Chugging a Bud and Seizing the Moment

You probably saw the video of the guy at game 6 of the 2019 World Series carrying two beers to his seats in the outfield when a home run hit him in the chest. (If not, you can see it here.)

He never went to put the beers down (probably because they cost $14 each). Almost immediately the short video was everywhere on the internet. The guy was awarded with a ball, and Budweiser came through with a ton of beer.  

Budweiser seized the moment and made a 15-second ad of it that appeared in game 7 of the World Series the very next night. It’s quite powerful to be in the moment and seize opportunities when they appear. 

Think about it. Doing all of this required someone at Budweiser seeing it happen, acting on the opportunity to tap into it (pun intended) that night, and mobilizing forces almost immediately to change lots of people’s schedules to create an ad that ran only once or twice. That’s impact. (Oreo did something similar during the blackout at the Super Bowl a couple years ago.)

One of radio’s great strengths is how nimble we can be. Something happens in the news or pop culture cycle, and we can immediately insert ourselves into it to get attention. 

So, ask yourself: how much content on your morning show is truly of-the-moment? Also, how fast acting are your people to create something from those moments that makes the content big (bigger) and distinctly theirs to create talk? (Need some of-the-moment content? Check out my Weekly Hot List.)

The very best morning shows are perishable. In other words, if you played what they did in a certain hour today in two weeks, it’d feel stale and old. That’s being super topical, and that’s good. Think about how much different this ad feels in game 7 (the very next night after it happened) than it would in a week or two. That’s what every show should sound like. 

Seizing the moment sometimes requires money. Oftentimes it requires innovation. And all the time it requires initiative. How much time do your personalities spend on seeing and seizing these moments so that fans have a fear (and expectation) of “missing out” if they don’t tune into your show for your funny and entertaining take? 

 

Need help getting your morning show to seize the moment? Let’s chat!