I know, crazy right? It’s hard to imagine Buffalo Bills Hall of Fame running back Thurman Thomas rocking anything but the red, white, and blue… ahem. It’s true though, Thomas has paired with an NFC contender and I get to be the one to break the news to many of you before you see his likeness surrounded by black and green.
Wait, what? What NFC team wears black and green? No, it’s not the Seahawks or the Eagles. I’m talking about VeriLing. Thurman Thomas and his wife Patti, aka “The Ghost,” have attached
themselves to a near field communication (NFC) company looking to change the “tag” game. This is a Bills site though, so let me take a detour toward fandom first.
Autograph Opportunity/Viral marketing
The only reason I know anything about VeriLink is because my friend and sister saw Thurman Thomas promoting a limited gathering at The Ghost’s gallery for a jersey signing. For free, which is a magic word for us. We managed to score enough tickets for four of us (sister, friend, daughter, myself) and off we went.
As an aside, based on my pseudonym you might expect that I would appreciate a spooky alias like “The Ghost.” You’d be right. It’s awesome.
Having met Thurman and The Ghost last year when they were promoting their wine, my friend and I were pretty confident they’d be somewhat easy going on the “jersey” signing. You see, we didn’t have Thurman Thomas jerseys exactly. We did, however, have Thurman Thomas jersey shaped rally towels from a few years back and as expected he was happy to sign those.
There’s my towel. You’ll likely notice the other swag, we’ll come back to that in a moment. But first, more fanboying.
They say “never meet your heroes.” If your hero is Thurman Thomas, that saying can **** right off. Both times I’ve had the chance to see him in person, he’s been one of the most gracious and accommodating people I’ve ever met. Wait “one of?” Yup. There are likely others just as gracious and accommodating out there that won’t make it into this article, but he can’t take top honors even here. At least solo. Patti is right there with him. I also admit I’m fond of her artwork.
Now on to the swag. Well, first let’s talk about what great hosts they were first for a second. In addition to a free signing by a Hall of Famer, they had wine and cold beer available for everyone (well not my kid who isn’t 21 yet). I might have told my friend to grab me one for later, which may or may not have been consumed as I sat down to write this.
I may be gushing at this point, but sincerely this was a fantastic experience from the Thomas’ so thank you to Thurman and The Ghost.
Now about that viral marketing campaign alluded to in the heading. The signing and swag weren’t completely free. They politely asked our permission to use pictures for promotional purposes (should have brought my mask). They also encouraged us to share things on social media.
I want to pause on that last point for a second. There was zero attempt on their part to invite influencers that I can tell. And if there was, they sure did a crap job giving us tickets. While, yes… it’s true that I have literally threes of fans, none of you 9 – 12 people care about my technology opinions. You’re all just tenaciously holding onto your fandom for the day when I burn a Wingin’ It recipe so you can delight in the chaos. I’m like the world’s lamest car crash some of you are fascinated by. My kid might have a healthy insta-following I suppose.
Anyway, we were politely asked to discuss the experience on social media. Little did they know that Western New York’s second most popular “spooky, agriculturally-themed football analyst and mad kitchen scientist” author was present. Yes, second. Yes, I’m aware that my ultra-specific description leads to N = 1.
Pictured above from left to right is…
- The Ghost’s legs
- Thurman Thomas
- Jacob Godfrey (inventor and owner of great beard)
- Some guy who I’m sure is nice
- My sister’s hair
Jacob Godfrey deserves a bit of the spotlight as the inventor of the particular NFC tech we were there to experience (Christa Godfrey is listed as con-inventor on their site. I don’t have a picture of her, but I suspect it was Christa who actually handed my bag of “chips,” see below). As part of the event, we were promised not only an autograph signing, but an exclusive “34” patch.
You can see the front of the patch above in my “all the swag picture” but here’s the back. That thing that looks like and is actually a button? That’s the near field tech from Jacob and Christa. As someone who appreciates all things spooky and has a scarecrow affinity, buttons have an obvious draw. Making them tech is indeed pretty cool in my opinion. Holding your phone an inch or closer to the button links you to an exclusive Thurman Thomas page.
How exclusive? Their pages don’t allow you to copy and share links we’re told. You’re either tapping the tech, or you’re left behind. As another aside, rather than near field communication, I think for this project they should call it “Adjacent Field Communication.” I don’t know about the rest of you, but I prefer rooting for the AFC.
Am I fanboying about the tech? Sort of. The idea is very cool, but I am worried about them finding the right market for it. They’re branding it for apparel and merchandisers and that might be the right call.
Let’s be candid for a moment. In order for the tech to be useful, you need:
- To be close enough to it to tap your phone on it and get the link/page, and;
- To recognize it’s something you can tap your phone on in the first place, and;
- Something you give enough of a **** about to want to know more.
They gave us NFC “chips” to try out and I have to hand it to them, the packaging is slick. You can see it above, but for the gist it’s labeled like a parody of potato chips, complete with a serving size of “1 tap” and warning not to eat them.
That’s one of the chips. I jumped onto the site to create an account and build a page. I had visions of hiding this in a bat logo or something else awesome and inviting fans at games to tap my shoulder with their phone and learn more about my “brand.” Alas, I think I might need an iPhone to program my chips at the moment and I’m an Android stan. I’ll ask my daughter to help me out and maybe you can still tap my shoulder this coming season.
If you’re curious about the tech and more importantly my two cents on the matter, it’s pretty simple honestly. I hope they find one or more amazing partners to go with this. If I had fans rabid enough to buy into a fan club, I would latch onto this tech in a heartbeat. I’d send you little burlap face patches and one of the button eyes would be tappable for insider info like what recipe I’m doing ahead of the article release. Because that’s a pretty cool feature. If I understand it right, the NFC chip or button is programmed to a page. The page owner can update it and your experience adjusts accordingly. If I updated it weekly around Wingin’ It, you could tap your button once a week to get your sneak peek.
My limited time building my page leads me to believe that you can swap videos, music, pictures, and products pretty easily. Whatever my niche is, I could update my media to let you know what’s going on at a moment’s notice. It’s like the not-sucky version of the Ovaltine decoder ring.
I’m rooting for Thurman Thomas and The Ghost because I’ve been a fan of Thurman for forever and both are great people as far as my limited experience with them is concerned. That said, I’m mostly rooting for Jacob and Christa Godfrey. There’s a couple reasons for this. While Thurman and Patti Thomas are invested in the company, I suspect Jacon and Christa might have a bit more riding on this. Whenever possible, I like to see people win at life.
For my more selfish reason, if you aren’t aware, “Skarekrow” is not my actual first name. It’s “Jeffrey.” Are you into the origin of names? If so, you might know that “Jeffrey” derives from a Germanic name. That name? “Godfrey.” Is it a coincidence that the “Godfrey” family happened to invite a “Jeffrey” that could help promote their business venture?
Well, yes. Complete coincidence.
