The air was cool, and the breeze was light. The leaves fell just right. The season started with a hum, electricity in the air, poetic and fun – for Eagles fans everywhere. 38-35 in our first win. Then, 38-35 at the bitter end.
The 2022-2023 season felt like lightning in a bottle – electric, special, and ours, but it was so much more than a Philly Thing. As a fan of the team and diehard #Liquidian™, there are several similarities between the Eagles playbook and Liquid’s (or any good marketing agency’s). Our people are our business. We prioritize each other and our clients through hard work, teamwork, and planning for as much as we can. We’re more aligned than you might think at first glance.
Hard Work Brings Results
“Success isn’t given. It’s earned.” – Anonymous.
The Eagles weren’t the number one team in the National Football Conference (NFC) for nothing. They put in the work to get there. From the time the 2021-2022 season ended, the players spent time working out, watching tapes of past games, running drills, practicing plays, and holding each other accountable. The coaches met every week for hours to discuss and adjust plays to keep improving throughout the season. Even when they were winning, the Birds kept working to get better. And it showed: Our Quarterback had arguably one of the biggest performance "leaps" in recent years and was a finalist for league MVP. The team had two of the best wide receivers and one of the best running backs in the league, four different players who each had double digit sacks, a secondary that changed the complexion of the defense, and the list goes on. The team built on their strengths, learned from their mistakes, and worked together to make it happen.
Similarly, marketing is more than just posting on social media and hoping for the best. It’s a lot of work, across a lot of different disciplines. In a digital world, where things are constantly evolving, you need a team who 1. Knows what they’re talking about and 2. Is willing to put in the work to improve their skillset. At Liquid, we have a team that’s dedicated to our clients and their goals. We listen, take notes, ask questions, do research, and check in regularly to make sure we’re aligned and moving in the right direction. Our supervisors are intimately involved in each project to help support the team where needed. They encourage training for our growth, so we can make our own “leaps,” set career highs, and move the bar, because even with success, we always have more to strive for. We believe in bringing our best to every project, every time, together.
Teamwork Makes the Dream Work
In football, you win as a team and lose as a team, so it’s important to have the right people, in the right positions, with the right mindsets. It’s more than asking who can do this job. It’s knowing who can do this job with you. Who we sign in Free Agency, draft, and trade for makes a difference. A cohesive team requires a group of hardworking people all willing to trust one another, communicate early and often, and work together to reach a common goal. A lot of times, it comes down to culture and knowing the identity of the team. What happens in the locker room and off the field matters just as much as what happens on game day. The Eagles do things like pose for ESPN's Body Issue or create A Philly Special Christmas album, with proceeds benefiting local charities, all to build camaraderie. And it translates to how they play – together, like a brotherhood, leaving it all on the field every week for each other and the city.
Naturally, teamwork is big in football, but why is teamwork important in marketing? Like any sport, our people are our business. Who we recruit and hire matters. We build a project plan and execute on that – together. Every team member gets a voice. We have a common goal, and we’re in lockstep on how to reach it. Everything from concept creation to copy, then design, and mocking up assets to developing them – bringing our client’s vision to life requires constant communication, coordination, and collaboration. We have an internal review process to ensure everything we work on has the right set of eyes and feedback, so we’re always putting our best foot forward. Like the Eagles, we credit our success to our culture. We like working together and spending time together. At Liquid, we make work fun by sharing our latest recipes or a documentary we liked on Netflix. We share pet photos regularly. And we plan events we can all do together – with our loved ones, like happy hours, Iron Pigs games, and more. When we say we’re all in this together – we mean it.
A Good Plan is Worth Its Weight in Gold – Until It’s Not
Life happens. It’s how you respond that builds character. In football, there’s rarely a perfect season without injuries, personnel changes, weather delays, natural emergencies, etc. This season was no different. After starting 8-0, the Birds faced their first loss and had to adjust and tighten their plays. Then, the injuries rolled in, and the playbook changed several more times. Every game wasn’t perfect, but they learned from the wins and the losses and grew stronger each week.
Likewise, in marketing, you can put together a plan and account for as much as possible, but it’s impossible to plan for everything. As you work through the lifecycle of a project, you’ll inevitably see things you’re doing well and things you can do better. There’s always the “if only I thought about X” factor. Sometimes it’s unplanned PTO, an account transition, scope creep, or seeing a new way to expand on big results. The right team will work with you as you continue to grow or help with new strategies to improve next time around.
We All We Got, We All We Need
It was going our way. It was our time. I didn’t believe it wouldn’t go just right, until the Super Bowl clock ran down to 0:00 and the score was 38-35 them. But it was more than one play, one call, one mistake. The loss stung, but what remained was a season full of hard work, teamwork, and near perfection. It wasn’t the outcome we wanted (or even expected), but the 2022-2023 season felt like lightning in a bottle – electric, special, and ours.
If you have a good team who’s willing to work together, overcome obstacles, and come out stronger on the other side, then that really is all you need. Ask any Liquidian™, we know.
See how our team Makes Digital Work.
Reach out today so we can help bring your vision to life.
Tags: #GoBirds #GoLiquid #BestPlacestoWork