Why That Worked #22: Seizing the Moment—Lessons from Nike’s Viral Scheffler Ad

Summary

Why That Worked #22: Seizing the Moment—Lessons from Nike’s Viral Scheffler Ad

Podcast: Marketing Made Simple
Host: Powered by StoryBrand
Episode Title: Why That Worked #22: Seizing the Moment—Lessons from Nike’s Viral Scheffler Ad
Release Date: June 4, 2025

In the 22nd episode of Why That Worked, hosts Donald Miller and Kyle Reed delve into the intricacies of timely and strategic marketing, using Nike’s viral ad featuring golfer Scotty Scheffler as a pivotal case study. The episode explores how brands can effectively seize cultural and real-time moments to amplify their presence and engage their audience meaningfully.

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1. Introduction to Seizing the Moment in Marketing

The episode kicks off with Bobby Richards introducing the new Why That Worked podcast, emphasizing its mission to dissect successful marketing strategies and provide actionable insights for listeners. This episode specifically focuses on the concept of "seizing the moment" and how it can be a game-changer for brands aiming to capture attention in a saturated marketplace.

Bobby Richards [00:00]:
"Each episode of the new show is going to deliver actionable insights and key takeaways that are all designed so you can implement them to help make whatever you're working on work."

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2. The Power of Attention in Branding

Donald Miller and Kyle Reed initiate the discussion by highlighting the significance of capturing attention in today’s fast-paced digital landscape. Kyle introduces the notion of how brands creatively seek attention through various means, setting the stage for the main example of Nike’s strategic move.

Kyle Reed [01:24]:
"Brands are using creative ways to gain attention. They used a cultural moment, an in-time moment, to get attention for their brand."

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3. Nike’s Strategic Use of Scotty Scheffler’s Victory

The core of the episode revolves around Nike's adept use of Scotty Scheffler’s PGA Championship win to promote their brand. Kyle recounts the narrative of Scheffler’s past misstep—a misunderstanding leading to his arrest a year prior—and how Nike leveraged his triumphant return to the golfing scene to create a poignant and timely marketing campaign.

Kyle Reed [03:00]:
"Scotty Scheffler wins this year and there's a massive opportunity and Nike seized it."

Nike’s promotional tweet, "The verdict is in. World number one, Scotty Scheffler is the PGA champion," served as a clever nod to his previous arrest, resonating deeply with the audience by tying past challenges to current success.

Kyle Reed [03:45]:
"Nike posted on X. They said the verdict is in. World number one, Scotty Scheffler is the PGA champion."

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4. Contrasting Example: Skechers’ Missed Opportunity

To underscore Nike’s success, the hosts contrast it with Skechers’ less effective approach. Skechers attempted to piggyback on a viral basketball moment but failed to resonate authentically with the target audience, resulting in a lackluster response.

Kyle Reed [04:39]:
"They posted a cheesy like, you know, dunk on your competition. It was, it was... kind of a problem."

Donald suggests that Skechers could have capitalized better by directly associating with the athlete or the moment, thereby avoiding generic and inauthentic messaging.

Donald Miller [05:18]:
"What you want to do is actually just push your brand a little bit into that spotlight because that's what people are paying attention to."

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5. Learning from Successful Creators: The Mark Cibilia Story

Shifting focus, the episode highlights Mark Cibilia’s success as a musician who effectively seized attention by blending popular songs and genres. His strategic positioning within existing cultural moments led to a surge in his online following and culminated in sold-out world tours.

Kyle Reed [16:16]:
"He started, he hired a crew and I think like almost every day they would do this. He would come in and he would say, okay, here is ‘Where the Streets Have No Name’ by U2. But it's sung in the style of the Beatles."

Donald reinforces the importance of associating with what the audience is already engaged with to gain visibility.

Donald Miller [19:02]:
"He played the game, man. And I wouldn't say he sold out at all. I mean, you know, you just want to find somebody. Just plant somebody at Wrigley Field in a Satan outfit and just have some fricking fun with."

