The Spread

Like many of you, I spent part of yesterday watching the action in the NFL. It’s a great product on the field most of the time and when it’s not, as in the case of a blow-out game, it has another factor working in its favor which maintains many peoples’ interest until the final gun. While my friends at the NFL don’t like to talk about it much, that factor is the spread.  Basically, the point spread is a number used by bookies and others to induce betting action on both teams in a game, even when it’s obvious that one team is vastly superior to another.  In theory, it should even out the betting action on both sides of a bet (favorite vs. underdog) but in my mind it’s a factor used to even out price and value.

Every business has a point spread.  Take, for example, your thinking when you choose a place to eat.  Certainly the type of food served (sushi vs. ribs), the speed with which the meal is executed (how long do I have for lunch?), and the overall quality  of the meal are factors.  But have you ever walked out of a quick-service place and had someone say to you “that wasn’t bad for fast-food“?  That’s the spread (and I don’t mean what that meal does to your hips) at work.  The underdog (fast food) was given points against a favorite (The Palm) to balance out the eating wager.

Another example.  There was an article in Ad Age on media companies and how marketers are

moving toward the goal of making marketing more outcome-specific, targeted, useful and conversational, and less about blasting of what we’ve generally called “brand” messages via specific platforms.

I agree with that thinking but I also know that “bottom feeders” will always buy ad networks and remnant time on TV and radio.  They assign a spread to the reduced results of much of their buying, which is that they aren’t paying much to get their messages out there.
How do customers assign a spread to your business?  What can you do to “move the line” and maintain the betting in your favor?