This Post is Bananas: Lessons from Bananaball
I’ll admit, I’ve been watching the Savannah Bananas from afar for years and I wasn’t quite sold on what they were selling. As a baseball player and coach I wasn’t sure if it was something I’d really like… boy was I wrong.
On Saturday, my family joined a bunch of other St. Luke families in four suites (donated to our school’s auction) to watch the Savannah Bananas take on the Firefighters in the second game of a sold-out series at T-Mobile Park.
My kids (9 and 6) had the TIME OF THEIR LIVES. My wife also couldn’t stop talking about the experience. All 47,000,000+ people there seemed to also be into it from the second they got in the place through to the end.
I’m taking a deep dive into the financials of Bananaball, but as I left the game, I couldn’t help but think about the marketing and brand lessons Jesse Cole and the entire Fans First Entertainment Crew bring to life. Here are a few…
1. Break the Rules (When They Don’t Serve the Audience)
Bananaball bans bunting, sets a two-hour time limit, and lets fans dictate walk-up songs mid-game. Why? Because tradition wasn’t serving their audience.
Marketers often cling to legacy playbooks—quarterly campaign calendars, lead-gen funnels, rigid brand guidelines—even when those structures get in the way of what customers actually want. Just like Bananaball, marketing should ask: What if we scrapped the rules that make this boring?
Key takeaway: Prioritize audience delight over process comfort.
2. Speed It Up
In Bananaball, fans don’t sit through four-hour slogs. The pace is electric—there’s always action.
Marketing needs the same energy. Long nurture journeys and 12-slide decks might feel comprehensive, but audiences want clarity and speed. Get to the point. Deliver value faster.
Key takeaway: Respect attention as the scarcest resource.
3. Make the Fans the Stars
At a Bananas game, fans dance on the field, call pitches, and even catch foul balls for outs. The game isn’t just about the team—it’s about the community.
Marketing should mirror that. Customers don’t want to be passive spectators; they want to be participants. When audiences help shape the story, campaigns stick.
Key takeaway: Turn your audience from consumers into co-creators.
4. Tailor the Show for Every Crowd
On their World Tour, the Bananas don’t just roll out the same script in every city. They adapt the energy, the interactions, and even the jokes to fit each crowd. Every stop feels like their show.
That’s exactly how marketers should think about content. Audiences in New York won’t respond the same way as audiences in Nashville. Your B2B CIO won’t engage with the same story as your small-business founder. One-size-fits-all content is easy—but forgettable.
We in the marketing community have a BIG leg up here with digital data piling up that helps us make these decisions, which makes the Bananas’ ability to adapt and create even more impressive.
Key takeaway: Personalize the experience so each audience feels like the main character.
5. Entertainment is Non-Negotiable
Bananaball is baseball, yes—but it’s also theater, comedy, and TikTok all rolled into one.
Marketing should be the same. A product demo doesn’t have to be dry; an email doesn’t have to be corporate beige. If your audience isn’t smiling, laughing, or at least leaning in, you’re missing the moment.
Key takeaway: If it’s not fun, it’s forgettable.
6. Play With Courage
Bananaball thrives on commitment to the bit—dancing pitchers, batters on stilts, choreographed celebrations. There’s no halfway.
Great marketing requires the same courage. Bold ideas draw attention. Playing it safe leaves you invisible. The campaigns that break through are the ones that risk a little weirdness.
Key takeaway: Half-hearted creativity is invisible. Bold creativity is magnetic.
Final Thoughts
Bananaball doesn’t just sell tickets—it sells moments. That’s what great marketing does too. It turns a product into an experience, a story, a memory.
So the next time you’re planning a campaign, ask yourself: Am I just running plays… or am I playing Bananaball?
