How to Turn Sports Into Entertainment

The Savannah Bananas are not a baseball team. They are a masterclass in disruption, attention economics, and emotional connection. And the hospitality industry should be studying every damn move they make. This team took one of the most tradition-bound, slowest-evolving sports in the world and turned it on its head. They said, what if baseball was fun? What if it made people laugh, dance, cry, and want to come back before they even left? What if we prioritized the experience over the game? And guess what? It worked. They’re selling out every stadium. They have a waitlist of hundreds of thousands. They’ve gone viral without begging for attention. That is brand power. That is marketing psychology. That is the future. Meanwhile, the hospitality industry is out here still obsessing over room upgrades, check-in times, and loyalty programs no one cares about. You think adding another rooftop bar is going to fix your guest experience problem? You think putting some AI chatbot on your website is going to make people feel something? Wake up. The Savannah Bananas understand something most hotels, cruise lines, and resorts have completely forgotten — people remember how you make them feel, not what you sell them. Their strategy is built on: ✅ Surprise and delight ✅ Consistency of voice and vision ✅ Entertainment as core business, not an add-on ✅ Making the audience the hero ✅ Turning boring into viral ✅ Creating an emotional story around every moment Now here’s what you need to do if you’re in hospitality: 1. Audit your experience from the guest’s perspective. Not the GM. Not the investor. The actual guest. Where’s the moment that makes them smile? Where’s the photo they can’t wait to post? 2. Design for shareability. Every inch of your experience should beg to be shared. From your lobby scent to your hallway music to your beach towel color. If it’s forgettable, it’s useless. 3. Build characters and stories, not just rooms and menus. The Bananas have dancing umpires, mic’d-up players, and banana-shaped merch. Who are the characters in your brand story? Where’s the heartbeat? 4. Be radically different or get ignored. Vanilla is dead. Stop trying to be “premium” or “elevated” or “Instagram-worthy.” Be memorable. Be weird. Be alive. 5. Turn employees into the show. People follow people. Your team should be your influencers, your culture carriers, your content creators. Train them. Empower them. Feature them. The Savannah Bananas are not winning because they’re playing better baseball. They’re winning because they understand attention is currency, and brand is everything. You’re not just in the business of hospitality anymore. You’re in the business of entertainment, storytelling, and emotional impact. If you’re not willing to disrupt yourself, someone else will do it for you. And it won’t be gentle. --- I'm Scott Eddy, if the way I look at the world of hospitality works for you, let’s chat: scott@mrscotteddy.com

My son has seen every highlight dunk and dime that’s been thrown in high school, college and the NBA this year and has yet to sit and watch a full televised game. Marketers, pay attention. He lives on TikTok Instagram and YouTube following House of Highlighte, Overtime and dozens of creators. He's following the plays and moves first - players and teams are secondary. He knows what sneakers they're wearing and the fits they wear to the game and the trainers that helped them perfect their game. The National Basketball Association (NBA) gets it. While everyone else debates TV ratings, they've built an ecosystem where the surround of basketball is greater than the game itself. The data backs this up: EMARKETER projects digital live sports viewers will grow to 127 million by 2027 while traditional TV viewership drops to 75 million. My son isn't an outlier - he's the future. Meanwhile, NBA social content is exploding. The league's TikTok has 24 million followers, House of Highlights has 59 million across platforms, and individual player content drives billions of views. The creator economy around basketball - training videos, style content, highlight reels - has become the real gateway to fandom. Content creators like WearTesters and KixStats have built audiences around sneaker reviews and tracking what players wear. Brands like Overtime have built entire media companies around this insight, while challenger sneaker brands like Anta , SeriousPlayerOnly, and 361. are gaining ground by understanding basketball culture, not just viewership. This isn't just about basketball - it's representative of how fandom works now. The most engaged fans aren't sitting through three-hour broadcasts. They're discovering and engaging where cultural influence actually lives. So ask yourself: where is your audience actually spending their attention when it comes to their passions? #Marketing #SportsMarketing #DigitalMarketing #CreatorEconomy #NBA #ContentMarketing #SocialMedia #Fandom

