I love listening and learning from young people about what they see, what they enjoy and what makes a difference to them in the industry. Case in point was this week when I got to visit Keith Green’s class at Montclair State University. The beginning of the class was a discussion on the unusual things they enjoyed about the Super Bowl. Not about the commercials or the broadcast, but what was fun.
The first thing that was mentioned, the Bengals mic cart journey.
For those who didn’t; see the story, here is a link, but in short, the Bengals caught some fun lightning in a bottle during their Super Bowl run because of a simple black metal cart that sat below their microphones when using Zoom for athletes and coaches pressers, or even when folks were in the room. It wasn’t dressed up, it wasn’t sponsored, it was simply functional, but because it was so ubiquitous and always seemed to be in frame, not by design, the mic cart took on a life of its own, and even with all the activity going on around the team, they found a way to make it into its own fun storytelling narrative.
The mic cart became an element of the Super Bowl journey.
Now it wasn’t a carefully planned and studied road to viral success, like the Philadelphia Flyers have had with Gritty. It wasn’t the Steelers “Terrible Towel” from back in the day, it was, as the Cincinnati Enquirer pointed out, “a symbol of Cincinnati’s ability to own a joke and turn it in their favor, traveled across the country, stopping in cities along the way, to reach the Super Bowl. “
A fun, simple, innovative way to cut through some clutter, use the social space, listen and see what is going on around you and act accordingly. The result was quality and unique engagement, and showed that with all the fires going on around them, the Bengals found something that resonated and enhanced the story.
In a business where many take themselves way too seriously all the time, this was a case of being able to seize a moment and show that sports, after all, is fun, and we should enjoy the ride we are on, even if it is with a simple tool of the trade that otherwise would have gone unnoticed.
Now the mic cart journey doesn’t have to go any further. Maybe it will, as long as it stays simple and unforced, but it is a case in point of seeing an opportunity and suing the simple tools around you to drive engagement.
A win for Cincy for sure.
