Branding, Culture, Politics, and Everything in Between

If you don’t have the patience to watch the video clip above (you should, it’s one of the most moving videos I’ve ever seen), here’s a short recap of Jason McElway’s story: an autistic kid works as a team manager for his high school varsity team, and in the final game of the season, his coach gives him a chance to play, and he shines. Jason’s story has been featured on ESPN and numerous other networks. Hollywood has of course thrown his hat into the foray: Jason’s family has numerous offers for a feature film, one from Disney.

Moving “local boy” stories that make it big nationally are not a new phenomenon and exclusive to the digital age, but I think the digital age has changed how stories like these can be told and what kind of possibilities it opens for marketers. Because stories like this live on on services like YouTube, they can be narrated in a different way, a lot of nuances of the story can be left open for discovery and “digital folklore”. To illustrate my point, please watch this ad by Gatorade in which James was cast a while ago:

Notice that James’ presence is not highlighted at all. Most viewers will have no idea who that guy is, but that is actually part of the ad’s idea. People who have seen James and who were touched by the story will recognize him and this will create a whole new meaning for them. Most likely these people will forward both the first video and the ad video to their friends as a consequence. The ad is very powerful because the ad is relating to an experience that was very authentic. The challenge for Gatorade, however, is to create credible link to James by handling the subject with enough class and care. I think they did alright.