“Show me the money!” Jerry Maguire’s Guide to Marketing
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Re-watch Jerry Maguire and you might notice that it’s packed with marketing wisdom. We share Jerry’s best insights a little farther down, but first: the movie’s players and their real-world counterparts; where do you fit in?
Jerry Maguire (The Marketing Visionary)
A disillusioned corporate cog inspired to bring humanity and passion back into his position — and, he hopes, the entire company — Jerry is charismatic, respects his clients, and goes out on a limb with a heartfelt mission statement. Unfortunately, the people he’s trying to inspire belong to…
The Cut-Throat Sports Management Firm (The Visionary’s Competition)
They’re slick, well-connected, compensate for a lack of creativity with a big shiny budget, and fear that Jerry and his “manifesto” threaten their bottom line. He has to go. And if he goes, so does…
The Fish (The Helpless Follower)
Just an innocent bystander and victim of circumstance, the fish doesn’t have a “voice”, and must bend to the will of whoever scoops him up first. Let’s get one thing straight. You’re not the fish. But you might be…
Dorothy Boyd (The Potential Partner)
She’s not a cog, but not quite a visionary, either; Dorothy will only jump the corporate ship and risk job security when she’s really blown away by a new opportunity. She responds to consistency, humanity, transparency, and a fair paycheck. Prove yourself to her, and you might just win over…
Rod Tidwell (The Customer)
He’s fickle, skeptical, vocal, and just the person to kick you into gear. Give the man what he wants, deliver on your promises, win his business by out-thinking and out-performing your competition, and, you know where this is going…. Show. Him.
The Money! (The Money)
It’s the bottom line that drives every character. But what drives the money? The firm believes that Jerry’s moral and financial aspirations are incompatible, but he learns otherwise, and these marketing philosophies only become more relevant as savvy consumers and social media usher in an age of unavoidable transparency.
Jerry Maguire’s Guide to Marketing
“So this is the world, and there are almost 6 billion people on it. When I was a kid, there were three. It’s so hard to keep up.” Make that almost 7 billion, and 500 million on Facebook, alone. Trying to communicate with all of them is exhausting and totally unnecessary. Find your niche and lavish them with personal, authentic attention.
“Have you ever gotten the feeling that you aren’t completely embarrassed yet, but you glimpse tomorrow’s embarrassment?” Ah Jerry, ahead of your time again. Thanks to customer reviews on Yelp, Twitter, Facebook and the like, we can fully and instantly realize embarrassment. We can also respond to criticism, choose to ignore uninformed naysayers, and learn from our mistakes. Don’t fret; a little humility never hurt anybody.
“Help me… help you. Help me, help you.” Communication isn’t one-sided anymore. Build relationships with your customers, learn from them, and act on their preferences. Help them help you.
“We live in a cynical world. And we work in a business of tough competitors. I love you. You complete me.” If you’re lucky enough to find a business partner who makes you feel like this, do whatever it takes to keep them around! Hitting it off with their adorable kid is a good start.
“I’m out here for you. You don’t know what it’s like to be ME out here for YOU. It is a up-at-dawn pride-swallowing siege that I will never fully tell you about, okay?” You — the marketer — are inherently vulnerable. You risk failure, embarrassment, and the subsequent crushing blows to your ego. You toil quietly and creatively behind the scenes to outmaneuver your competition, because that’s what it takes to earn your customer’s business.
“That’s the truth. Can you handle it?”
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I just want to say you did an awesome job with this article, Katie! I’d like to bring more pop culture into this blog, because it’s a fun way to learn these concepts. Plus, marketers can be so boring. Let’s mix things up a bit. We’re the new generation of hotel marketers, right?
I plan to watch Minority Report over the weekend, and if I remember correctly, there’s some lessons we can pull from that as well…
Thank you for introducing this movie to my life! It just may have entered Josiah’s Top 10 List of All-time Favorite Movies. Maybe not above Casablanca and Godfather 1 & 2, but still….
Oh man, J; you’ve never seen Minority Report?? Next you’re going to tell me that you haven’t seen “Thank You for Smoking” (the next one I’m writing about). Happy to hear you’re committing your valuable time to the very important business of watching awesome movies
And I agree that it’s up to the new-gen to remind people that marketing/sales/hospitality can be fun! If it’s not fun, people need to change their attitude or career; life’s too short; why commit a large percentage to something that you’re not passionate about?
Wow Katie ! You must really like Tom Cruise
Seriously, as Josiah says, being the new generation of hotel marketers, there are no limits for us to get inspiration, be it pop culture or other unrelated industries.
A few interesting points I would like to highlight…
1. Communication certainly isn’t one-sided anymore.
But while you should certainly act on guest preferences, it is important to remember that this is your offer and like Isabelle says, The best way to personalize is to think about what I would like? and then take it from there.
2. “I love you. You complete me.”
What happens if we replace business partner in your article with life partner ?
If I remember correctly, Tom Cruise and Renée Zellweger did fall in love eventually. So many relationships begin in the office.
As an entrepreneur is it a benefit to have a life partner who is in the same line as you ? Is it beneficial to have your husband / wife working with you in the same company so that you two can use your strengths to synergize and brainstorm even at home? Or is it better to come home to a wife or husband who is in a totally unrelated industry so that when you get home, you can switch off from work ?
Just a thought…
Cheers
Mihir
“As an entrepreneur is it a benefit to have a life partner who is in the same line as you ? Is it beneficial to have your husband / wife working with you in the same company so that you two can use your strengths to synergize and brainstorm even at home? Or is it better to come home to a wife or husband who is in a totally unrelated industry so that when you get home, you can switch off from work ?”
I’ve seen good and bad examples of both scenarios. Wonder if it’s even more important in the hotel biz, since it can be a lifestyle always-on-call environment….
I do like Jerry, but you might be confusing me with another “Katie” that likes Tom Cruise; don’t worry, happens allll the time (no).
Totally agree with your points! I included that bit about “choosing to ignore uninformed naysayers” for precisely the reason you mentioned; in Isabelle’s words, “No one knows your hotel better than you.”
As far as life partners go, I can’t speak for anyone else, of course, but I love that Derek and I both work at the Children’s Museum, discuss philosophy constantly, appreciate good design, and spend our free time sketching out eco-engineering solutions and world-saving schemes (we’re so nerdy).
I think if you’re passionate about your work/life, it helps if your partner is passionate, too; not necessarily about the exact same things, but grounded in the same principles, values, etc. If you’re exactly the same, there’s not as much room for both of you to grow; it’s a balance that everyone has to find for themselves, that’s for sure. At 23 and five years into the relationship, I’m not exactly an expert on what works in the long term… but so far so good
Comme toujours, thanks for your thoughts, Mihir!
Katie