F1’s movie isn’t just box office gold—it’s a branding masterclass. From Netflix to IMAX, the sport is turning drivers into characters, sponsors into plotlines, and fans into superfans. Other leagues should take notes. So should founders and marketers. Why the F1 Movie Is Winning—and What Other Sports (and Brands) Can Learn F1 just did something baseball and basketball haven’t pulled off in years: 🎬 A blockbuster movie that’s globally profitable, culturally relevant, and wildly entertaining. But this isn’t just about Brad Pitt or fast cars. It’s about how storytelling, scarcity, and strategy drive engagement in 2025. Here’s why it’s working—and what leagues, brands, and even startups can learn: 🏁 F1 sells a lifestyle, not just a sport. It’s Monaco, champagne, grit, drama, and global flair. That emotional packaging builds fan identity. Baseball and basketball? Still mostly local. 📺 It’s cinematic. First Drive to Survive, now the movie. We don’t just watch races—we follow characters. That’s how loyalty is built. 🌍 It’s global. 24 races, 1.5B viewers, three continents. F1 isn’t fighting for domestic attention—it’s exporting culture. 🎯 It’s scarce. Each race is an event. You plan to watch it. Compare that to game #107 of a baseball season. 🤝 It integrates brands into the story. The fictional APXGP team in the movie is a perfect example. This is next-level sponsorship—not logos, but lore. If you’re building something—whether it’s a league, a startup, or a brand—ask yourself: Are we just showing up? Or are we telling a story people want to be part of? #F1 #Storytelling #BrandStrategy #SportsMarketing #Leadership #ContentThatConverts #Gildre #Startups #EntertainmentEconomy #DriveToSurvive

𝗙𝟭 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 $𝟯.𝟮 𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿 (+𝟮𝟱% 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵) 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝗷𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗮𝘂𝗲𝗱. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲? 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱. 𝗢𝗹𝗱 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹: "We have fans, you have money. Pay us for access." 𝗙𝟭 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹: "We create value for ALL stakeholders - fans, partners, entire markets." 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗙𝟭 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝘀 𝗟𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱: 🌍 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 → Building new markets (Miami, Vegas, Saudi Arabia), not just racing 📺 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 → Netflix partnership created millions of new fans who never watched racing 🤝 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 → Actively help sponsors achieve business goals beyond logo visibility 💡 𝗖𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 → Apple's F1 movie with Brad Pitt turns partnerships into mainstream content 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁: They're not selling race sponsorships. They're selling access to a global lifestyle brand that happens to include racing. While other sports fight over traditional sponsorship dollars, F1 commands premium pricing for comprehensive brand experiences. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗢𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆: If the commercial leader keeps growing with brand thinking, imagine what smaller properties could achieve with this approach... and what today's "top dogs" stand to loose. 👀 Because MORE is possible when you build a brand, not just sell inventory. 𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘴? #MOREispossible #PartnershipStrategy #LMCO #SportsMarketing

He turned a failing baseball team into a social media sensation with 10 MILLION followers. Meet Jesse Cole, the unconventional mind behind the Savannah Bananas. In an era where traditional sports struggle for attention, Jesse had a wild idea: What if baseball was... fun? It started with a simple motto: "Fans First, Entertain Always." He threw out the old playbook and started experimenting in front of the whole world on social media. Their first TikTok? A staff member dressed as Cupid doing the shuffle. It got 12 views. Living piñatas on the field? ✅ Pregnant dance-offs? ✅ These all flopped. But Jesse’s philosophy was: "Quantity leads to quality. You only learn by doing." So the Bananas kept experimenting. Every. Single. Day. They posted relentlessly, learning and iterating with each video. The result? In just one year, they gained 10 million followers across platforms. ESPN called them "The Greatest Show in Baseball." All with doing zero traditional marketing. Jesse’s secret? "Attention beats marketing 1000% of the time." Jesse Cole didn't just save a failing team. He's reinventing an entire sport. His message to other leaders? "If you're not getting criticized, you're playing it too safe." Oh, and just in case you thought this all just led to vanity metrics. Today, there's a 100,000-person waitlist for Bananas tickets.

