What Mike Tyson taught me about marketing

Just about anyone tuning into the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson boxing match last week highly anticipated the bout. The young upstart, a brash YouTube personality taking on the OG heavyweight champion of the world. Even his name – Mike Tyson – evokes something special.

Mike Tyson. The champ. The power. A hero of a simpler time. Tyson.

And for months, we heard about how Iron Mike was training hard. We saw clips of him pounding punching bags, dancing around the ring and throwing those powerful punches that made him legendary. Tyson. He was coming for Jake. He’ll teach that kid. It’s Tyson.

And then we saw Tyson match up against Paul at the weigh in. Several inches shorter and with a body that was clearly strong, but not cut like Paul’s. He walked up in small briefs. Yes, he talked some trash (and slapped his opponent, to boot), but perhaps the seeds of doubt were sewn then.

Then, it was time. If your Netflix feed cooperated and you were able to stay up until the 11 p.m. CT start time, then you saw the pomp and circumstance that went with Jake Paul’s arrival. Riding on a custom-made low-rider, wearing diamond-studded shorts that cost a reported $1 million. Surrounded by a posse. And a bird.

Then came Tyson. *Tyson.* Tyson, who trudged to the ring by himself, wearing a ratty t-shirt and nondescript boxing shorts. (The announcers were sure to tell us that Paul was wearing white shorts and Tyson black shorts, in case you didn’t know.)

And then Jake Paul whipped Mike Tyson. For eight rounds, Paul came out swinging and pounding the 58-year-old former champ. Tyson landed fewer than 20 punches, threw fewer than 80. Only once did he look like the boxer he was, when he slid across the ring in the fight’s opening seconds, like a viper.

Tyson looked slow. He looked old. He looked defeated. The match was a disappointment, not even competitive.

What’s this got to do with marketing, you ask?  

The audience didn’t get the Tyson they thought they were getting. All those months of hype, all those videos showing a killer…it was all a mirage. Now, neither Netflix nor any smart boxing promoter were going to tell you Iron Mike was all used up.

But we were sold a bill of goods, and we got hosed. Had we known what was coming, our expectations and our emotions would have been in check.

And that shows the importance of transparency for businesses.

If you promise the world and deliver something far from it, your credibility erodes. Your Google reviews suffer. Your word-of-mouth business dries up.

Don’t overpromise. Just deliver.

We see the same thing in politics. Kamala Harris supporters are wondering what happened. They were told that her message was resonating with voters. It clearly did not. And when President Biden was clearly a shell of himself at the first presidential debate, it threw the entire race in chaos.

If you fail to deliver, if that bad reputation starts to grow and follow you, then what are you going to do?

As Iron Mike once said, “Everyone has a plan until they get hit in the mouth.”

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