---

6. The Role of Intentionality in Capturing Attention

Donald and Kyle emphasize that capturing attention isn’t accidental but requires intentional planning and creativity. Regular brainstorming sessions to identify trending topics and cultural angsts can help brands align their messaging with what’s currently resonating with the audience.

Donald Miller [07:25]:
"What's happening is there's a giant spotlight being shown on the new Pope. And what you want to do is actually just push your brand a little bit into that spotlight because that's what people are paying attention to."

Kyle adds that having a clear brand voice and tailored talking points is essential to ensure the marketing efforts feel authentic and engaging.

Kyle Reed [12:07]:
"Is there something about having a perspective for the brand to kind of know, you know, what's our voice? How do we, how do we do this natively?"

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7. Handling Pushback and Embracing Attention

The conversation shifts to the inevitable pushback that comes with bold marketing moves. Donald encourages brands to view pushback as a form of attention rather than a deterrent, using Dave Ramsey’s principled stance against credit card companies as a prime example.

Donald Miller [21:08]:
"He's making $300 million a year. Right."

Kyle underscores that intentional marketing efforts can turn potential negatives into positives, fostering stronger brand recognition and loyalty.

Kyle Reed [23:29]:
"There's something to be said about finding that one moment like Nike did, that one moment that Skechers could have found that one moment for Mark."

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8. The Importance of Clear Messaging

Throughout the episode, the importance of clear and effective messaging is a recurring theme. The hosts discuss how StoryBrand AI can assist businesses in crafting precise and impactful communication strategies that align with their marketing goals.

Bobby Richards [10:50]:
"Imagine having the world's best communicator writing your tagline. Just type in the name of your company, answer a few prompts."

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9. Conclusion: Embracing Creativity and Timeliness

In wrapping up, Donald and Kyle reiterate that brands of all sizes have the opportunity to seize moments creatively and intentionally. By staying attuned to cultural trends and maintaining a clear, authentic voice, businesses can effectively capture and sustain their audience’s attention.

Kyle Reed [16:16]:
"I can use this as an advantage to jump into something with some creativity."

Donald Miller [25:08]:
"That's the sort of strategy that we're talking about."

The episode serves as an insightful guide for marketers seeking to navigate the dynamic landscape of attention-driven branding, illustrating that with the right strategies, any brand can make a significant impact.

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Key Takeaways:

• Seize Cultural Moments: Brands should actively identify and engage with current cultural and trending moments to stay relevant.

• Authentic Engagement: Authenticity in messaging ensures that marketing efforts resonate genuinely with the audience.

• Intentional Planning: Regularly assess what the audience is paying attention to and brainstorm how the brand can align with those interests.

• Embrace Attention: Pushback can be leveraged as a form of attention, contributing to greater brand recognition.

• Clear Messaging: Utilize tools and strategies to ensure that all brand communications are clear, concise, and impactful.

By dissecting Nike’s successful campaign and contrasting it with Skechers’ missed opportunity, this episode provides a comprehensive roadmap for brands aiming to master the art of timely and effective marketing.

Transcript

[Bobby Richards]

Hey, hero makers, it's podcast producer Bobby Richards. I'm jumping in to share with you a new episode of our brand new podcast, why that worked, presented by StoryBrand AI with Donald Miller back in the host seat. Now, since we launched Marketing Made simple, we've been so grateful to have everybody tune in each week to learn how to make your marketing easy and make it work. Which is exactly why we're sharing new episodes of the why that Worked podcast here. In the old Marketing Made simple feed, each episode of the new show is going to deliver actionable insights and key takeaways that are all designed so you can implement them to help make whatever you're working on work. If you want to catch new episodes early, you can watch or listen every Monday. To watch the show, just go subscribe to the StoryBrand YouTube channel. And to listen, go follow why that worked, presented by StoryBrand AI wherever you enjoy your podcasts. All right, that's it from me. So grateful you're here and enjoy this week's episode of why that worked, presented by StoryBrand AI.

