Brands Win Championships

As a Gen Z-er I will admit that I do not read as much as I should, except for textbooks that are required, and even then it is more of a skim not an actual read. However since I am interested in social media in college athletics I told myself that I will actually sit down and read any of the mandatory books. The second book we were told to read was "Brands Win Championships" by Jeremy Darlow. He has a website also called Brands Win Championships, that has a plethora of of articles and small blog posts talking about how to improve, create and polish your personal brand, related and unrelated to sport. While it does have a focus on sport (hence the name), not every post is about sport and it is still easy to find a way to relate it to any industry.

Jeremy Darlow is a leading brand consultant, former director of marketing for adidas football and baseball, adjunct marketing professor, and author of the book Brands Win Championships, a branding guidebook for college sports programs. Darlow has worked with some of the most prestigious athletes, celebrities, and NCAA programs in and around sports, including Aaron Rodgers, Von Miller, Dak Prescott, Kris Bryant, Lionel Messi, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Snoop Dogg, Kanye West, Notre Dame, Michigan, UCLA, Miami, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Texas A&M. His first book (Brands Win Champions) has been read and studied by the heads of major college sports programs across the United States, including Georgetown University, Gonzaga University, the University of Alabama, the University of Louisville, Oregon State University, and New York University.

So now that I have introduced you to the main man, Jeremy Darlow, let me give you a brief summary/ explanation of what this text is all about. "In ten years, the most consistently successful college athletic programs will be those with the strongest brands, not simply the strongest defense or most explosive offense from year to year. It’s not just about x’s and o’s anymore. It’s about polarizing uniforms on the field and massive billboards in Times Square. It’s about making your brand sexy to seventeen- and eighteen-year-old blue-chip athletes. And this is your guidebook on how to reach them. Inside, you’ll find three simple brand-building steps that can take your program from bad to good or from good to great."

You don't need to be an Athletic Director to get use out of this book. The books strategies work for every business and brand, with your audience being the potential recruits. The cross-applications of the high-level brand building strategies and simple, guerrilla campaign ideas are limitless. If you are marketing anything across any medium, you'll come away with many ideas to strengthen and promote your brand. There are a number of straight up brand strategies (both for Social Media as well as the real world) outlined that anyone can quickly read and successfully execute day one. Jeremy also goes deeper into brand theory and development in the second section or chapter of the book. Reading this part of the book will cause you to reevaluate your own brand, personal or professional, through a critical lens and come out better for it on the other side. It's one of those books you can jump in and read sections that pertain to your work, or read all the way through cover to cover.

I have noticed that a lot of college females in this day and age are stating their own brand or building off an already existing brand to be an ambassador for the brand. A few examples for this are Arbonne, Rodan and Fields, Ivory Ella, Winta, and several other hair and beauty brands, or health food brands.The reason this is so common is because it is quick, easy, can do it from their phone, and its a lot of social media marketing. Girls and boys-while I have not seen any being beauty brand ambassadors I have seen technology and alcohol- can read this book to understand on a simple relatable level on how to help establish their brand with that company, or helping that company build its brand with unique strategies.

However since this is a sport blog, and my major is Sport Administration and with a double minor of marketing and communications, I want to promote this book to my sport managers out there who want to know how exactly how it will relate to them and what kind of information is in the book that is going to help them and their sport brand. Darlow uses specific examples to show how effective various marketing strategies can be, and how to tailor those strategies to your school. His methods and processes would help marketers at all schools be successful, no matter what conference or division they're in. He even provides examples on how college athletics and their sponsors (ex: Adidas, Nike, or Gatorade) can work together to execute marketing plans that benefit both sides. Like I had previously mentioned this book is so highly reviewed by some big names in the sport industry. This includes AD's, professors at top SPAD programs, head football coaches, head of marketing at top D1 school! So to conclude if the top notch in the sport industry enjoy it and find it useful, and I loved and learned a lot from it, than I know just about anyone else in the world would find it just as useful and a good read as well!