The Best Marketing is Like Gravity
Great marketing doesn't need to shout. Like gravity, the strongest marketing forces pull you in naturally—so smoothly you don't realize you're already in orbit.
It's February in Bloomington, Indiana. The weather's been teasing us with the occasional warm day, but mostly I'm doing what Midwest golfers do in winter: dreaming of green grass instead of seeing it.
I'm at the gym, grinding through another workout designed to add yards to my drive and stability to my swing. The No Laying Up podcast is playing through my earbuds—a small dose of golf to get me through these cold months.
They're talking about Neil's evolving game, specifically his short game improvements. Between sets, I find myself completely drawn in as he casually mentions how switching to Vokey wedges has transformed his control around the greens. I catch myself nodding along, relating a bit too hard. My hand-me-down wedges, reliable as they've been, have probably seen better days. The grinds are well-loved from every manner of pitch, chip, and skulled shot in my arsenal.
Then it hits me, somewhere between my final set and wiping down the bench: Was that marketing?
Maybe. Probably. I don't care. It didn't feel like marketing. Because it didn't feel like marketing. It felt like listening to a friend who happened to find something that genuinely improved their game. That's the magic trick.
This is what great marketing feels like today. It doesn’t interrupt, it integrates. Instead of pitching, it participates. And instead of pushing, it pulls—drawing you in so naturally that by the time you make a purchase, it feels like your own idea.
Did Vokey need a splashy Super Bowl commercial about their wedges? No. They just needed to get their products into the hands of people we trust, people who would naturally share their genuine experience. That's gravity-style marketing. Like gravity itself, you don't notice it working until you realize you're already in its orbit.
The Illusion of Non-Marketing
Take No Laying Up's Strapped series (which I highly recommend if you love golf, btw). It's a beloved show where Neil and Randy travel around playing golf on a budget, creating what amounts to a golf-themed buddy comedy. Countless golfers tune in to watch two friends navigate new courses, local culture, and the endless challenge of stretching a slim budget.
But watch closely, and you'll notice something interesting: Titleist golf balls rolling across greens. Vokey wedges appearing in need-to-have-it moments. Even special black Foot Joy shoes making a cameo for a West Texas episode—a perfect nod to Friday Night Lights football culture.
Is this marketing? Absolutely. No Laying Up has a partnership with Titleist. But here's what makes it different: The products are natural parts of the story. The show works because Neil and Randy's friendship, adventures, and struggles are real. The gear they use is simply what they use, appearing organically in moments where it makes sense.
This is what makes golf content creators so effective at invisible marketing. They've built trust through entertainment and authenticity first. By the time you notice what equipment they're using, you're already invested in their journey. You trust their judgment because you've watched them succeed, fail, and learn like any golfer playing on any muni on the weekends.
And golf equipment isn't trivial either. We're talking about purchases that can run hundreds or even thousands of dollars. These aren't impulse buys like grabbing a candy bar at checkout. They're considered investments that golfers research extensively before pulling the trigger. Yet when you've watched someone like Neil demonstrate genuine improvement with their Vokey wedges over multiple episodes, that research phase feels different. The trust is already built. The proof is in the countless shots you've watched them hit.
If traditional advertising is a hard sell, this is gravity marketing at its finest. No one's telling you to buy anything. But when you're finally in the market for new wedges or golf shoes, you already know what works for the people you trust. That's the magic of marketing that doesn't feel like marketing: If it doesn't look like an ad but gets you to act like one, that's a win.
The Art of Brand Storytelling
I just rewatched the Nike ad featuring Tiger and Rory, and I'm sitting here with goosebumps. Even now, typing about it, I can feel that familiar tightness in my throat. Yes it’s an ad about golf, but it tells it through the universally relatable lens of legacy, about the thread that connects generations of players, about the moments that make this game beautiful.
This is what happens when marketing transcends selling and taps into something deeper. I play in Nike spikes, yes, but that's not why this ad works. It works because it understands that golf isn't merely about what’s in your bag. Golf is about connection. Between fathers and sons. Between legends and their successors. Between every player and the game itself.
