Passing Of Kobe Bryant - When Going Viral SUCKS!

Passing of Kobe Bryant - When Going Viral SUCKS!

This past week the world lost an iconic sports figure. Kobe Bryant passed away under the most unfortunate and unforeseen circumstances. His personal helicopter crashed into a mountain while traveling to take his daughter to her basketball game killing the two of them along with seven others who were on the plane. The world seemed to freeze in its tracks upon learning the news and people are still trying to gather themselves emotionally since. 

This horrifying news personally impacted me and five days later I'm still grieving. I'm struggling to grasp the fact that a 41 year old heroic superstar, who seemed to be invincible, and who had been one of the most successful individuals over the last 20 years could lose his life so quickly and unexpectedly. I'm struggling with the fact that one of my favorite idols and superheroes growing up during the prime of my childhood is now all of a sudden gone. 

When Kobe was drafted into the NBA in 1996 I was 7 years old and just beginning to fall in love with the game of basketball. I can remember so many childhood memories that center around Kobe such as getting the video game “NBA Courtside With Kobe Bryant” for Nintendo 64 and playing it non stop. Or there was my regular local park visits as a 10 year old practicing and re-enacting Kobe Bryant dribbling and jump shot moves on the court with no defenders on me. In 8th grade I would then try bringing these same Kobe Bryant moves to my middle school basketball team unfortunately with much less success. As a 13 year old during my bar-mitzvah party the theme was basketball. Families and friends were placed at dinner tables with blown up cardboard basketball players on each table. One of those tables was the Kobe Bryant table which some of my closest friends sat at.

As I got older I began to appreciate a new characteristic of Kobe Bryant. His premiere work ethic began to inspire and motivate me. The stories you would hear of Kobe always being first in the gym ahead of practice, and being the last to leave the gym after all his team-mates left were remarkable to hear as a teenager, college student and then young professional. It was these stories that began to help shape me into the person I've turned into today. In most of the companies I've ever worked for I've always prided myself on being one of the first in the office and the last to leave, so that I can get in the extra hours of work and be as productive and effective as possible at my job. On multiple occasions during job interviews I've been asked the question, "If you could choose any person in the world to meet with for 30 minutes over lunch who would you choose and why?" My answer would be Kobe Bryant and I would reference his impeccable work ethic as my reason. 

The world lost an incredible human five days ago and even though I never knew Kobe personally, it genuinely feels like he is a close family member or friend that has been stripped away from my life. That's what feels so surreal about this viral sad story. When I've spoken with my friends about it the reactions and responses are the same. So many people never actually knew Kobe Bryant but yet it felt like they were connected to him and friends with him from afar.

As you can imagine the death of Kobe Bryant and how it has captured the world is certainly a "When Going Viral SUCKS" moment. As I was trying to think through why this story has captivated the world for all the wrong reasons and received so much viral global attention I came up with the following three reasons. I think these reasons speak to how special of an individual Kobe Bryant was to so many millions and perhaps even billions of people.  

Reason #1, Love People Had For Him: People globally felt an authentic direct and indirect love for Kobe Bryant. Whether it was people who loved his basketball skills on the court, his smile off the court, or his hyper competitive mamba mentality, there were ultimately dozens of different reasons why people loved Kobe Bryant.  When people experience an authentic passionate love for a person, product, or company it creates a connection that feels unbreakable. There’s only a select number of things that surmount love in this world and the loving connection people had for Kobe Bryant was one of the core reasons why this upsetting story went as viral as it did. 

Reason #2, Global Iconic Figure: Kobe Bryant spent 7 plus years as a child living in Italy where his father Joe Bryant played professional basketball. When Kobe was drafted into the NBA the country of Italy felt like they had one of their first basketball superstars make it into the pros. As the NBA continued to turn into a global sport across Europe, Africa and China under the leadership of former commissioner David Stern, Kobe was the poster child of the sport’s mass global adoption. Combine this with his appearances as the starting shooting guard during the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics and you really start to realize how much global exposure Kobe Bryant had.  Being the most talented player over a 20 year period during a time when the sport was rapidly expanding and being adopted around the world is a key reason why this sad story has impacted countless people globally and had the viral effect it has. 

Reason #3, A 24 Year Personal Brand Maturation:   In Kobe Bryant's case we got to witness the growth, evolution, and maturation of the person, athlete, producer, and brand over 24 years. From his initial drafting into the NBA in 1996 all the way through winning an academy award at the Oscars in 2018. We got to witness Kobe take pop singer superstar Brandy to his high school prom as an 18 year old. We saw Kobe dominate the NBA with Shaquille O’Neal winning 3 straight NBA championships and then snag another 2 championships without Shaq. We saw Kobe as the star on all the commercials for major sponsors through his endorsement deals with global brands such as Adidas, Nike, McDonalds, Sprite and Nintendo. For 24 straight years Kobe was consistently in the spotlight and serving as the face of so many remarkable entities. This level of personal brand building has absolutely been a contributing factor as to why so many people have been affected by this dreadful story.

Thank you for inspiring me Kobe and I’ll be sure to remember and reference you for the rest of my life. I wish your family and the other families affected by this tragic event a strong recovery during what must be the most difficult time of their lives.

Coach Rob Mendez ESPN Award Winner - When Going Viral WORKS!