[Donald Miller]

Foreign.

[Bobby Richards]

You're listening to the why that Work podcast presented by StoryBrand AI. If you've ever wondered why certain brands, trends, or cultural phenomena find success while others don't, you're in the right place. Every week we unpack why something worked, then give you actionable insights that you can use in your own life. Now let's dive in with your hosts, Donald Miller and Kyle Reed.

[Kyle Reed]

Don, there's something I've been thinking about a lot, and it's this word called attention. And I think brands are using creative ways to gain attention. Yeah, there's an example of this I saw over the weekend. So, you know, you know this about me. I'm a big fan of golf. I love golf. I love watching golf. I love playing golf. Did you happen to watch the PGA Championship this last couple weeks?

[Donald Miller]

I did not.

[Kyle Reed]

Okay. That's okay. I'll forgive you for that. It was kind of boring anyway. There was a winner of the PGA Championship, the one and only number one golfer in the world, Scotty Scheffler, won that. And I saw an example of a brand getting attention in a very creative way. And that's what I want to talk about today. They used a cultural moment, an in time moment, to get attention for their brand. And that was. That was Nike. So Nike is the primary sponsor of Scotty Schiffer. They do all of his apparel.

[Donald Miller]

Got it.

[Kyle Reed]

I got to tell a little bit of a story before we get into this, because a year ago at the PGA Championship. Did you know Scottie Scheffler was arrested?

[Donald Miller]

I did, because I was actually on the phone with the golf correspondent for espn.

[Kyle Reed]

That's right.

[Donald Miller]

When he got arrested. And he had to go.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah, with coaching. He was looking to do some coaching. Right.

[Donald Miller]

Well, I was just sort of helping him figure out how to do some other stuff. And he's also a terrific, terrific Ghost Rider. And I had a client who needed a ghost Rider. So we were talking about things like that, and he was like, hey, man, I actually gotta go. And he, I think he flew down there. It was in South Carolina maybe somewhere.

[Kyle Reed]

Louisville.

[Donald Miller]

Louisville, yeah, yeah, yeah. So he flew down there and I couldn't talk to him for a couple days.

[Kyle Reed]

I remember waking up.

[Donald Miller]

But he was arrested for like, not a very.

[Kyle Reed]

A big misunderstanding.

[Donald Miller]

Scandalous reason.

[Kyle Reed]

Yes, correct. And so that was like the dominant narrative. So fast forward a year. Here we are. Scotty Scheffler's back.

[Donald Miller]

Well, we should say he went around a cop who had blocked off the golf course.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah. There was a. There was an accident early that morning. It's a tragic accident. It's pretty standard that the players can go around the traffic. They do that all the time. Part of the misunderstanding was they had brought in because there was a tragic accident morning. They brought in other police officers who were not familiar with the golf protocols. Yeah. So they. So there was a big misunderstanding. He was arrested. You got a mug shot, all the things. Right. Later, his record was a sponge and all. Sponge. Sponged sponge. Thank you. I knew that was. I think that's it.

[Donald Miller]

It sounds right. It sounds writer. Sounds writer.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah. Writer. Yeah. And so. So that happened a year ago. There's, you know, this whole thing. So Scotty Scheffler wins this year and there's a massive opportunity and Nike seized it. Nike. You'll have to go to our YouTube to see this. Or go. We'll. We'll share this out here. Nike posted on X. They said the verdict is in. World number one, Scotty Scheffler is the PGA champion.

[Donald Miller]

That is. The verdict is in.

[Kyle Reed]

The verdict is in. And immediately playing off the arrest and immediately people caught on to what they were doing. It was, in my eyes, a perfect example of a brand using real time events. What I love about it too was they didn't just say congrats to Scotty Scheffler. They were creative about it. They, you know, a little hot tip to the audience. Who knows what's going on?

