Romancing the Brand: How Brands Create Strong, Intimate Relationships with Consumers

8

Making Up

For any Atlanta Falcon fan—actually, for any NFL fan—the scene was surreal. On that cold evening of December 11, 2007, the local Atlanta NBC news affiliate WXIA went to a live feed featuring the Falcons' football coach, Bobby Petrino, not in Atlanta but in Fayetteville, Arkansas, home of the University of Arkansas, doing the “Sooey Pig” Razorback cheer. Just twenty-four hours earlier, Petrino had coached the Falcons to their tenth loss of the season, a 34-14 drubbing by the New Orleans Saints. Now, alongside his wife and kids, he was raising his hands and squealing like a pig at an Arkansas Razorback pep rally. Earlier that morning, he'd resigned his Falcons job and, just as quickly, taken a position as coach of the Razorbacks. With ...