It goes without saying that we enjoy watching our clients succeed. But when that success comes in the form of a championship victory, complete with a screaming crowd of thousands and confetti – lots and lots of confetti – well, that just takes it to an entirely new level of awesome.

Having recently begun a partnership with the Tampa Bay Rowdies, several of us donned our green and gold and headed to Al Lang Field in downtown St. Petersburg to cheer on the team as they took on the Minnesota Stars in the championship game of the 2012 NASL Soccer Bowl. The NASL playoffs use an aggregate scoring system, and the Rowdies were 2 goals behind the Stars, having lost the previous game 2-0. That meant that if they led this game by 1 at the end, they’d still lose the championship; if they ended regular time up by 3, they would win it all; and if they were up by 2 at the end, they’d go into overtime to break the aggregate tie, and if that didn’t do it – penalty kicks. I guess a lot of naysayers had written them off, given the deficit, but the Rowdies and their fans “NEVER SAY DIE!” Like something out of a movie, it came down to those penalty kicks, and we found out just how much noise 6,000+ people can make in a baseball stadium-turned-soccer arena on a Saturday night.  What a game! What a win! What a feeling!

Confession – I’ve never been a HUGE soccer fan, but during this game I got excited, angry, nervous, elated and LOUD (I broke out my hidden talent of whistling at eardrum-busting levels); I felt as if I’d loved this team all my life. I was proud to be there, proud that Dunn&Co. is the agency for the Rowdies, and proud that Tampa can claim this team and this victory as our own. We can’t wait to continue to work with the Rowdies as they ride the wave of victory into next season.  Tampa Bay, you WILL know the Rowdies, and you will love them.

Speaking of love….

How cool and classy is this? I was perusing my Facebook feed, when I came across the image above.  Another Dunn&Co. client, the Tampa Bay Lightning, created and posted a congratulatory graphic for the Rowdies in honor of their victory. They also ran this as an outdoor board and a print ad in the Tampa Bay Times. There’s just something really special about seeing some client-on-client love like this, and seeing it done in a branding system that we created makes it even more satisfying.  So congrats, Rowdies, and well done, Lightning.  We love ya both!

– Sarah