When Jesse Cole founded the Savannah Bananas in 2016, it seemed like a bold move. Baseball had failed to take root in Savannah for 90 years, yet Cole was determined to revive the sport in a way no one had ever seen before. By focusing not just on the game but on creating an unforgettable experience for fans, Jesse built a marketing phenomenon that took the sports world by storm. Since 2016, they have sold out every single game. Initially, the Bananas competed as a collegiate summer baseball team in the Coastal Plain League. But the real magic began with their innovative "Banana Ball" format. This fast-paced, fan-centric version of the game was so successful that the team transitioned to exclusive exhibition games, playing against their partner touring teams - the Party Animals, the Firefighters, and the Texas Tailgaters. This new model mirrors the entertainment-driven format of basketball’s Harlem Globetrotters and their longtime rivals, the Washington Generals. Jesse’s vision wasn’t just about baseball - it was about creating a spectacle, and he made sure every aspect of the Savannah Bananas experience was larger than life. From their highly choreographed walk-out songs to Jesse’s iconic yellow tuxedo, the Bananas embraced an approach that made traditional sports feel like anything but ordinary. They have danced to countless songs from artists like Beyonce, Miley Cirus, and Backstreet Boys. Jesse's leadership philosophy, deeply influenced by Mark Schaefer’s Marketing Rebellion, revolves around putting employees, fans, and players at the heart of the business. This is where the Savannah Bananas really shine. The Bananas’ marketing has spread far beyond the field. Their viral videos and sports entertainment style have been featured by major outlets like ESPN, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, and Sports Illustrated. ESPN even deemed them, “the greatest show in sports”. On YouTube, they boast nearly two million subscribers. Many of their clips have surpassed more than 10 million views, with their top short eclipsing 150 million views. Recently, they even took on Nationally Ranked Clemson University Baseball in an exhibition game. In a world where marketing is everything, the Bananas prove that a little bit of fun, chaos, and heart can turn a simple ballgame into a business revolution.

Forget the MBA case studies - the most radical startup transformation I've seen came from a struggling minor league baseball team. In just eight years, Jesse Cole took a bankrupt baseball team that nobody wanted to watch and transformed it into an entertainment phenomenon with a 3 million-person waitlist for tickets. Yup, 3 million. Here’s how it started: In 2016, Jesse Cole walked into an abandoned minor league ballpark in Savannah wearing a bright yellow tuxedo. The city's previous team had failed, and left town. All that remained were empty seats and skeptical fans. Jesse had a radically simple plan. A simple question he asked his six-person team: “What are we doing for our fans FIRST?” This question became their North Star: - To get local fans excited, they held a contest to name the new team (the Savannah Bananas) - They completely changed the baseball rulebook, literally (more on that tomorrow 🗓️) - They redesigned the entire game day around the fan experience - They took social media by storm showing everyone how they did things differently Asking a radically simple question completely transformed the Savannah Bananas. Today, they’re doing tours across the country, have more followers than any professional baseball team, and yes, sell-out 81,000 seat stadiums. What Jesse understood was profound: in a world where baseball attendance was declining nationwide, the game itself wasn't enough. Fans craved an experience worth remembering, sharing, and returning to. But creating that experience meant changing two radical things: baseball’s game day experience, and the literal rules of baseball. More on that over the next few days – stay tuned.

In 2012, Red Bull sent a man to jump from space They wanted to sell an adrenaline-fueled lifestyle. So, they sponsored a mission that seemed straight out of a sci-fi movie. Here’s how Red Bull marketed an energy drink while breaking a world record: 👇 Red Bull wanted their brand to be synonymous with extreme sports. To solidify this image, they sent Felix Baumgartner 24 miles above Earth in a helium balloon. The stunt was named “Red Bull Stratos” The goal: 🎯 free-fall from the stratosphere  🎯 become the first human to break the sound barrier without a vehicle. The jump: - at 128,100 feet, Felix stepped off the capsule and plunged toward Earth. - he reached speeds of 843.6 mph (Mach 1.25) - he spun uncontrollably at first, but then regained control. - after 9 minutes of descent, his parachute deployed - he landed safely. The jump was live-streamed on YouTube with over 8 million viewers Making it the most-watched live event at the time. No sales pitch. No tagline. No ads. But their branding was everywhere—on the suit, capsule, and cameras. The result: ✅ $500M+ in media exposure ✅ 7% jump in sales. But Red Bull didn’t stop at Stratos. They kept raising the stakes with one adrenaline-fueled stunt after another: - Red Bull Air Race – A high-speed aviation competition that turned pilots into rockstars. - Red Bull Rampage – An extreme freeride mountain biking event where riders defy gravity. - Flugtag – A competition where people launch homemade flying machines off a platform (usually into water). Every stunt cemented Red Bull’s identity: high energy, extreme sports, and pushing limits. The payoff? It's just as big as their stunts. If you want to build a brand people can't stop talking about Just take a hint from what they’re doing: ✅ Think beyond the product ✅ Turn ads into entertainment ✅ Create experiences people want to share Other brands already cracked the code: 🏀 Nike – they celebrate athletes and their struggles. 🏎️ GoPro – they sell adventure, action, and user-generated content. 🚀 SpaceX – Every launch turns into a global event. Red Bull doesn’t just sell energy drinks. They sell momentum. Their stunts blurred the lines between advertising and entertainment. And that’s how Red Bull proved that brand storytelling is sometimes bigger than the product.