[Donald Miller]

Just a little bit of twinge on it.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah. Contrast that with a brand I was telling was looking at and talking about was Skechers. So do you know that Skechers makes basketball shoes?

[Donald Miller]

I don't think I knew that.

[Kyle Reed]

I didn't either up until I saw this post. There's an NBA player, I'm going to butcher his name, so I'm not even going to try. But he had, in the playoffs, he plays for the Knicks. He had a massive, like big, big moment where he had a dunk and the photographer that captured the picture perfectly framed him dunking over the Boston Celtics and he was wearing Skechers shoes.

[Donald Miller]

There you go. Dream moment for Skechers.

[Kyle Reed]

Perfect moment for Skechers. Do you know what they did with that Skechers? Yes.

[Donald Miller]

What?

[Kyle Reed]

Nothing.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah, it's a problem.

[Kyle Reed]

They posted a cheesy like, you know, dunk on your competition. It was, it was.

[Donald Miller]

I can't remember from your perspective, what should they have done?

[Kyle Reed]

Some of the, a couple breakdowns I watched is someone said that he might not have been a Skechers athletes, so they couldn't post his image. You know, that kind of thing.

[Donald Miller]

They were sort of hand titled.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah, but that's where you go, hey, call this guy right now. We need to get that picture license. And we're going to sign him to our team because that's the kind of athletic performance we strive for. But I think they missed a massive opportunity because Skechers is not known as a basketball shoe. And there's a perfect opportunity to jump right into that. We were kind of joking before we started.

[Donald Miller]

Well, the other thing is you could ease, you know, Skechers is bringing the dunk back.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

Because the criticism of the NBA right now is it's all three shootings.

[Kyle Reed]

That's good.

[Donald Miller]

So it's like Skechers is bringing the dots. So the cultural.

[Kyle Reed]

Here's a way to bring attention for a living. I can see.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah. What is the cultural angst is a question to ask what are people frustrated about in the NBA? They're frustrated because Steph Curry is single handedly changed the entire game.

[Kyle Reed]

That's right.

[Donald Miller]

And everybody's shooting from the three point line. Which I think is kind of fun. I think it's kind of exciting. But you know, people want to see, you know, guys mixing it up in the paint. And you could say, you know, you could even say something to the effect of Skechers is great if you're walking on paint, you know, or some other skill.

[Kyle Reed]

Right. Like that, you know, there's something more.

[Donald Miller]

Traction in the paint. Like get back into the paint. Why aren't they in the paint? Because they're not wearing sketches. I mean, you could just go with that.

[Kyle Reed]

You did something unique there, though. I think that's something that I picked up that you just did. Is there. You know just enough about basketball, you know just enough about. People are all frustrated that maybe you know Steph Curry shooting threes, or maybe, you know, some people know just enough about golf, or maybe they know that story that they can. There's something there to that that you have to know just enough. You don't have to know. You don't have to be an expert, but you have to know just enough of the context of what's going on.

[Donald Miller]

Right.

[Kyle Reed]

So that then you can come up with something creative. I think that's something that brands can do a better job of is seeing where does my product fit. Because again, it has a very real possibility coming off super cheesy, super inauthentic. But if you know just enough to then tweak it.

[Donald Miller]

And here's the thing, you want to actually get some creatives in a room and you want to say, hey, what are some things happening in the press right now? What is. You can even use? AI Just saying, what are the top 10 things that most people in our target market? 40 year old females, whatever your target market is, what are they paying attention to? You could have a Monday morning meeting. Every meeting. Every. Every Monday morning. And, and that's going to come back and it's going to say, well, the new Pope.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

And you're going to. Okay, what do we. Is there anything that we can do that. Because what's happening is there's a giant spotlight being shown on the new Pope. And what you want to do is actually just push your brand a little bit into that spotlight because that's what people are paying attention to. So let's, let's actually. Or the wind is blowing in the direction of the new Pope. So if we go that direction, we'll get some of that attention too. That's the philosophy that you want to have. For instance, the Chicago White Sox. We talked about this before. Pope Leo is from Chicago. It's where he was born and raised. He spent 20 years in Peru, but was born and raised in Chicago. And they have footage of him from back in the day at a Chicago White Sox game that was a World Series. Is that right?

