Your Iconic Image : How Do I Build a Successful Brand From Nothing?

Your Iconic Image

Jamey Rootes has been an impact player in the sports industry for over two decades. He has led the start-up of not one, but two professional sports teams that are both still thriving enterprises today….the Columbus Crew Major League Soccer franchise and, currently, the Houston Texans NFL franchise. Rootes serves as the President of the Texans and under his leadership, the Texans have consistently been recognized as one of the most valuable professional sports franchises both in the NFL and globally. Also, the Texans extended their sellout game streak to 185 consecutive home games – a Houston NFL record. Rootes maintains an active role in the community by serving on the Board of Directors of the Greater Houston Partnership and the United Way of Greater Houston, both of which he previously served as Chairman of the Board. Jamey is pleased to announce that he recently became an #1 International Best Selling Author! The Winning Game Plan: A Proven Leadership Playbook for Continuous Business Success, released on November 10, has become an International Bestseller on Amazon, the WSJ and USA Today.

The first thing is to understand what a brand really is.

When you have outstanding packaging but a bad product, nothing kills it quicker. The same thing with advertising. Nothing kills a bad product faster than great advertising.

The brand is a promise of delivery of performance at a good value for a consumer

Howard Schultz “Brands are built from the inside out.”

Think about the word customer. It’s about a customized experience. This is for ME.

So to the extent that you understand what your consumer is looking for and you provide it better than anybody else in the world, your brand will be great.

Apple has great products, but their packaging is spectacular. When you put those two things together…it’s that little something extra that really makes you feel special.

First thing is understand what your consumer is looking for…what are the things that they seek from you.

In terms of brand strength you want two things differentiation and relevance. Be different in a way that matters to people…if you can be different and relevant, you own a unique place in the consumers mind.

John Paul DiGioria “I never want to be in the sales business. I want to be in the reorder business.” You want your product to be pulled toward your consumer because you’ve done it in a way that matters, you’re different than the other things that are out there..you own that unique position that is so incredibly valuable.

It’s all about creating the basis of competition.

The Houston Texans…are we in the football business? Maybe in some ways we are…but we’re really in the connection business.

Tailgating was never allowed here in Houston…We have to build the greatest tailgating culture on the planet…from day 1 this 30,000 best in-person festival atmosphere was created.

This is my Sunday vacation and that’s the way it’s turned out for the last 20 years. We’ve sold out every game we’ve ever played. We have a wait list of 30,000 and Houston was never like that before.

You’re built for the fans. You’re built for your customers. So to the extent you can own the voice of the customer and understand and track over time what they’re looking for whether that’s making improvements to what you’re providing to them or the real magic is when you’re providing something in addition…they trust you for this so they try you for something else.

The 3 R’s. Retention. Referrals. Related sales.

My wife’s name’s Melissa. We’ve been married for 21 years and so if my goal was to satisfy her, then she would stay with me as long as there’s not a better option. That’s what satisfaction gets you. Loyalty, people fight to stay with you.

It’s about Raving Fans…the fans that will go out and tell other people about how exceptional the experience is. It doesn’t just happen. It takes intentional effort.

We did tons of focus groups…nobody has an identity with their state like Texans. The challenge was, how do you represent it.

The 5 points in the star in the bull head represent what people said over and over about what it meant to be a Texan..pride, courage, strength, tradition, independence. And that’s the core of our brand…how can we operate in a manner day to day that is consistent with Texas?

Every game is going to have a different feel, a different celebration.

Each year we would throw in a few new traditions.

…it’s so rich. Why would anybody walk away from that?

People look forward all year to Battle Red Day.

How easy is it to say thank you, but how often do people actually say it and mean it?

We’ve tried to make it more than just coming to a football game.

We’re a big deal, but we are home town humble friendly. It’s like Houston.

Just because you are a major sports brand, you don’t have to act like it….we want anybody who wants to be part of what we’re doing...you’re welcome…we’re always welcoming people onto the bandwagon.

Over communicate anything that’s important.

There’s so much when you’re launching a professional sports franchise.

The get better mentality.

R&D : Rip off and Do better

This marketing stuff’s not that hard - Bob McNair

Leveling up: Letting go of what you’re currently doing. First you have to create capacity. Take some things….and put them onto somebody else. …That’s the hardest thing letting go of the things that are comfortable. If you can’t, you can’t move forward.

Stars want to work with and for stars and they don’t tolerate sub-par performers taking up space.

People typically don’t fire themselves. You counsel, you counsel, you train, you develop. Eventually if you can’t change the people, you may have to change the people.

You have to have great discipline to ensure that your relationships are efficient.

The cockroach effect: it’s not what they eat, it’s what they spoil.

The non-negotiables 1. Great work ethic. 2. Have a winning attitude. 3. You have to be committed to the values of our organization.

We are here to win championships, create memorable experiences and do great things for Houston.

PATI : the latin word for passion. The definition is the willingness to suffer and sacrifice for what you hold dear.

Our standard isn’t great. Our standard is elite.

Success is a distraction. It is a silent assassin. Adversity is easy. Adversity punches you in the face. Success just seeps in , you start to cut corners…you start not doing the things that allowed for your success and you just have to fight that. It’s much harder to handle success than adversity.

For every 10 players that can handle adversity, only one can handle success. I think it’s the same in life.

4 tips for handling success 1. Stay humble 2. Stay focused 3.Have a balance to your life 4. Keep going

Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.

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