In most African countries, soccer is more than just a sport. It’s an enveloping phenomenon that unites people of all ages, cultures, and backgrounds under the banner of passion, loyalty, and pride.
The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) ended as hosts, Ivory Coast defeated Nigeria 2-1 in the finals to complete the most remarkable tournament turnaround to claim its third continental title.
It is an incredible achievement for a side that was on the brink of elimination in the group stage after losing 4-0 to Equatorial Guinea on January 22.
That was their heaviest-ever home defeat, and the Ivorians then parted company with coach Jean-Louis Gasset, replacing him with Emerse Fae, a former player.
They then began a remarkable turnaround that gave them victory against Nigeria in the last game.
Earlier in the tournament, the Ivorians would have crumbled in such a scenario after going a goal down to Nigeria, but they deserve great credit for regrouping at the interval and throwing everything at Nigeria to score two goals that enabled them to pick the trophy. From all sides, there are lessons that brand owners and handlers can draw from.
Lesson 1: When you have nothing much to lose, take a risk
At- AFCON 2023, Ivory Coast lost two out of three group matches. The second defeat was heavy and devastating. They were beaten 4-0 by Equatorial Guinea. They parted ways with their experienced European coach they had invested all hopes in. They took the risk of bringing a relatively inexperienced ex-player to handle the team and it paid off.
Since the introduction of the round of 16, notably with the 24-team AFCON, Côte d’Ivoire is the first best third-placed team to reach the final, besides winning the trophy.
In the world of brands, when IBM was on the brink of oblivion, they took what was seen by analysts as a terrible risk and hired an outsider who knew very little about computer science — Lou Gerstner — as CEO. The new CEO brought in radical policies. Even without a background in computer science, Gerstner’s plans worked. In 1983, IBM’s stock doubled. if it hadn’t been for Gerstner, this 100-year-old titan wouldn’t have made it to the 21st century.
LESSON 2: Reworking old structures and content can do wonders.
When the new Ivorien Coach, Emerse Fae, came in, he did not sign a new list of 25 players for the competition. Such a luxury was not even possible. He knew that magic would not come from anywhere but from the old “contents and structures” at hand. He re-engineered the team from within and started one of Africa’s biggest soccer battles of resilience and determination. Sometimes the biggest success can come from your regular, rusty structure. You just need to oil the wheels and joints, to inspire a new mindset.
Popular Brand, Marvel also knew that you must not always overhaul to succeed. Today, everyone with access to television, movies, or video games has heard of Marvel Comics — or, as it’s known today, Marvel Worldwide. But it wasn’t always the creative powerhouse that it is today. Founder Martin Goodman started Marvel in 1939, and it’s had its ups and downs ever since.
Spiderman, X-Men, Thor, the Avengers, and the Fantastic Four, are all Marvel properties, and their comics all sold enough to keep Marvel well for years. But in 1993, the comics market literarily vanished. After a period of loss and indecision, they finally caught a break in a surprising new medium: Film.
Marvel Studios produced a new line of popular films, including Spider-Man and Daredevil. They also made The Avengers — one of only three films ever to gross more than $1 billion from ticket sales. Today, Marvel films are blockbuster hits almost every time.
Marvel succeeded because it took its old ideas and repurposed them into new content. With its ‘old structures’ of characters, writers, stories, and production, Marvel completely changed cinema for good. And a huge part of that craze came from Marvel’s thought that their old characters could succeed more on the silver screen than on glossy papers.
LESSON 3- Sometimes you have to pick up the sledgehammer to break conventions.
With two successive defeats, Ivory Coast was in deep crisis. Few crises give room for conventions and niceties. Following conventions could lead to more devastating results. It is not common to appoint a coach without an interview. They brushed aside that convention and brought in an untested coach who inspired the team to unexpected success.
This was exactly the lesson FedEx learnt in the 1970s when it was losing $1 million per month. What the management did at its most desperate point with the last money left was so unconventional that it probably wouldn’t work for any other company at any other time.
Head of Mgt, Frederick W. Smith gambled the company’s last few thousand dollars and, against all odds, won the bet. The amount bought the company some valuable time. Within this period, he secured $11 million in investment capital and the company rolled back to productivity. He gambled and won.
Besides breaking convention, many will claim that he was just lucky. But luck will always play some role in the life of many successful companies and brands. That luck could be getting new investors (which Smith also did) or hiring someone who turns out to be a rising industry star. In that sense, every business owner could be unconventional to take a gamble at one point or another. The prayer is to orchestrate it at a time when victory will be at the other end of the rope.
