originality that embedded baseball into the fabric of American culture.

These are the moments and stories that keep baseball relevant to American culture.

We should only wish the same for our cherished brands, products and retailers. The challenge is how to capture such authenticities into your brand heritage.

And what of the original question regarding instant replay? We believe its addition is a no brainer. As any fan of football would easily understand, the use of instant replay itself adds further drama and mystery to the game. It gives fans a chance to pause and more carefully consider the important moment at hand as they debate with friends. And as we await the referees decision, the tension is more palpable than any of the typical courtroom drama TV shows.

Finally, we suspect that there are more than a few traditionalists out there who would argue that instant replay robs the sport of the very authenticity we have been writing about above. Quite to the contrary, we would suggest that there are still plenty of opportunities to inject authenticity into the game.

The advent of instant replay is merely adding an element of technology to keep the sport more relevant to an evolving culture.

To be clear, the future does not lie in a stubborn, nostalgic desire to cling to the past. Rather, the future is all about salvaging the all-but-lost elements—valued for their soulfulness—from fading traditions and injecting them into our contemporary, and increasingly postmodern, culture. This is exactly why we’ve been busy tearing down our recently built ballparks (e.g., the Kingdome) and using our ultra-modern technology to build new ballparks that look more like the old ballparks used to look (e.g., Safeco field).

If the Chicago Cubs franchise managed to overcome the advent of electric light bulbs, somehow we believe that baseball fans will come to accept the umpires glancing more closely at the instant replay screens that already adorn our high-tech video scoreboards.

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