Savannah Bananas pursuit of WOW

Jesse Cole and the Savannah Bananas look to make customers for life through the best fan experience and value in sports and entertainment.

The Savannah Bananas played the Texas Tailgatersfor a second time at Great American Ballpark on Saturday June 14, 2025. The game included music, dancing, baby races, father and son catch and plenty of back flips. The Bananas played to a crowd of around 42,000 people both nights. / Phil Didion/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Savannah Bananas can easily be dismissed as an athletic sideshow, choreographed madness, or simply a travelling circus. The travelling circus might be most apt for the nay sayers as they parade around kitschy concepts geared at bringing the whole family out for a day of fun resulting in interaction with performers, music, hell even a stilted batter and at the center of all of this is the ringleader – a man dressed in a yellow tuxedo and top hat. If you are looking to tear it down and reduce it to something you might feel more comfortable with then that is what it is……to you.

To the person trying to understand the reasonings behind the venture and with the curiosity of how this business is not only successful but flourishing then I’d love to reference some light reading for you. Author Tom Peters released a book in 1994 called “The Pursuit of Wow”, this book champions unconventional strategies and keys on customer experience through innovation and relentless evolution of business. If you have ever been to a Ritz Carlton or had a VIP experience with a company like Disney, you more than likely have had a “Wow” moment. These moments are difficult to quantify, they don’t fit neatly in a spreadsheet, and they are difficult to place a dollar figure on. Much like a keepsake from a relative who has passed on it may not have a market value that is transferable to anyone but that is what makes it special to you and its value not being able to be estimated doesn’t make it worthless, it makes it priceless.

As the world battled through a global pandemic we changed. We were comfortable being alone, we got comfortable with not leaving our homes, heck Uber Eats even disbanded their loyalty point system because no one needed more encouragement to stay on the couch and have Chili’s Chips and Salsa dropped off on our doorsteps. As we started to emerge from our semi forced social hibernation most of us started to notice that itch. The itch to have shared experiences, to be in a movie theater, at a concert, at stand-up comedy shows or a ball game. Since then, ticket prices have surged as demand has exploded. Live Nation reported a 50% increase in attendance for live performances in 2024 vs 2019.

Comedians that used to do small clubs now book theaters; theater comedians now book arenas and arena comedians are now booking stadiums. Ticket prices have ballooned, and third-party ticket resale sites have added countless fees to both the buyer and the seller that are now making it harder and harder to enjoy these shared live experiences. There is an old adage, “Pigs get fed, hogs get slaughtered.”. Take a look at Las Vegas right now as airfare, hotel stays, and food costs are through the roof – now the public is hitting back as bookings have plummeted, and layoffs have begun.

I say all of this because when you see what Jesse and Emily Cole have done, it is a master class in WOW. The ticket prices are nominal, if you visit the home stadium in Savannah you have all-inclusive tickets (food and non-alcoholic beverages) and the ticket prices no matter where the game includes all taxes and fees. They strive to give customers an amazing experience from cost effective merchandise, pre-show meet and greets with players, midgame dance routines, in game fan interaction affecting on field outcomes, trick plays, high level skilled baseball and my favorite which is the surprise celebrity guests.

Recently Jesse Cole took to social media to share that when the brand was new, they would call and thank every single ticket purchaser, they would do the same for those who bought merchandise. They were clearly not in pursuit of profit; they were and continue to be in pursuit of WOW.

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I came up in the car business and my father, Jim Dunn who for many years ran the largest Lexus dealership in the world, JM Lexus – he made Tom Peters “The Pursuit of Wow” a mandatory read when coming to work for him as that is what makes raving fans and sustains your business long term. One of my dad’s classic quotes is “If it’s not broke, break it” creating an environment where you are not to rest on your laurels and always looking to innovate and improve. These concepts I see daily with the Savannah Bananas.

 In a viral video Jesse Cole got to throw some of these business concepts and ideas in front of business guru Gary Vaynerchuk better known as Gary V. Gary nearly jumped out of his seat, he was so excited about these concepts and when I’m sure most people were telling Jesse not to do such crazy things Gary went the other way. He told him to lean further in and over time I see the brand continuing to do that as those innovations solve customer problems.

 I’m not sure how many businesses today are concerned about the amount of money their customers are having to spend to take part, and I am not sure how many business leaders are kept up at night thinking about new ways to innovate and create a better experience for their customers/fans. One thing is clear to me above all else and that is if you do something absolutely crazy people will call it “bananas” and from a small summer college baseball team to a now global brand the Bananas are creating a lot of WOWS.

WOW

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