[Kyle Reed]

I don't remember the World Series, but.

[Donald Miller]

I guess they did.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

How fun would it be to actually ask, is God a White Sox? Does this make God, a White Sox fan.

[Kyle Reed]

Perfect.

[Donald Miller]

Right? And so you could just. So it's not just like, hey, you know, happy for Pope Leo. Congratulations, Chicago zone. That gets passed up.

[Kyle Reed]

Yes, that's right.

[Donald Miller]

But there's a little bit of a, you know, or you could actually say if God is a White Sox fan who's a Cubs fan.

[Kyle Reed]

I love that.

[Donald Miller]

You know, and then now you're just going, yes, you know, all you got to do is find somebody. Just, just plant somebody at Wrigley Field in a Satan outfit and just have some fricking fun with.

[Kyle Reed]

You know.

[Donald Miller]

But it's that Monday morning meeting where you're dreaming this stuff.

[Kyle Reed]

That's right. Well, and I think some people might be wondering, you know, okay, yeah, it's great. They posted that you guys tried on the podcast. What did it do for the brand? I was looking at this earlier. There are countless amount of articles that were written by what Nike said.

[Donald Miller]

There you go. So now they're getting.

[Kyle Reed]

So now they're getting free press from an organic post on X. Now they're getting a little bit Newsweek, Yahoo. Sports, Golf Digest, People.com, sports Illustrated.

[Donald Miller]

But again, it's the provocative, it's the lightly provocative nature of the post.

[Kyle Reed]

And you go on the other side, Sketchers, and it's all. They're bashing them and it's actually, they're kind of playing into the brain of like, that's kind of lame. Those are kind of lame basketball shoes to have. Maybe they're not, but you kind of is.

[Donald Miller]

Skechers bringing back the dunk question mark. It's a great.

[Kyle Reed]

I think it's great. I love it.

[Bobby Richards]

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[Donald Miller]

And voila.

[Bobby Richards]

Hey, that's a good one. Use it to write your social media posts, website, wireframe emails, lead generating, PDF, product or service descriptions, anything you need for your business. What would happen to your revenue if every word that left your business was crystal clear and worth paying attention to? StoryBrand AI is your competitive advantage. So you'll know, you'll say it clearly. Try it right now and let us write your custom tagline for free at storybrand AI. And now back to the show.

[Kyle Reed]

Here's another one I'm interested to get your feedback on as a Messaging expert. I've heard two different ads through podcasts and on television. One for a car commercial, one I can't remember the other brand, but they use this word, car commercial. These are pre tariff pricing. They're playing off tariff conversation.

[Donald Miller]

Well, they know the angst. Again, like, what are people angsty about?

[Kyle Reed]

Yes.

[Donald Miller]

They're holding off on buying a car because they're convinced if it's a Honda or a Toyota or a Mercedes or know whatever, that they're going to pay 25% more or 50% more or whatever the tariff is that specific country. It's the angst.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

And so they're removing that angst. Smart.

[Kyle Reed]

So would you advise brands on starting with angst first? Kind of figure out.

[Donald Miller]

I would say it's one of the things you want to ask, like, who's getting attention and why? What is our culture angsty about right now? And then how do we actually take advantage of that, move our. Move ourselves into that spotlight or offer to relieve that anger?

[Kyle Reed]

Okay.

[Donald Miller]

You know, like you're just wanting to. You're wanting to say, how do we, how do we move in close to this thing that's getting attention?

