You’d better sit down for this one. It’s amazing how creative juices flow when times get tough! It’s just sad that it takes tough times to initiate the flow. The following information should encourage you to pursue any and all creative ideas you may have been pondering but kept to yourself thinking they may have been a bit eccentric.

NOTHING is too far fetched today!

Lansing is Michigan’s capital city. Decades ago, the city’s downtown business area was a thriving metropolis. Then, like so many other downtown areas, it soon resembled a ghost town … no theaters, few restaurants and hotels, very little entertainment, and very little major retail. In short, no reason to go downtown.

Then, 15 years ago, they brought a minor league baseball team to town, building one of the largest state-of-the-art Class A Minor League baseball parks in the United States … currently seating 11,000 eager fans. If you could see that ball park today, you’d swear it was built last month. They’ve done a wonderful job of maintaining and enhancing that facility every year.

Even more exciting is that you can buy a ticket to a ball game for less than it costs to park your car for a Detroit Tiger baseball game. General Admission is only $8 per person. Then the prices skyrocket to $9 for a reserved seat and $10 for a box seat! This is affordable family entertainment and the caliber of play is unequaled. This beautiful structure also offers 20 luxury suites.

Due to the fact that the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors, then located in Lansing, purchased the initial naming rights for the stadium, they called it “Oldsmobile Park” and named the team “The Lansing Lugnuts.”

The team was a Class-A Midwest League affiliate of the Kansas City Royals, later switching to the Chicago Cubs and currently the Toronto Blue Jays.

This is where the story gets both interesting and very creative. Oldsmobile is no longer a GM brand and, last July, the automaker broke the contract with the Lugnuts during its bankruptcy reorganization. The Lugnuts began an immediate search for someone interested in purchasing the coveted naming rights.

It certainly didn’t take long. The Thomas M.Cooley Law School, the largest law school in the United States and also located in Lansing, paid a whopping $1.5 million to rename the facility the “Cooley Law School Stadium.” THAT’s generating additional income. But wait … the Lugnut owners certainly don’t stop there.

This week they announced that they have also sold naming rights to the actual baseball field inside the stadium! Jackson National Life Insurance Company, an indirect subsidiary of Prudential plc (a company incorporated with its principal place of business in the United Kingdom) has purchased the naming rights of the field for the next 11 years! The price was not disclosed. Jackson National Life Insurance Company is an industry leader offering life insurance and institutional products in 49 states and the District of Columbia. They have agreed to donate $100 to one of a variety of Lugnut charities every time the home team hits a home run throughout the entire season!

How long will it be before they sell the naming rights to first base, second base, third base, home plate, the pitchers mound, the dugout, each individual baseball bat and each of the 11,000 seats within Jackson Field situated inside the “Cooley Law School Stadium”? WHEW!

This isn’t exactly a new concept. I wrote a blog article earlier in the year identifying 26 various football bowl games that have now sold their naming rights. While I certainly understand the logic behind such a move, preparing to attend the MAACO Las Vegas Papajohns.com Bowl just isn’t the same as going to the Rose Bowl game!

However, seeing an annual increase in this sort of creative advertising certainly encourages one to pursue just about any unique concept which may come to mind. Go for it!

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management.  For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

At any given time, you can find dozens of books on the subject of creative thinking in most any book store. Theories, principles, and strategies galore can be found to assist you in the enhancement of your creative potential. While these methods may very well achieve what they claim, we often overlook extraordinary resources much closer to home. All we have to do is be a bit more attentive to what and who we often take for granted.

There is much to learn from the simple observation of those we come into contact with daily. Here’s a short video that some might think focuses on a simple paper airplane. Actually, it’s about a young 6th grade boy who has learned in his short life span how to open his mind to new concepts, how to take simple calculated risks, and how to avoid the possibility of negative peer pressure in hopes of discovering new frontiers. The innocence of youth should be added to our list of creative resources.

Watch Jeff amaze his friends as he easily wins a paper airplane flying contest in a way most of us would never consider. In fact, some of us may even tell Jeff that his new approach can’t possibly work or that it’s against the rules. Rules are changing every day as the demands of our chaotic environment increase greatly and much faster than ever before. Are you willing to think out of the box as Jeff did? Your decision to do so could well be the decisive factor in your future success or failure. Take a look …

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management.  For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.