Fall brings some of my favorite things: sweatshirt season, switching from iced coffee to hot, and the chance to geek out over the Buccaneers 2021 Media Guide. It may seem unlikely that I would look to the NFL for branding inspiration, but I’m here to tell you…you can learn A LOT from looking at different organizations’ marketing. Here are my top takeaways:
Update your headshots!
Nearly every page of this guide includes a headshot and that adds up to a lot of pictures for an organization as big as the Buccaneers! The perfect headshot can serve as an opportunity to highlight the staff, add cohesion and emphasize content. Unfortunately, these headshots were a fumble: inconsistent, blah photo backgrounds, styling, and posing give an outdated look and – most importantly – distract from the content. In fact, some of these pictures have been reused for years. Bottom line: the defending Super Bowl champions deserve headshots that reflect their success. A personal branding photoshoot advances the ball in modern marketing, something the Buccaneers know a thing or two about.
Highlight your assets
There’s nothing quite like the feeling of the city after the hometown team wins the Super Bowl (sorry, not sorry, Kansas City!) and everyone in Tampa knows we owe that feeling to Tom Brady. This media guide capitalizes on Brady’s name recognition and ability to make headlines by highlighting his accomplishments early and often. The team ownership uses Brady’s acquisition to show bold decisions, while the coaching staff highlights their role in coaching Brady to his seventh Super Bowl ring. The organization knows Tom Brady is its best asset and uses the momentum from last season’s win to build its brand.
Give back
If you’ve followed me for a while, you know how important it is to give back to the community. Not only can philanthropy help establish your brand values, community members expect leading organizations to give back. This media guide highlights the extensive work of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Foundation in the areas of education disparity, gender equality, and social justice. The organization and players used social capital for voter education and youth leadership development initiatives. The Buccaneers have demonstrated commitment to gender equality in a male-dominated field by elevating women pursuing careers in football, establishing the first nationwide academic scholarship for female high school football players who want to play sports at the collegiate level, and investing in flag football leagues for girls.
This media kit does a great job summarizing the foundation’s philanthropic work and demonstrating its commitment to the community. This section is organized by individual focus areas with a concise highlight of each program’s impact within the focus area. This framework helps to show diverse areas of community support in a cohesive way. Visually, this section draws a reader in with captivating images and intuitive headings. While the team has done a lot of work in the community, this has some great takeaways for how to highlight your organization’s values.
What unlikely places do you find branding inspiration? What have you learned? Let me know on Instagram: @kristinamanness.