The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]


If You Dream It, Do You Want It?
May 18, 2010, 6:04 am
Filed under: Comment

Rob & Angelina

So last week Forest played Blackpool in the 2nd leg of the playoffs.

Whilst we’d lost the first leg 2-1, I had high, high hopes of us coming good when they came to our ground – a place where we’d not lost in 20 games.

Even though it was going to be played in the middle of the night, there was no way I was going to miss it, so I went to bed early and set the alarm for 2:30am.

Anyway, a few hours passed and the alarm went off and the first thing that hit me was confusion.

You see I had fallen asleep and in my dream I had dreamt they had won 2-0 … a score that would have secured their progression to the grand playoff final.

However it gets worse, because in my dream, I also dreamt I‘d woken up in a panic realising that I’d only dreamt that score only to be ridiculously happy and relieved when I logged on to BBC.com and found that 2 goal result had actually turned into reality.

So imagine how weird and fearful it felt when I realised [1] I had only dreamt I was awake [2] they hadn’t won 2-0 and [3] the match hadn’t even started yet.

As we all know – despite a very bright start – we ended up losing 3-4 and our hopes of a return to where we belong were dashed for another year … however the thing I find interesting is that my love for my team/brand is so strong that it not only infiltrated my dreams, but positively affected my emotions and feelings.

There’s plenty of talk about how great brands affect people – and there’s a general acceptance that the greatest brands tend to be the ones that live and play within people’s/societies lives – however when a brand can affect your sleep and mood simply through the anticipation you have of interacting/experiencing/engaging with it again, then I would say the number of truly great brands is far less than many in our business claim.

For me a great brand isn’t about sales or profit [though obviously they are very important components] … it’s about an irrational love …. where it affects what you do and feel beyond rational reason.

There will be many reasons for this behaviour … many developed over many years … but as Steve Henry once said to me, if you can only give one reason why you love something, then you don’t really love it, you’re simply flirting with the idea of it.


24 Comments so far
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did you really fucking think forest were going to win? bless your fucking retarded naive socks.

talking of retarded naive socks, the picture on this post actually made me chuckle but mainly because you used photos from when you were young and exciting.

Comment by andy@cynic

you once told me the most boring shit anyone can do is tell someone their dream in mindnumbing detail. after reading this post i can tell you youre right even if all the planner fan boys will wet their huggies over the boring brand bollocks you talk about at the end which is at least more fucking interesting than your brand bollocks featuring calculators, lindt easter bunnies and mont blanc pissing aftershave. but not by much.

Comment by andy@cynic

and the fact i remember posts featuring calculators and shit is not proof they were good any more than remembering a dfs sofa ad from 1982 makes me want to buy one of their always on sale, 756 years interest free credit pieces of cheap, tacky, fall apart in a week furniture.

there you go campbell, a new metaphor for your “awareness means fuck all” rants.

Comment by andy@cynic

I must be a planner fan boy because I like this post. Well the forest bit is a boring but the overall “message” is pretty good.

People throw the word “brand” about like they throw “love”, but there’s many types of brand and being recognised shouldn’t automatically equate to being classified as great.

Great brands occupy your mind and encourage you to act and think in ways you may otherwise not have done. When you compare Virgin Atlantic to United Airways or NIKE to Reebok I think it’s pretty easy to define which is the great brand and which is just a recognisable one.

PS) That Steve Henry quote is awesome.

Comment by Pete

fucking toady.

Comment by andy@cynic

There is nothing sad talking about dreams featuring Nottingham Forest.

Actually, reading that back, it does sound pretty sad doesn’t it. Bugger.

Comment by Rob

too fucking right it is. and you think that makes them a great brand. makes you a shit judge of great brands more like.

Comment by andy@cynic

Forest had years and years and years to build their brand and develop such a close relationship with their fans. Most marketing directors will be given 2 years tops before they’re expected to make miracles happen.