When you're watching, the world around you starts to shrink. Everything else fades away until it's just you and this story unfolding on screen. That's gravity marketing at its most powerful: It doesn't push a message at you. It creates a gravitational well of emotion that pulls you in. You find yourself leaning forward, completely absorbed, not wanting it to end.
Think about that feeling. If Nike had simply listed the features of their golf apparel or compared their polos to competitors, we'd scroll right past. Instead, they told a story so compelling that we seek it out, share it, and return to it again and again. By the time Tiger and Rory appear together at the end, you're nodding along, fully invested in the journey.
This kind of brand storytelling is as old as humanity itself. Before we had billboards or banner ads, we had stories painted on cave walls. The best marketing has always understood this: When you want to move people to action, don't sell to them—tell them a story that makes them feel something. Let them come to you.
That's the real magic here. Great brand storytelling doesn't feel like marketing because it's not trying to sell you something. It's inviting you to feel something. And when a brand can make you feel deeply, make you lean in closer, make you wish the story wouldn't end... well, that's when gravity takes over.
A Case Study in Gravity: Wrexham AFC
Want to see gravity marketing work on a massive scale? Look at what Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have done with Wrexham AFC. In 2021, they purchased a struggling football club for $2.2 million. Today, in 2025, it's worth an estimated $169 million and they just became the first team in English football history to achieve three successive promotions and if that’s not crazy enough the club is one good season away from playing in the Premier League (arguably the world’s top soccer league).
But here's what makes this a masterclass in invisible marketing: They started by telling Wrexham’s story.
Through Welcome to Wrexham, they invited the world into the heart of a working-class Welsh town where football is the lifeblood of the community. The docuseries was a window into authentic moments, real struggles, and genuine passion. Like our friends at No Laying Up, they understood that trust and authenticity had to come first.
The storytelling followed the same gravitational principles we saw in the Nike ad. Instead of pushing merchandise or asking for support, they tapped into something universal: the underdog story. Every episode pulled viewers deeper into Wrexham's orbit, making them care about a team they'd likely never heard of before.
The results speak for themselves. Beyond the staggering valuation increase, Wrexham's become a genuine global phenomenon. The club reported record revenues of £26.7 million ($34.5 million) in 2024—a 155% increase from the previous year. Even more telling: more than half of their revenue now comes from outside Europe, primarily North America. Think about that. A small Welsh club is generating most of its revenue from fans who've never set foot in Wales.
Fans worldwide aren't watching because they were marketed to—they're buying jerseys, planning pilgrimages to Wrexham, and following match results because they've become genuinely invested in the story.
This is gravity marketing at scale: Create something authentic, tell its story well, and let people naturally gravitate toward it. Yes, Wrexham is a product—whether you're talking about sponsorships, merchandise, or match tickets. But people aren't buying because they were sold to. They're buying because they've been pulled into Wrexham's orbit, and they want to be part of the story.
The Pull of Authenticity
Great marketing works like gravity—silent but undeniable. While others blast "Buy Now!" messages into the void, true gravitational pull comes from something deeper: authenticity that attracts rather than interrupts.
Look at No Laying Up's natural integration of equipment, Nike's generational storytelling, Wrexham's global community building. None of these scream for attention. They create genuine gravity wells of value and connection so strong that resistance feels pointless. But more importantly, they create something sustainable both in message and economics.
Think of traditional "buy now!" marketing like a rocket ship. Sure, it'll get you somewhere, but it burns massive amounts of fuel just to fight gravity. Meanwhile, authenticity-driven marketing works with gravity. Each customer you attract makes it easier to attract the next. Your message doesn't wear out because it's built on real value, not artificial urgency. The economics improve over time because you're not constantly fighting for attention, you're accumulating trust.
In a universe of marketing noise, the strongest force isn't the loudest voice. It's the one that creates a gravity well so natural, so authentic, that falling into orbit feels inevitable.