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah. And is there something about having a perspective for the brand to kind of know, you know, kind of what's our voice? How do we, how do we do this natively? Is that part of it?

[Donald Miller]

Yeah, I think that's part of it. I think the, the real thing is what's getting a ton of attention.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

And then how do we actually jump on that wave?

[Kyle Reed]

Okay, so practically speaking, you said it earlier, it sounds like it's a regular meeting.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah.

[Kyle Reed]

Whether that be.

[Donald Miller]

It's a regular meeting in which you're trying to diagnose where the jet stream is.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

You know, attention is a jet stream. It's temporary, it shifts, it changes. And then all you want to ask is, is there any way our brand can fly into that jet stream?

[Kyle Reed]

Yep.

[Donald Miller]

Is there any way that we can do that?

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

And if you ask that once a week, there probably is.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

Probably at least once a week there's gonna be a chance to do that.

[Kyle Reed]

And it's super powerful. Powerful for brands because those things are being searched. People are looking for that. Those things rise above. And if you can have just a moment, you know, just a little hit of that, they call it attention mining. You can jump into that and just that, just people, your brand is in front of them over and over. We've done that here with this podcast to some degree. We're looking for interesting stories to break them down, but also trying to find relevant information that people are thinking about.

[Donald Miller]

Yep. I think, listen, if you. If you have a product that is solving a problem that another product, for example, is creating interesting, you know, like. Like if I had an electric bike, motorcycle company, I would make a big deal about sending one to the president of Harley Davidson.

[Kyle Reed]

Make a big campaign about it. That'd be good. Yes.

[Donald Miller]

Something like that.

[Kyle Reed]

Yes.

[Donald Miller]

Or if you're. Let's say that you're. Let's say that you have a company that puts solar panels on your house. Right. I would make a big deal about offering the president of British Petroleum a conversion to his house.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

Right. Or something that. Just because, you know, because, you know, your market's environmentalists and they probably don't like that guy. And that's a. That's an interesting way to sort of bring attention to your. To your brand.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

You know, you know, on and on and on. Yeah, you can. You just want to think in that way what's going to get some attention. And so listen, I would say 1 in 10 are really going to take off for you. The other ones are going to kind of do okay, and maybe two or three are going to be like, wow, that was kind of disappointing. But that's par for the course. That's the way the game works.

[Kyle Reed]

I think, too. It also underlines the need to continue to be monitoring what's going on, adapting. You know, it's so easy as a business to just kind of stay in your lane, kind of, okay, this is how we do it. You know, we work these hours. We, you know, I think it comes to. As far as we're talking about attention, there is intention, too. You have an intentional move, like, we want to do this. We're going to make this an active part of what we're doing. I see you do this with your social media. You find some different things and, you know, jump in sometimes and talk about them. And sometimes it goes over really well and sometimes it doesn't. Some feedback. But I do think there's a message there that there's ways for brands to. That can be as big as Nike, who has a great brand, and as small as a company that makes solar panels for houses. But there's a massive lane. I think also, too, if I'm listening to this, this would be encouraging to me to know that no matter what I'm making or what I'm working on or what I'm doing, there's opportunity for me where I don't feel left out. I can use this as an advantage to jump into something with some creativity.

[Donald Miller]

Well, the thing, let's be honest, nobody's paying attention to you.

[Kyle Reed]

Yes, that's.

