Manizesto

The Utah Flash, a D-League NBA basketball team in Orem, Utah, may have committed the year’s worst marketing snafu by heavily implying His Airness Michael Jordan would be playing a one on one game against Brian Russell, a retired Jazz player, during halftime of the Flash’s opening game.

The Flash released a viral video of Jordan (look alike) eating at a nearby restaurant and made many statements indicating there was a strong possibility he would be there.

But he wasn’t. The fans, many of whom had paid $300 for season tickets to get in to the game, were pissed. Flash owner Brandt Andersen finally had to respond:

“In every interview I said if Jordan did not show we would have a backup that would be entertaining. I promised it would be worth attending. So as a backup, we hired a Michael Jordan lookalike. It was always in the plan to put him out in the community whether or not MJ showed. We wanted to test the strength and effectiveness of viral media by putting him out in Provo with bodyguards, and some hype. I always assumed it would be uncovered very quickly that it was a hoax.”

Andersen lead people to believe Jordan was coming even though he knew it would not happen. In fact, neither he nor his representatives ever even spoke with anyone from the Flash about showing up. It was never a real possibility and Andersen knew it.

So bait-and-switch, so abysmally distasteful, and so lacking in foresight it’s hard to comprehend.

And as lying is leading someone to believe something that you yourself do not believe, Andersen is a liar. And I can’t imagine how no one, during the marketing meetings, thought to say, “You know, some people might not like the fact that we’re promising something we can’t possibly deliver.”

Addendum: From Brandt’s BYU Marriott School profile:
Management Philosophy:
Trust must be earned.