BOCA RATON, Fla. – Organizations seeking to become the worldwide leader in financial institutions got some lessons – and laughs – from the worldwide leader in sports.
Chris Berman, the longtime face of ESPN who is as known for creating nicknames for athletes as he is his own, the “Swami,” told the CO-OP Financial Services’ THINK 12 Conference the network’s growth from a small Connecticut operation into an international brand offers a guide for credit unions.
“A cult brand doesn’t start huge,” said Berman, one of ESPN’s original employees. “It dreams huge and thinks realistically. The other part of a cult brand is it has great capacity to grow and the ceiling is pretty high if you give it time.”
Credit unions should be reassured that a good idea can prosper, said Berman, noting ESPN launched Sept. 7, 1979 to an audience of almost no one (its first sports broadcast was a slow-pitch softball game). “We were the worldwide leader in nothing,” he said, sharing that he once broadcast a darts tournament. “But what [ESPN management] asked us to do was to reach for the sky. And if you get burnt, pull your hand back, but keep reaching. If you keep things in the proper perspective, and you have a good time doing what you’re doing, that’s really how our place made it.”
