The Tour de France is on again. Maybe you’ve tuned in.

21 Stages and 3360 kilometers of racing equates to compulsive viewing.

You don’t have to be a bike race aficionado to be drawn in and captivated by the spectacle and the scenery along the route.

The last spurs tourism in a big way.

It worked for Britain with race stages in Yorkshire and London and it’s bound to work for the USA with a much-talked-about Tour start here in future.

Where will it be – Washington, DC and Northern Virginia?

Watch the Tour and you’ll see all eyes are on the favorites and race leaders; the cameras rarely point in the direction of those who are less then heroic.

Which is why the back of the race if often overlooked.

That’s where you’ll see the Broom Wagon, or as they say in French, the Voiture Balai.

It’s there to pick up the slowcoaches who can’t make it to the finish in the allotted time.

It sweeps up the stragglers, hence the name.

In the past the vehicle carried a broom over the driver’s cab.

The Broom Wagon helps to set standards; it concentrates the action, it keeps the race fast while supporting a higher level of competition by removing riders who can’t make it.

If only we had a Broom Wagon of sorts for marketing and advertising.

It could sweep away complacent content … the kind of work that’s inert on a Web page.

It could do away with emails that are boring from the subject line right to the end.

But why not go for the best work in the first place.

By challenging conventional wisdom and old standards you set yourself up for success.

When you find new truths about your brand, your products, your service and your customers you gain an edge.

When you replace drab creative solutions with something bright and extraordinary you can change attitudes.

When you present your brand as the opposite of a commodity you set yourself apart from the rest.

As we’ve all heard, it’s all about ‘adapting’ to take advantage of opportunities and avoid problems.

Failure to change is the big problem.

Because it opens the door for competitors who are intent on one thing.

Sweeping you up.

Share with us. Leave your comment below. Thanks for reading Whybetonto.com. Regards, Steve Ulin LinkedIn: http://linkd.in/1Bey3Jl