Then again, Chelsea and Man City seem to’ve found a lot of people who’re passionate about them and love them since they got rich so maybe there’s something to be learnt there too.

Comment by Rafik

Don’t agree Rafik, there’s loads of brands that have been around for donkeys and Forest’s recent history is littered with as many managers as you’d see in FMCG’s and they’re not cheap to run either.

Comment by DH

Ah. Well I hadn’t looked at it that way and you’re right. As Rob’s pointed out the advantage is that football teams are more relevant to people’s lives than FMCGs.

Comment by Rafik

Good point Dave – though I am slightly concerned you seem to be defending Forest though obviously I know that’s impossible.

I know what you’re saying Rafik but whilst football teams represent people’s hopes and dreams and identity and sense of belonging they are still businesses that need to attract people willing to spend lots of money on them – even if, in the case of Forest, the successes have been few and far between in the last 10 years and we’ve had just as many – if not more – managers than the average FMCG marketing department.

What I guess I’m trying to say is that whilst there are differences, I do believe it is not a scenario unique to football teams, though I also appreciate they have an immediate advantage because their role in people’s lives is almost automatic rather than having to pull them into the brands web from the beginning.

Comment by Rob

excuse me for pointing this out but who the fuck gives a fuck.

Comment by andy@cynic

Your irrational obsession with Forest is down to copying a decades if not centuries old cultural tradition of local self-preservation and collective play.

You’d need to convince me more that this can be replicated in an FMCG product for example. After all, most businesses don’t last that long.

Isn’t “loyalty” more about a company behaving in a consistently superior manner as far as an individual customer is concerned than anything else.

Comment by John

There’s a shitload of brands that have been around longer than my relationship with Forest and the only thing that’s been consistent with them over the past 10 years is how shit they have been.

I know – as I write on Rafik’s comment – that there is a difference between a local footie team [especially one that was hugely successful at a pivotal age] and an FMCG, but I still believe there is a lot of potential to mean more to people than many currently aspire to achieve … of which NIKE is probably one of the best examples.

Yes, I know NIKE is not FMCG and I know it’s taken years and hundreds of millions of dollars for them to get to this point … but the investment must be working because they are still around, still making profits and still universally representing a feeling of empowerment when for all intents and purposes, they make rubber souled shoes.

And yes, they have been consistent too …

Look, I’m probably talking in circles probably because I’ve had a long, long, long, long day … I just think what many people say are great brands are not, mainly because some determine ‘greatness’ as awarenenss and for me, the best brands make people do stuff, not just know about them.

Comment by Rob

Agree totally with the last point – thought of course that suggests that Forest are the greatest brand ever or purveyors of mass delusion.

And the point i was semi-seriously raising was that your relationship with Forest may only be decades old but it exists because of a much longer tradition/cultural immersion that does exceed that of most businesses.

Comment by john

I am a Leeds fan, this post means nothing.

Comment by northern

I think you made a typo as usual, surely you meant to say:

“I am a Leeds fan, so I mean nothing.”

Looking forward to next years derby’s … though it appears Leeds are the ‘planners’ team because every bastard and his dog seems to support them.

Fools.

Comment by Rob

Not the copywriters team though..
‘We are Leeds, Leeds, Leeds’

Comment by northern

thank fuck I ain’t the only one.

others support their team, Partizan we love..

Comment by niko

Tnere’s no accounting for taste. 😉

Comment by Rob

And no pricetag for it either.. Though certain accountants are gonna have to be extra creative to explain this one to the IRS

Comment by Niko

Come on Blackpool… (it always hurts less to lose to the winners!)

Comment by Rob Mortimer

Planner fan girl or not, this post struck me with the realisation that you actually have some good insights amongst all your rambling! 😛 Nice one.

Comment by Anjali Ramachandran

the only reason i don’t feel fucking sick at your compliment is because you sounded surprised.

Comment by andy@cynic




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