Fantastic story this weekend out of Misano, in Italy, where Valentino Rossi won in MotoGP and continues to storm to his umpteenth world championship.  For those not in the know, Rossi’s one of the best characters in racing – sports of any kind, really – and he pulled off a fantastic self-deprecating trick this weekend that does nothing but endear him to the sporting public.

One of my least favorite characteristics in anyone is a bad attitude, and specifically a lack of a sense of humor.  This is especially true of public figures, and one of my challenges as a marketing professional is to get my clients to open up and be themselves in a public way.  There’s a time and a place for polish and presence, but as the story of Valentino Rossi illustrates, it’s better to have a persona than to be an automaton.

The backstory first: last weekend, MotoGP raced at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and Rossi crashed out of the race, his first DNF since 2007. Rossi’s been about as dominant as a racer could be – comparisons to Michaels Schumacher and Jordan aren’t out of place – and to say the least, this was an uncharacteristic mistake for him.  As he put it this past weekend at the Misano press conference, “In Italy, if you make a stupid mistake we say you are a donkey. As soon as I hit the ground at Indianapolis I thought what a donkey I was. Later I thought that would make a good helmet design for my home race,” explained Rossi. “So I may have lost 25 points but I solved the problem of the helmet design for Misano!”

Now.  This guy is one of the top 10 most highly-paid athlete on the planet currently ($34m in 2008), and I have to say that I’m becoming a giant fan. Racers in general have a well-deserved reputation for being divas, and it would be no surprise to anyone if someone who’s won as many championships as Rossi has acted like a bit of an ass (pun intended) from time to time.  It always astounds me to see Formula 1 or IndyCar drivers blitz their way through huge crowds of fans, doing everything in their power to just get to where they want to go, not taking a moment to smile, wave, or even just plain acknowledge the fans in attendance.  I remember watching Dan Wheldon and Marco Andretti belligerently drive through a crowd at an IRL race once on their scooters – all it does for me is wish the worst for them.  Danica Patrick I suppose is a bit different – she’s absolutely mobbed wherever she goes, and I get that there’s a personal safety issue there, but still.  Guys like Rossi seem cut from a different cloth.

I digress.  In a world where Formula 1 drivers give monotone, rote answers to journalists’ questions, and where everyone seems intent on sticking to the corporate line, we’re blessed to get a guy like Valentino Rossi who clearly has a good grip on the relative importance of motorcycle racing in the world.

Of course, after calling himself a donkey and getting a very, very cool helmet done on short notice, the guy goes out and wins his home Grand Prix.  Just another day for a national hero, doing what an Italian national hero should do – triumph, but with drama, a sense of passion and good humor.  Thing is, though, he tops the whole helmet thing by wearing donkey ears on his head on the victory podium.  For those not familiar with the whole podium ceremony in racing, it’s normally a pretty dry affair.  There’s the “hat dance”, wherein bored racers doff ill-fitting caps for a whole slew of sponsors, attempt to smile and then spray each other with champagne.  The ceremonies can be entertaining, but more often than not they’re completely unremarkable.  However, a guy wearing donkey ears after winning his home Grand Prix is… memorable.  Sort of the stuff legends are made of.

Sidebar: one guy currently racing in Formula 1 who seems to actually have a personality is Sebastien Vettel.  He’s got a habit of naming his racecars, and earlier this year, he pulled a move that’s become an instant classic.  Our friends at Axis of Oversteer wrote about it well better than I can, which you can read here.  It’s highly recommended.

To bring the point back to business, and marketing:  I think that it’s imperative that everyone who’s determined to make a mark in the world – whether they’re a race driver, a musician, an author or a brand – do so by expressing themselves creatively.  Not everyone is a born comedian, but an air of persona can be established over time. For different reasons, journalists, fans, consumers and sponsors are seeking out athletes like Rossi, Lance Armstrong, Shaquille O’Neill, Tony Stewart, Peyton Manning and Ken Block.  What all those people have in common is a presence – Armstrong’s the heroic cancer survivor (deservedly so), Stewart’s the beer-bellied blue-collar guy, Shaq’s the lovable comedian / big lug, Manning’s the self-ironic meathead jock and Ken Block is… well, Ken Block’s just a badass driver who plain gets it.  Fans of all types are able to connect with these athletes for some reason, and I’m pretty sure that car guys the world over are giving DC Shoes some purchase consideration in light of the Gymkhana videos.  The extended version of Tony Stewart’s recent Old Spice commercial is below, and it’s a gem.  I greatly appreciate the willingness to be the butt of the joke – and it’s pretty clear that doing so is better for your public image than repeating the same tired, over-polished, boring quotes time after time.  There’s a good reason why “We run good” was Ricky Bobby’s go-to line in Talladega Nights.

My client Patrick Long has a knack for blowing people away in his public speaking gigs.  He normally speaks to ‘business leader’ types – big rooms full of affluent, decisive types – and despite the fact that he didn’t go to college (he’s been racing professionally since he was 15), he bowls them over with what I guess I’d have to call worldliness.  Patrick’s literally raced all over the world, and in his 27 years has more stories and experiences than a lot of the business leaders he speaks to.  He’s able to speak in his own SoCal/Euro voice, to all sorts of different people, because he’s at ease with himself and is self-confident.

Being an authentic person, showing your true colors – that’s the stuff that sets you apart, whether in a job interview, a client pitch or a press conference.  Certainly, it can take some years to grow into that comfort with one’s public persona, but I’m a believer that it’s just a matter of taking one’s self significantly less seriously.  Kudos to Valentino Rossi for driving that point home for me this weekend.