A brand lesson from the Savannah Bananas’ ticket lottery.
By Craig Irons
I’m a big fan of the Savannah Bananas. Or at least I was. Let me explain.
For a long time, I loved the Bananas and their amazing ability to make a baseball game a fun, unforgettable experience. So, when it was announced they were coming to my city, my wife and I both signed up for the ticket lottery within hours after it opened.
In the ensuing months, while I waited to see if we would be selected to buy tickets, I tuned in to the Bananas games on ESPN, excited at the prospect of seeing them live. It would be the perfect way to wrap up the summer.
Then, several weeks before the game, the emails came. Neither my wife nor I had been selected in the ticket lottery. We wouldn’t be getting tickets unless, of course, we were willing to pay a premium at a third-party ticket site. We talked to others who had signed up for the lottery days after we did. They got tickets. Lotteries being what they are, getting in early didn’t improve our chances of winning.
A changed relationship
But what happened next surprised me. I basically lost interest in the Bananas.
When I came across their games on ESPN, I clicked on to another channel. When I saw an article about them in the media, I kept scrolling. If you asked me today if I would enter the ticket lottery the next time the Bananas come to town, I’m not sure I would say yes.
In the end, my affinity to the Bananas was tied to the assumption that I would get to experience them in person.
When I didn’t win the ticket lottery, the Bananas lost me.
More fascinated than disappointed
Sour grapes (or rotten bananas)? Well, sure, at least a little. I mean, I really wanted to see the Bananas and not have to cough up most of my summer fun budget on StubHub to make it happen. But my disappointment was overshadowed by my fascination with my reaction. To be honest, it caught me off guard.
Then again, it probably shouldn’t have. My sudden indifference to the Bananas is less about my disappointment than the fact that there are so many other entertainment options vying for my attention.
Football season is underway. There are upcoming trips and concerts I’m looking forward to. I have a stack of books I’m anxious to dive into. There’s a sequel to This Is Spinal Tap coming out in a few weeks, for God’s sake. Then there’s always that next post on my Instagram feed or a YouTube video I want to watch.
The truth is it really wasn’t that hard for the Bananas to lose my fandom.
And that’s where I think the lesson here lies. Our bonds with brands are more tenuous than we may realize. When we don’t fully consider the experience all our audiences—in this case, those who lost out in the ticket lottery—have with our brands, we risk losing those audiences.
What could they have done differently?
The Bananas are red hot right now, and demand for tickets to see them currently far exceeds the number of tickets they can make available. That’s why they have a ticket lottery, after all.
So, what could they have done differently, instead of just sending me a brief email informing me I wasn’t selected to purchase tickets (and making me feel like, well, … a second banana)?
Perhaps they could have offered to automatically enter me into a “preferred” ticket lottery the next time they come to town. Or maybe they could have extended a special discount for merchandise at the Bananas’ online store. Would these gestures have kept me in the fold (or bunch)? Honestly, I don’t know.
Don’t get me wrong, as a lifelong baseball fan, I’m ecstatic the Bananas are packing stadiums and fueling interest in the game I love, even if it’s a highly irreverent version of it. I wish the Bananas well, and I hope their popularity doesn’t wane anytime soon.
And, who knows, when the Bananas come back, maybe I’ll try again to get tickets. After all, if baseball’s taught me anything, it’s that there’s always next year.
But there isn’t always a next year for brands. We love a brand until we don’t.
Sometimes, that’s where the game ends.
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Craig Irons is President and Lead Content Creator for Irons Strategic Content