The Jimmy V Award for Perseverance presented during the annual ESPY's ceremony is awarded to a deserving member of the sporting world who has overcome great obstacles through perseverance and determination. In July 2019 the recipient of this award was an individual named Rob Mendez who is a junior varsity football coach at Prospect High School in California. Coach Mendez is no ordinary football coach though. Coach Mendez leads and coaches his student athletes on the junior varsity football team without any arms and legs which makes his story one of the most inspiring you will hear this year.

Rob's story went viral after it was announced he would be the winner of the Jimmy V award at the 2019 ESPY's. His story has stayed memorable in my mind ever since, and ESPN couldn't have found a more deserving recipient.

Rob was born in May of 1988 suffering from a condition called Tetra-Amelia. Tetra-Amelia is an extremely rare disease affecting new-born babies who are missing all four limbs. Individuals are born with no arms and no legs and are forced to live an extremely difficult life. In fact life for those suffering from Tetra-Amelia requires a constant caregiver who is needed at all times to help complete daily tasks such as brushing your teeth, putting on clothes and bathing. Trying to have a normal childhood becomes near impossible, however for Coach Mendez things were different.

Coach Mendez didn't live a life wanting people to feel badly for him. Coach Mendez would try doing things any normal child would enjoy doing growing up. There was one particular activity that Coach Mendez LOVED as a child and that was playing video games. In fact it was playing video games that lead to his true passion of football. Rob would play the popular football video game Madden and it was through playing Madden where he developed an understanding of the strategy behind different plays, game management, coaching and just overall became fascinated by the sport.

After gaining deep knowledge of the game Rob landed assistant coaching jobs over a 12 year period at five different high schools. This experience as an assistant helped groom Rob for a day he and no one else would have ever imagined. In June of 2018 Rob was offered and hired as the head coach for Prospect High School’s junior varsity team.

After Coach Mendez was hired his impact was seen immediately and the results quickly followed. Not only did the players respect him from day 1, but junior varsity player and captain Toa Tautolo was quoted as saying, "Although he may not look like a coach he definitely acts like one.” After losing their first game Prospect High Schools Junior varsity football team rallied off 7 straight wins. They out scored their opponents during this winning streak 151 - 32. This winning streak landed the team a spot in the West Valley League JV Championship game. Although the team lost this championship game just the idea of getting there was a previous afterthought. The JV football team at Prospect High School had many more losing seasons over the last 10 years and they had come a very long way under Coach Mendez's leadership.

Coach Mendez's mantra for the team and himself was a short phrase, “Who says I cant, nobody!” This rallying cry helped define the team during their championship driven season. It served as a continuous reminder that the team can accomplish anything they believe in, with their coach leading them. This given all the difficult circumstances and obstacles Coach Mendez had to overcome in his life.

So why did this story go viral? What makes this a “When Going Viral WORKS” moment? Below are two key reasons as I see it.

1. Jaw Dropper Effect: this story has a jaw dropping effect and I can't emphasize enough how important this is when it comes to virality. When you see a person without any arms and legs it’s very difficult for someone to not double take, and stare for a few moments to confirm what they are seeing is real. However when you see a person without any arms and legs COACHING A FOOTBALL TEAM your jaw drops to the floor. You immediately question, how is this person doing this? You then probably end up asking yourself this question five more times before the actual picture of what you're seeing becomes confirmed in your mind. This kind of jaw dropper effect is something that we experienced regularly during the PhunkeeDuck Hoverboard experience. Every time someone would look at me riding on a Hoverboard especially in the early pre-launch phase of Winter 2015 people would stare at me in awe for 1 - 2 minutes. They would question how I was stopping, going, turning, and gliding so effortlessly. I find the jaw dropper effect to be a leading indicator for certain businesses, and stories to go viral. When people are mesmerized by something it results in others experiencing this same feeling. With Coach Mendez when you not only are mesmerized by what you're seeing but then feel incredibly inspired and motivated by the story, context, and end result people feel warm and soft inside. They fall in love with people like Coach Mendez and can't help but share the story with their friends so that they too can feel this sense of fascination and appreciation.

2. Earned Media Coverage: when any story, or sports highlight gets covered on ESPN you undoubtedly get thousands and sometimes even millions of views. However when you get awarded the Jimmy V award during the ESPY’s that is a whole new level of coverage and publicity. The ESPY awards ceremony has gained so much popularity over the years amongst sports fans around the world and has truly turned into an entertainment spectacle with popular appearances being made by the worlds top athletes, influencers and celebrities. The Jimmy V award has in particular turned into this monumental, and valuable award with all the history it provides since Jim Valvano's emotional speech during the 1993 inaugural ESPY awards ceremony. For Coach Mendez to receive this particular award resulted in instant viral traction. The Jimmy V award recipient gets coverage from so many different media outlets. Not only will obvious shows like Sportscenter cover the recipient but Coach Mendez also received his own special segment and documentary by ESPN about his entire story. Various other shows on ESPN and media channels within the ESPN family of networks will also feature the Jimmy V award recipient such as radio shows and CBS's the Rachel Ray show. This kind of earned media coverage can be so profound from a virality standpoint and surely applies here to Coach Mendez. We should all be inspired, motivated and feel lucky to have seen and heard his story reach the masses!