Lesson 4: Know when to realign rivalry for Ultimate Success
When Ivory Coast lost two group matches, they realized that qualifying for the next round was out of their hands. They needed ‘help’ from other teams in the competition. They discovered that Zambia and Ghana must not win for them to have any hope of qualification. Pronto! Citizens were mobilized to rev up support for Morocco and Mozambique in their respective centres. They needed to beat Zambia and Ghana respectively so that the host country could qualify. The mobilization was massive and effective with the results leading to the elimination of Zambia and Ghana. Cote d’Ivoire realized that what is permanent is their interest, not friendship with any team.
Apple and Microsoft, despite their intense rivalry, knew this long ago but on a more positive side. In 1997, Apple didn’t have enough money to make it out of the 1990s. A series of product failures and general bad product moves brought the company dangerously close to destruction. To stay afloat, they offered non-voting stock shares at about $8 a pop, basically asking the public for a loan.
In one of the most compassionate corporate moves ever, Microsoft bought $150 million of Apple’s stock to keep the struggling tech company alive, which upset fans of both brands, but ultimately worked. Without it, Apple wouldn’t be worth anything at all.
This is probably one of the strangest business moves ever made by direct competitors. Typically, when a competitor is struggling, the smart thing to do is to buy them out, acquire their worthwhile talent, and ditch the parts of the brand that don’t work.
The takeaway here is that business doesn’t always have to be cutthroat. In Steve Jobs’s own words: “We have to let go of a few notions here. We have to let go of the notion that for Apple to win, Microsoft needs to lose.”
Microsoft was looking at the big picture. Without that one-time buy-in from Microsoft, the tech industry simply wouldn’t be the same today. Neither would the mobile phone market, the tablet market, the wearable computer market, or the music industry. And possibly the world as a whole.
Lesson 5: Sometimes One Magical Shot is all you need to create history
At AFCON 2023, Kelechi Iheanacho didn’t play the first five matches for Nigeria; he came in as a late substitute in the 6th game but became the unlikely hero by giving Nigeria the victory against South Africa in an intense penalty shot out. Sometimes, all you need to be a hero could just be one magical and vital kick, not 20 or 100. When you have that one opportunity to take the magical shot, do it well and emerge the ultimate hero.
It could be a long-drawn brand or marketing campaign. or it might even be a pitch presentation. The ultimate step that will bring the desired trophy might come down to a few hours, actions, departments, or even an individual. When it comes, pounce on it, aim well, and emerge a hero.
Lesson 6: Fear – Overconfidence: two dangerous extremes
Ivory Coast lost two out of three group matches but still got to the final. They had a second chance and took it seriously without fear. They were down but they never gave up on themselves. Don’t allow fear to snatch the second chance life gives you. Even as a brand, agency, or member of any marketing team, after any failed attempt, pounce on the next opportunity with hope, faith, and passion Don’t write anyone or yourself off in a challenge until it is all over.
South African goalkeeper stopped 4 penalties against Cape Verde. The team was beaming with overconfidence. They and their supporters wanted the match against Nigeria to end in penalties so that they would win with effortless ease. But against Nigeria, the SA goalkeeper couldn’t stop any penalty, instead, the Nigerian keeper stopped two of theirs. Don’t be too confident of yourself. Avoid over-confidence.
Lesson 7- The right timing of your peak performance is vital.
Senegal didn’t lose any match in the group stage. But when they played against Ivory Coast which lost 2 matches, they lost. Nigeria defeated Ivory Coast in the group stage but lost to the same team during the finals. Ivory Coast always snatched victory at the right time. They won when it mattered most. That is why they are champions
For those in the Christian faith, Ecclesiastes 9:11 captures it succinctly. “ I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all”.
The term “Time and chance” means the opportunity that comes to those prepared for each. Every match brought the opportunity for all the teams to get the trophy. Many teams won at different times but Cote d’Ivoire got the right timing for its victories and the team achieved its peak performance when it mattered most.
Japanese game company, Nintendo exhibited great knowledge about creating a perfect product at the perfect time
Nintendo was founded in Japan in 1889. The company wasn’t always the gaming powerhouse that it is today. The company almost went out of business about 35 years ago.
But in September 1985, they rebounded with perhaps the most famous video game of all time: Super Mario Bros. It was created at a time when the video game market in the United States collapsed. There was high Western demand for quality games, but no supply to match. This gave Nintendo an untouched goldmine of consumer interest.
With a little marketing magic, Nintendo tested the American market by releasing their new game in select cities to a thunderous success. The rest, as they usually say, is history. Nintendo became the industry powerhouse because of one game that they released at the perfect moment.
And as of 2014, Nintendo has so much money in the bank that it could run a deficit for almost four decades without ever closing its doors. That is the power of a brand that achieves peak performance at the right time.