569: 205: Hi, SPOY (asking for monthly tickets!) 569: 205: Hi, SPOY (asking for monthly tickets!) As the Atlanta Falcons faced defeat in the Super Bowl, Roger became the lone star in the sports domain of Georgia.
The Triple Crown City, previously this marketing concept was incredibly popular, known nationwide.
And the more popular it became, the more it was mocked after its failure.
The image of Atlanta had plummeted, especially since the centennial Olympics in ’96 weren’t conducted gracefully, leading to continuous criticism of the city both domestically and internationally.
Although the Mayor of Atlanta, Bill Campbell, emphasized repeatedly:
“Hey, although the crime rate has increased a bit with more robberies and thefts, and a large number of streetwalkers have impacted the city’s appearance,
At least we didn’t make the international delegations bring their own air conditioning units to the Olympics!”
However, this rebuttal was ineffective; Americans felt the Atlanta Olympics were a national embarrassment, and that the city had disgraced the beacon of freedom on earth.
Now, with the collapse of the Triple Crown City marketing, the whole country was taking pleasure in the disaster.
The city had lost all respect, and the snowball of shame kept growing larger.
The atmosphere of failure hovered around the city like a dark spirit.
In this atmosphere, all eyes in Georgia were on the Atlanta Hawks.
For now, only the Hawks could dispel the clouds and bring light to the city once more.
It’s hard to imagine that just a year ago, the Hawks were the least noticeable professional sports team in Atlanta.
Since the Falcons moved to the more advanced Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the Georgia Dome was left cold and empty.
In fact, when the Falcons were still at the Georgia Dome, the Hawks didn’t even have a stable home court.
If there were scheduling conflicts, the Hawks would even be pushed to play at the Alexander Memorial Coliseum at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
For a professional sports team to not have a permanent home court was truly sad.
Everything about the Hawks seemed to be in decline just like the city.
But now, the Hawks had transformed and become the only pride of Atlanta.
Roger became the savior of the city.
The Reebok team was pleased with this situation; they saw a business opportunity.
As “Sports Illustrated” stated, Reebok also believed that Roger actually had the best script.
Think about it, if the Warriors and the Falcons had both won championships, even if Roger led the Hawks to a championship, it would only be “following in the footsteps of giants, not creating greatness.”
But now, with both the Warriors and the Falcons gone, if Roger could win a championship, he would become the most special existence in all of Georgia!
This was a great marketing entry point.
Since Roger was a Chinese player, “identity recognition” had always been a major barrier in expanding his influence.
You can imagine, if Kyle Anderson was truly a purely Chinese player, how high his commercial value would be in his home country.
The same issue happened with Roger; after all, being a Chinese player, he couldn’t gain the majority of Americans’ identity recognition.
Jordan’s skin color easily made most black kids like him; Roger had to do much more, win many more victories to achieve the same effect.
Thus, Reebok pushed Roger to actively participate in community activities and integrate with the local fans.
But that was not enough, and now, Reebok found a way to break through this limitation.
Todd Krinsky, President of Reebok’s basketball department, shared this idea with Roger:
“We want to bind you deeply with the city of Atlanta, fill the entire city with your personal heroism, and build you into a savior admired by everyone in the city!
For this, we’ll launch a series of themed T-shirts, as well as a very creative advertisement.
As long as God can save the people, no one cares if God is black, white, or Asian.”
Roger had no objections, just one condition, “In any marketing, never say that I will stay in Atlanta forever.”
Krinsky was a bit surprised, “Roger, don’t tell me you have plans to transfer.”
“Of course not, I just don’t want to commit to something I can’t be sure of myself.
Men shouldn’t give commitments lightly, otherwise it’s easy to become a clown.”
Thus, Reebok’s “Savior” campaign officially began.
Soon, a themed cultural T-shirt under Roger’s brand appeared in Reebok stores.
The T-shirt was black with a hawk’s head on the back, echoing the Hawks.
And on the front were three simple phrases: “One team, one city, one goal.”
An advertisement produced by Reebok also started airing on various TV channels.
The content of the advertisement was simple: in a certain game, Roger was gathering his teammates in the center circle for the final talk, and every player on the Hawks team was hugging each other’s shoulders in a circle.
At that moment, a fan couldn’t help but enter the court and also hugged the shoulders of a Hawks player, joining their lineup.
Then, more and more people joined.
At this point, the camera deliberately focused on Andy who now had to use a wheelchair to move, and he stood together with the Hawks players.
Soon, the entire stadium was filled with Atlanta fans.
The camera moved outside the stadium, where crowds from all directions were gathering towards the Georgia Dome.
Everyone was touching another person’s shoulder, hearts connected, synchronized with the Hawks players inside.