Move over honey badger, innovation has a new spirit animal

Here’s what he (and his handlers at the Flyers) can teach anyone who wants to change a big business. 

We’ve all seen the honey badger video on YouTube. It spawned impressions, catchphrases, laptop stickers and a few laughs along the way. But let’s face it, we live in a slow world when it comes to changing big companies. So it's time to put the honey badger away, because there's a new irreverent chief in town, one who is going to change your corporate world.

Yeah it's Gritty. He's pretty hot right now.

Who's Gritty? If you don’t know who Gritty is, well have you been living in a cave? He’s this loveable fella.

But he didn’t start out all that lovable. It started out with a simple tweet, and well the replies from Flyers fans were not great. See below.

Normally at this point, any business that just launched something underwhelming would be a meltdown or fear of repercussions. Meanwhile in Pennsylvania something beautiful happened, bitter rivals of the Flyers, the Penguins threw some shade. Gritty’s response was savage and the feeling went from ‘wtf’ to ‘he’s one of our own’.

Why? Because Gritty was designed as a mascot in a way that didn’t take an animal, make a fluffy costume and pander to the kids. He has a story, he’s unapologetically himself, he’s named by thinking about what Philadelphia really is, has interchangeable belly buttons and he’s incredibly contemporary from well timed tweets to pop culture stunts pulled instantly and ultimately a cult icon on national TV stardom.

So why are you bangin’ on about a mascot? Well Gritty isn’t just a mascot, he’s a movement. And he can teach you a lot.

Tap into culture and create a story

Why is Gritty called Gritty? Because that was the word that embodied Philly. While a couple of years ago, the Edmonton Oilers jumped in to get themselves a mascot, some sort of Lynx that I don't even know the name of. I'm guessing it was one of the few animals that wasn't taken, had nothing to do with big bad oil etc. but it's pretty lame right?

(I had to Google the Edmonton thing, yeah, lame.)

Gritty embraces the line of iconic Philly mascots. I'm looking at you Phanatic. But he has a story, there's attention to detail and he's just not too serious. Heck, he even became some sort of weird political meme against fascists because in a world of Trump and political nonsense, we just need a bit of Gritty in our lives.

Whatever you're doing to change your corporate world, it needs to resonate and you need to get people excited. Just like we got behind Gritty.

Learn and move fast

Some say there's a team behind Gritty and he doesn't do all this by himself. Some choose to believe it isn't true. But his antics aren't planned weeks out and passed through umpteen layers of sterilization. It happens in the moment, looking at what's happening, coming up with ideas and trying the best ones out.

A lot of Gritty’s tweets are improvised on the fly. “What you’re seeing on Gritty’s account isn’t vetted up 15 flights of stairs. It’s what makes the most sense for Gritty in that moment,” Schwab says.

But the fact that everything Gritty does feels slightly off balance and unhinged, rather than subject to intense corporate control, meant something unusual happened. This corporate mascot suddenly became a key figure in memes for the left.

Big ideas die so quickly in large corporations or they just never see the light of day thanks to painfully slow approval processes and stage gates. Gritty does shit with confidence and he does it fast. Empower your team to be like Gritty.

Challenge the norms

There's an assumption that mascots are for kids. It's a pretty understandable convention, some nice cuddly thing to get the kids to high five or hug at the game. Well this is 2019, we don't need a mascot to be what a mascot always has been. So be different and challenge that norm. What if your mascot is designed to bring you new fans, grow the awareness of hockey and become a cult hero?

My sister used to receive cheerful birthday cards from the Phanatic. I assume Gritty will send children half-drunk cans of Yuengling.

Gritty doesn't follow the rules and neither should you. Go be bold, push harder and be the innovation team that changes the game. I don't care if the game you change to is NHL 19 3v3 mascots mode.

So when the corporate antibodies come out the woodwork, embrace the chaos, steer into the skid and ask yourself “what would Gritty do?’.

Or just enjoy these gifs. Whatever.

Now how long till we have Gritty doing a TED talk?