Berrian to Jones to Benson: Marketing Lessons from Da Bears

I was sitting in the snow on a freezing January afternoon, watching Da Bears kick the stuffing out of their opponents and win a spot in the Superbowl.  That was 21 years ago, and I just saw it happen again.  With a quarterback who delivered, a defense that forced four turnovers and an opponent whose wheels came off, Da Bears will be in Superbowl 41.

Thank you Bernard Berrian, Thomas Jones (twice) and Cedric Benson for the touchdowns and Robbie Gould for three field goals. I wasn't even in law firm marketing in 21 years ago (I was editor of the ABA Journal) but I drew several lessons from da game:

• Persistence pays. Don't give up even if your quarterback is unpredictable. The Rex Grossman on your team just needs to deliver when it counts.
• Capitalize on your opponent's mistakes.  You don't have to be that great when your competitors make errors.  Find a pro-wrestler lookalike such as Brian Urlacher to cause your opponent to trip up.
• Rely on people who are better than you at what they do. You can stick to strategy if that's your strength when you have a quick teammate like Thomas Jones.
• Ignore the skeptics.  It is not the critic who counts. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, who, at the best, knows, the triumph of high achievement, according to Theodore Roosevelt, America's quarterback from 1901-09.
• Do the little things right.  This includes being humble, avoiding mistakes, ignoring your competitor's goal-line somersault, surrounding yourself with fans and performing well on a slippery surface,
• Use orange and navy as your branding colors.  They're very memorable as you go to your crowning achievement.