Most of the year, my little neighborhood in Atlanta is invisible. We’re not on most lists. People assume we belong somewhere else. But once a year a major golf tournament rolls in and suddenly our quiet streets are packed with traffic, rideshares, and visitors trying to find their way.
The residents fall into three groups:
- The complainers, venting online about all the chaos
- The avoiders, just doing what they can to wait it out
- The opportunists, renting driveways, selling lemonade, and leaning into the moment
That last group doesn’t have a magic wand to control the weather, the date, or the crowd. They just decide to seize the opportunity. That’s exactly what prepared marketers do when the spotlight suddenly lands on them.
Lessons from Oreo and CPK
Marketers love to talk about Oreo’s “Dunk in the Dark” tweet from the Super Bowl blackout. It wasn’t the clever line that mattered. It was the fact that Oreo’s team was ready. They had people, the process, and the confidence to move fast when the lights went out. Oreo wasn’t lucky, they were ready. Read the case study.
California Pizza Kitchen took a negative customer experience and turned it into a moment of humor and transparency, building a campaign around their “complete” mac and cheese. See the example.
You might be thinking, that’s great for Oreo or California Pizza Kitchen. But what about me? I don’t have a war room or a social media command center. The truth is that being ready for the spotlight isn’t just about national headlines.
It happens every time your CMO pops into a meeting and asks, “What have you been working on?” Or when a new project drops into your lap with zero notice. If you’ve built trust, internal advocates, and a sound strategy, you can use those moments to showcase your value instead of scrambling.
The Role of Preparation
In his book Cumulative Advantage, Mark Schaefer shows how a spark by itself isn’t enough. Momentum comes from being ready to build on it.
The key is preparation.
In a Forbes article on seizing opportunity, Jill Griffin makes the point that most people miss their breakthrough not because they lack opportunity but because fear holds them back. Preparedness kills fear. When you’ve put in the work ahead of time, you don’t freeze when the spotlight shows up — you lean in.
“Failure to prepare is being prepared for failure.” -Benjamin Franklin
Preparation is what turns random sparks into lasting momentum. So how do you prepare when you can’t predict what’s coming?
Three Ways to Be Ready When the Spotlight Finds You
1. Build trust before you need it
If your stakeholders don’t trust you, every move requires an explanation and approval. That slows you down and kills your chance to respond in the moment. The more you market your marketing — sharing wins, connecting your work to business goals, bringing people along — the more freedom you have to act when the unexpected hits.
2. Have your story at your fingertips
You don’t need a 20-slide deck for every surprise conversation. You do need to know your key metrics and be able to explain, simply, how your work creates value. When the CFO, CMO, or CEO asks what marketing is doing, the worst answer is “let me get back to you.” The best is a clear, confident story in the moment.
3. Practice being agile
Preparedness doesn’t mean predicting every possible scenario. It means building the muscle to respond quickly. That could be a lightweight approval process, a habit of testing new tools (yes, even AI), or a culture where your team knows they can move fast without fear. The more you practice agility, the more natural it feels when the spotlight arrives.
Final Thought
The spotlight won’t always be convenient. It won’t always be fair. But it will come. And when it does, you don’t want to be the neighbor stuck honking in traffic. You want to be the one who already put the sign out, ready to welcome the crowd.
FAQ Section
How do you prove the value of marketing internally?
By connecting your work to business outcomes, building stakeholder trust, and having metrics and stories ready to share when asked.
What is Cumulative Advantage in marketing?
It’s the idea that momentum doesn’t come from a single spark but from being prepared to build on that spark with trust, process, and readiness.
How can marketers prepare for unexpected opportunities?
By building credibility ahead of time, keeping key results top-of-mind, and practicing agility so quick responses feel natural.
