Understanding the Power of Olympic Gold in Your Marketing
The other day my friend (and marketing guru) posted on Facebook a photo of a current 2012 Olympian standing casually next to the Olympic legend, Bruce Jenner. My friends comment was that the young female Olympian has no clue about the power of celebrity and was not making the most of meeting the 1976 Decathlon Champion and now of Kardashian fame.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, a memory tickled of another young woman, meeting the very same legend with no knowledge of the power of celebrity photos in marketing.
The year was 2004, Bruce Jenner and his team were teaching a pre-conference seminar at a Training Conference in New Orleans (this was a year prior to Katrina). I signed up for the session, not to meet Bruce Jenner (duh!), but because the topic intrigued me. I don’t remember the exact title, but it was something about mind over matter.
I really didn’t know what I was getting myself into, so I sat in the back row of the seminar room. Attendance was pretty sparse (it was during dinner time and many were off exploring New Orleans). They had us move up; to make the front of the room look fuller, but still I stayed in the last row of that section with another young lady who was just as unsure as I.
During the introductions, I learned who Bruce Jenner was and why he was an expert – he had used the techniques he was going to teach us, to win the gold medal in 1976 and break all sorts of world records in the decathlon.
His team then wheeled in a hotel luggage cart filled with 11” x 8” x 1” boards and he explained to us that we would be breaking the boards in half by putting our bare fists through them.
As the boards were distributed throughout the meeting room, I seriously debated on whether I should stay. The girl next to me said she would stay, if I did. A pact that formed a friendship which lasted for many years. And, as you know, I am no quitter – especially if challenged.
I am so very glad I remained in the room. I learned many powerful techniques to quiet the doubting mind and to use visualization to bring about great change.
Towards the end of the seminar, we were totally pumped up. It was an energetic session filled with a lot of humor; however, the moment of truth was upon us. We were going to break this board with our bare fist. First, on the one side of the board, we were told to draw a big X – this is where our fist would land. On top of the X, we were to write our deepest fear. I wrote the fear of failure. On the other side of the board we wrote what would happen if there was no fear. For me . . . success.
Bruce held my board and I put my fist through, hitting a little bit off the X mark, but breaking through the fear of failure to success.
I was one of the last to break my board, plenty of time for the adrenaline rush set up by the talk to wear off, but I am so glad I did it anyway. It taught me a valuable self-lesson that I will never forget.
I didn’t get a photo with Bruce, but I did shake his hand and had him sign my broken board. I have kept the board as a reminder of the power of my own mind.
Bruce Jenner Autograph
The other side of the broken board.
Is there significance that only the s is broken away from the uccess?
Now, I truly wish I had asked for a photo with him. Yes, the autograph and story are cool; however, the photo is visual proof that I stood next to a living Olympic legend.
What celebrity have you met and failed to get a photo with?
© 2012 Heather C. Morrow. All rights reserved
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Heather C. Morrow, owner of Pottery Daily, helps emerging artists express their true value and get paid what they are worth. Her products and services show you how to make more money, save more time while enjoying the freedom in your art. For your FREE audio go to www.marketandsellyourart.com.
August 14th, 2012 at 4:11 pm
Very cool story! I guess you never really realize sometimes what marketing opportunities you come across until the moment is passed and it’s too late.
As for me, what celebrity have I met and failed to get a photo with? I can think of a few. I used to work on a floor of an office building, where the biggest tenant was a law firm that almost exclusively handled celebrity clients. I was always running into them in our hallway, walking down stairwells with celebrities, or riding elevators with celebrities. But I was always too shy to ask for an autograph or a photograph.