[Donald Miller]

Nobody's paying attention to most of the people listening to. It's true, nobody's paying attention, but they're paying attention to something. What are they paying attention to and how can you associate with what they're paying attention to? You know, here's a strategy that's very, very interesting to me. I've got a good friend, you know, named Mark Cibilia. S C I B I L I A mark is pushing 40. He is an extremely talented musician and songwriter. His album Seat of Joy is one of my favorite albums all time. We probably listened to that 500 times at the house. He has never headlined a show. He's always the supporting guy or he's had a big hit in Germany of all places. Just that guy. He got really, really smart at this late stage in his career. What he did was he actually, he has this incredible studio in his backyard and it's got like all this musical equipment and it's kind of visually really cool looking. And he started, he hired a crew and I think like almost every day they would do this. He would come in and he would say, okay, here is where the Streets have no name by U2. But it's sung in the style of the Beatles. Now think about what he just did. He took two extremely popular, well known songs and genres and mixed them together. And he also has a visually interesting way of doing it. Yes, he does, because he'll start with the keyboard and then he'll pick up a guitar and he's laying down certain tracks and he's looping it and he's going on top of each other. By the end of it you're just like, holy crap, that's you too. In the style of the Beatles. And it sounds amazing. And he blew up to a million followers online and now he is selling out a world tour. And I asked, he was at the house the other day, I said, how many covers are you doing in the show? He said, three. So he got famous from sort of putting himself where the attention already was and then saying, I'm Mark Sebelia, you should also listen to my song. Yep. And it worked.

[Kyle Reed]

And previously though, great artist. He had a kind of a smaller.

[Donald Miller]

He's one of about half a million artists in this town who people are ignoring. Who's world class. My favorite record right now is a guy named Brian Cates.

[Kyle Reed]

Okay. Yeah, Never heard of him.

[Donald Miller]

It's my favorite record. It's a work of genius. And he's a waiter at Burger Up. You know, that's this town.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

[Donald Miller]

So it's criminal.

[Kyle Reed]

Yes, absolutely.

[Donald Miller]

And I just love that Mark didn't him. And haw and gripe about it and complain and play the victim. He went, what are people paying attention to?

[Kyle Reed]

But he also brought his artistry in. I think there's something. There's something there.

[Bobby Richards]

He played the game, man.

[Donald Miller]

He played the game. And I wouldn't say he sold out at all. I mean, you know, and now you can't get a ticket. You can't get a ticket to his show. He just announced a 40 city European tour, you know, so I. You want to. That's what. That's the sort of strategy that we're talking about.

[Kyle Reed]

Yes. If you feel like you're not being paid attention to.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah.

[Kyle Reed]

Which most brands are not. There's a lot of people who are looking for that solution when they need it. They're not paying attention to you on a daily basis. This is a great way to go about it.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah.

[Kyle Reed]

You know, a lot of the creators today, there's. There's a couple out there that I'll give as some examples. They are focused on when they do events. They're focused on one thing and one thing only. They're focused on that one clip. They're focused on that one moment that grabs attention. So if you, if we can learn something from the biggest creators, I think of, you know, Jake and Logan, Paul, you know those guys.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah, yeah. Gosh. They talk about. Know how to get attention.

[Kyle Reed]

They talk about this all the time. Recently I was watching, they. They put out a show on hbo, kind of following them. And I've been watching it, kind of learning, really. And they talk about when he fought Mike Tyson. Jake Paul fought Mike Tyson when he.

[Donald Miller]

Let's please. When he, quote, fought, fought. Yeah. Because I think there were rules like you can't hit each other. Don't get within 10ft. That's how that fight felt to me.

[Kyle Reed]

It was. Yeah. And that was a whole other conversation about Netflix and the disaster that that was and them streaming it.

[Donald Miller]

Well, it wasn't a disaster for either of those guys.

[Kyle Reed]

No disaster for the streamers. Yeah. So. But what was interesting was they were talking about it and they had a moment right before the fight at the press conference where Mike Tyson slapped.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Kyle Reed]

That was the. That's. And they, they literally, you see them on camera celebrating afterward. We got our moment. That's all we were looking for was that one moment. There's creators on YouTube right now who they. I watch again, golf stuff. They're not. They don't care about how they play. They're looking for one moment that grabs people's attention. That's all they care about because they know they've got you hooked in. There's something to be said about finding that one moment like Nike did, that one moment that Skechers could have found that one moment for Mark. There are moments for brands out there. If you find that the amount of lift and uplift to your brand is massive.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah. And you can get. And you can get good at it. You can get. It takes practice, but you can get good at it. Now, let's also say this, Kyle. I think a lot of people, what they fear is pushback.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

And I would actually say pushback ain't bad. Yeah, it's not bad.

