012916_blogpostEvery February, we find ourselves drawn to four quarters of the biggest NFL game of the season. Some may be watching it for the actual game, but others are there for the advertising. Each year company’s spend millions of dollars on 30 second commercials.

The team’s involved also spend a lot of money on promotional merchandise throughout the year. A good brand is vital to a professional sports team. Fans are more likely to wear a team’s merchandise if they are familiar, comfortable and on board with the team’s brand. So what kind of power does swag have in sports? Brand loyalty. Caps, t-shirts, sweatshirts, cheese-heads, Viking helmets…all these products are a sure sign of a fan’s loyalty. They give the professional sports teams huge reach to fans outside of traditional forms of advertising. You don’t have to be in the sports industry to take a lesson from their book.

No matter what industry you’re in, the key is that the most successful brands make real connections with their audience and build a community around their brand.  The loyalty comes from the people who resonate, feel and connect with others who feel the same as you do. The more team-oriented you can get with new hire packages, team building events, sales meetings, trade shows, welcome kits, company outings and in your everyday operations, the more power your brand will have internally, as well as externally.