Chances are if you live in a big city you are no stranger to high-speed police chases followed by a news helicopter and live commentary. Is it sad that the whole time I watched a chase on TV yesterday I was thinking I wish my website logo was on the roof?

I am not sure that I would necessarily want to be associated with a fleeing criminal, but it makes me think about different marketing strategies, hopefully without anyone going to jail for a long time. Not to mention that one time I was almost killed by some 16-year-old in minivan running from the cops. Thankfully I looked up and saw what was about to happen to the rear of my car. But I digress. There are legal and illegal ways to spread a message. I hope most go for the legal.

I don’t think anyone could ever condone running from the police unless you are part of the Gumball 3000. This is a cross country free-for-all that takes place once a year somewhere around the world. It happens about once every other year in the USA.

The Gumball 3000 is a combination of too many people with too much money Baha’in across the country as quick as they can in their upper-end sports cars. They also have a huge following (a Tribe). If you have ever seen them you would know because all 160 or so cars would be zooming by you at 100+ MPH on the interstate. Here is a clip of the 2006 Gumball.

The Gumball 3000 is an extreme example of a Tribe of people taking part in something they love, fast cars and parties. This originally started out as a recreation from the movie Cannonball Run where Burt Reynolds races an assortment of muscle cars across the country on the silver screen. Now the Gumball has taken on a life of its own with documentary crews and celebrities going along for the ride.

In order to participate in a Gumball rally you will need a fast car and lots of money (the car in the video was $60,000), not to mention gas and food (AAA extra).

The question I ask myself is how can I create a group of people like those Gumballers? Seems like the answer to that would be pretty simple:

• Focus on the thing everybody in that group loves (like fast cars and parties)
• Organize / lead the group into an idea (like starting a rally including the above)
• Have a way of separating them from others (the high cost of entry)
• Allow the merchandise to spread (stickers, shirts, videos, etc.)
• Rise and repeat

If you are running a business that has a core group of people who center around one thing, your goal should be is to enable those particular people to talk about and share that thing with others. Become a leader and an enabler. If people are buying your products, you already have the core thing needed to build a Tribe. Now it’s a matter of finding what they need, not what you want.

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