[Kyle Reed]

It's attention.

[Donald Miller]

It's attention. And you know, you don't want pushback on the quality of your product. You know, you don't that. But there's a lot of, like, political pundits. They make their living by pissing off half the country, you know, and I'm not a fan of that. That's not me personally. But look, if you follow me on Instagram, if you follow me on Instagram, I've noticed that, you know, I'll post a little bit about narcissism here and there. The actual narcissist can't stand me. Right? They, they don't like me revealing, you know, that their games, their games. And so I'm perfectly willing to make that villain, to make that enemy. And I think there's an interesting question here. For brands, another way of getting attention is pick a fight. Yeah, pick a fight. Who are you picking a fight with? Yeah. Okay, let me give you an example. Our friend Dave Ramsey. Dave is one of the most. First of all, Dave is one of the most gentle, kind human beings I've ever met. I mean, that dude is. He's a grandpa. He's married to just the sweetest, sweetest woman. But he's smart enough that when they turn the fricking radio on, he says a thing or two. And by the way, he's also very, very principled. So it's authentic. He's made an enemy out of credit card companies. Right. And credit card companies, by the way, have billions and billions and billions of dollars. That's a terrifying enemy. But he'll take him to court. You know, he'll be like, sue me, let's go. He says. And do you think it's benefited him a little bit? A little bit, yeah. I think he's making $300 million a year. Right.

[Kyle Reed]

And paying cash for everything.

[Donald Miller]

And he has a stated villain, a stated enemy. He's also very smart. Like he doesn't burn bridges. He doesn't make enemies for the sake of making enemies. They're real enemies.

[Kyle Reed]

Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

But I think we can all learn from that as well.

[Kyle Reed]

Yep. I think keyword in this controlling idea is attention is your friend.

[Donald Miller]

You know how to get it.

[Kyle Reed]

There are ways to go about it. And it's. I think there's this idea that this just naturally happens, like in the moment. Someone just like, let's just make this quick post again. I don't agree with that. I think you broke it down. There's a tension in this and you have to be intentional. You have to set it up.

[Donald Miller]

You have to move yourself.

[Kyle Reed]

You have to talk about it, move.

[Donald Miller]

Yourself in it, create it.

[Kyle Reed]

You have to have a talking points. You've been talking about this a lot. Sound bites for your brand. You have to know the problem you solve. You have to work through those things. I think one of the things we'd be remiss. There are people who can help you do this. I think we've created a great community of people who are experts in messaging. And that's the story. Brand coaches.

[Donald Miller]

Yep. You can go to marketingmadesimple.com and find a coach and they're gonna help you analyze this. But it's important to get an outside perspective because we are so close to our products and services that we don't even know what's provocative about them.

[Kyle Reed]

We actually had a coach come in and help us with something.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah.

[Kyle Reed]

And he. He called it out. He called out the thing that was too close to our face and we. And he called it out and it was very valuable for us to go. You're right.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah. We didn't see that.

[Kyle Reed]

We did not see that. So there's ways and there's resources out there to do that. So Don, thanks again for joining us. Is another great.

[Donald Miller]

Loved it.

[Bobby Richards]

Thanks for listening to the why that Worked podcast presented by StoryBrand AI. If you like the show, follow wherever you get your podcasts. And if you're Enjoying this on YouTube, hit that subscribe button and leave a comment letting us know what you think and what you want the guys to talk about in a future episode. Curious about how StoryBrand AI can help you create clear, effective messaging? Well, you can try it out right now and create a free customized tagline for your business. Just go to storybrand AI. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next time.

[Donald Miller]

Sam.