The Boss brand

Most people who know me know when I refer to “The Boss” I’m usually referring to the E-Street Band variety.  But growing up in the New York City area in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s you could hardly avoid exposure to another “Boss” who passed away today.

You have to go back to the days of my youth in the late 60’s and early 70’s to remember a time when the Yankees sucked.  As a Mets fan, it happily dovetailed with the Mets heyday.  For many sports fans however, there was never a time when the Yankees were not synonymous with winning.  The winning Yankee brand can be traced directly to the day George Steinbrenner bought the Yankees.

Since this is a PR/marketing blog let’s take a quick look at some of the lessons we can learn from “The Boss.”

• No publicity is bad publicity:  Under George, the Yankees ruled the famous “back pages” of the New York tabloid sports sections.  It wasn’t always pretty as George feuded with managers like Billy Martin and players like Dave Winfield but it worked as he made the Yankees relevant 365 days of the year.
• A successful brand starts from the inside:  George wanted his players clean-shaved.  He wanted them dressing well on the road.  He spearheaded the renovation of the old Yankee Stadium and the building of the new one.  He built the winning brand from within and then bought, sold and traded for the pieces to make winning a reality.
• Be innovative:  He was among the first to see the that the real money-making opportunity for his team was connected to television, specifically the growing “cable” variety.  First, selling broadcast rights to MSG Network, then later creating the Yankees-own YES Network.  Television exposure is one of the main reasons for the Yankees exponential growth as a franchise that is now worth in excess of one billion dollars.
• Give back:  While not seeking publicity for it, Steinbrenner was known for being one of the Tampa area’s leading philanthropists, giving money to literally hundreds of charities.
• Become part of popular culture:  To explain this you only have to look as far as this compilation of Steinbrenner/Seinfeld “appearances.”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLAa-kxM8lE]

Sure he was far from perfect.  He slugged his way from controversy to controversy before getting “banned” from baseball for three years in the early 90’s.  But Steinbrenner is responsible for all the Yankees are today.  As a Mets fan, you hate him but you respect what he accomplished and secretly you wish your team could learn from the lessons outlined above.

If that’s not the ultimate compliment, I don’t know what is.