If you are an ardent fisherman, you cast your line out countless times hoping to land the good one. It is a massive ocean after all, but the reality is if you don’t try, you can never reel in the fish when the opportunity strikes.
Maybe it’s not the perfect analogy for storytelling in sports and entertainment, but it does fit when you look at some of the great examples that arise where if you don’t try something that has a chance of success, you never can succeed. Simplistic yes, but true.
A personal example of a few years ago. While we were helping out Topps, they came up with a series of celebrity first pitch cards (since discontinued) that become quote popular. One year, as luck, and the Mets, would have it, were some celebs throwing out Mets first pitches. They included both Jimmy Fallon and Jon Stewart among others. So we sent the set of cards to those in it, more as an FYI and a hope of a good natured social share than anything else. We did not know that Judd Apatow was a guest on Fallon in the coming week, so when Apatow (who got his card through a colleague who knew him) got his card, Fallon decided to do the unveil on his show. The result was classic, with me earning a new nickname…”Some guy”…Apatow said on the show “some guy sent him his card.” A priceless, sometimes unplanned moment that came out of some wide thinking.
Fast forward to this week and the New Jersey Devils, always looking to hustle to find a spot in the crowded marketplace. The team came up with the idea to challenge Fallon..again because of his approachability and his love of sports, albeit this time the Rangers…to a little contest, should New Jersey win their first game of the season when they hosted their cross river rivals last week. They used the social space to engage through their mascot, NJ Devil, and low and behold, Fallon’s peeps liked the idea and bit.
The mascot tweeted at Fallon: “Hey @jimmyfallon, if we win tonight, I get to come on @FallonTonight and pie you in the face, deal?”
Fallon tweeted back: “You’re a dope – but if you really want me to do that? See you Sunday NIGHT!! Go @NYRangers !!!!”
The Devils defeated the Rangers, 5-2, for their first victory of the season, and so the team’s mascot showed up on the “Tonight Show” set Sunday night. “I literally made a deal with the Devil,” Fallon said before bringing out the mascot from backstage. The pie in Fallon’s face was next, becoming the latest chapter in the Hudson River rivalry and garnering New Jersey all kinds of viral social play. 
Does this thing work all the time? No. Is it repeatable often? No. Does it come out of hard work and grit and the belief that you can catch lightning in a bottle? Yes.
Congrats Devils for finding a way through. Doesn’t matter how you get there, you proved that good storytelling and fun ideas with the right person sometimes work. This “some guy” is happy for you for sure.
Nice for Jersey folks to reel in the nice one every once in a while.
