How a cancer survivor selling DAWG Culture attire aided Nick Siriannis message to Eagles
Mike Hill watched a movie Sunday night with his pregnant wife in their Prince George’s County home in Maryland when his business suddenly boomed. It was bolstered by organic advertising from Nick Sirianni and the Eagles.
Hill said Sirianni ordered more than 200 “DAWG Culture” hoodies from him earlier this summer, but he didn’t know when or how they would be unveiled. When Sirianni spoke about the “dog mentality” — or “dawg” mentality, to use the colloquialism — Hill readied for a viral rush.
“I knew he was going to do it. I just didn’t know when,” Hill said. “So when I saw the videos, the pictures that went up on Sunday, that’s when my social media started to go crazy.”
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Hill, a 35-year-old cancer survivor, started a company that sells “DAWG Culture” apparel in 2018. The inspiration was his overcoming stage-four Hodgkin’s lymphoma and the attitude he applied to his recovery. He met Colts wide receiver Zach Pascal at a football camp and gave Pascal a sweatshirt. Others in Indianapolis noticed the “DAWG Culture” attire — including Sirianni, who was formerly the Colts offensive coordinator.
After Sirianni accepted the Eagles job, Pascal messaged Hill that Sirianni went to Philadelphia and wanted to place a big order. Hill figured the Eagles would wear the attire during training camp, like players on the Colts did. But it didn’t happen, except for one press conference when Sirianni wore a “DAWG Culture” shirt before a practice session against the New York Jets. A reporter casually asked Sirianni about the attire. Little else was made of the choice in wardrobe.
Fast forward to Week 1. Sirianni gave a speech to his team on the eve of the season opener about adopting the dawg mentality, a term Sirianni uses to stress focusing on the moment and not worrying about a previous play. He compared it to a dog being released from a cage ready to hunt.
“We’ve been kind of talking about dawg mentality over and over and over again,” Sirianni said. “Dawg mentality isn’t just like, ‘Hey, I made a good play here, so I’m playing the next play,’ right? That’s part of it, right? Or, ‘Hey, I made a bad play here and playing the next play and having this short memory,’ right? It’s also a week-to-week thing. It’s a day-to-day thing, right? … So, it is just living in the moment of what you’re in there. And so, we talk about dawg mentality. … Players talk about it all the time. We got our shirts, we got our dawg mentality shirts. And so, that’s just how we go about it.”
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Yes, the shirts. Players participated in pregame warmups wearing the “DAWG Culture” shirts that Hill sells. Among those seen wearing the attire were Miles Sanders, Jordan Mailata, DeVonta Smith, Jalen Reagor, Steve Nelson and Boston Scott. Sirianni highlighted the dawg mentality in his postgame press conference (and postgame locker-room speech, released by the team), and then wore a “DAWG Culture” shirt in his Monday press conference. There was no mistaking the significance of the shirt anymore.
The Dawg Mentality is way up ⬆#FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/NTqFXWiyvd
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) September 14, 2021
“Oh my God, it’s crazy,” Hill said Tuesday night. “I’ve received probably over 50 messages on Instagram asking about the Eagles colorway and where people can buy the hoodie. And out of nowhere … I had like 30 new orders in my inbox and they keep coming in. And I’m working with my team now to make sure that we have enough of the black and green hoodies so we can start putting them on my website and sending them out.”
The meaning behind Hill’s “DAWG Culture” is a bit different than the exact way Sirianni presented it to the team. The idea came to Hill after he beat cancer and wanted to channel the spirit he adopted after a doctor told him he should go on a cruise because he didn’t have much longer to live. He created an acronym: The DAWG stands for desire, attitude, will and grind.
But Hill, who played football and adopted the mentality as a player, sees parallels between the way he uses the expression and Sirianni’s message.
“You may have days when you might miss the mark, but that doesn’t mean it affects tomorrow, it doesn’t mean that it affects the next situation that you’re in,” Hill said. “Just like with football, you have to have that memory that says, ‘OK, this play might not work in my favor, but because I know who I am, I’m going to use what just happened.’ Take the lesson from it and apply it in the next place. So that’s like the dawg mentality: It doesn’t matter what happened, all that matters is right now.”
Since the Eagles wore the shirts on social media, Hill has seen an explosion in interest. (The attire has already been worn by players from various high school, college and pro teams.) He’s now working on different items he can sell to Eagles fans. The Eagles have turned into a good form of advertising — similar to the burgeoning interest in dog masks after Lane Johnson and Chris Long pulled them out during the Super Bowl run three years ago. (What is it with the Eagles and dogs, and why do the dog comparisons always come out after wins over the Falcons?)
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One last clarification: Is it “dog” or “dawg?” The acronym for “DAWG” is catchy, but Hill’s spelling would be “dawg” regardless. Even if Sirianni’s analogy was to an actual dog, Hill specified that the culture and mindset that inspired his merchandise is better represented by “dawg” than “dog.”
“It’s the way you say it. It’s the way it comes off the tongue,” Hill said. “The A-W, that’s a dawg. That’s what it stands for. Of course, you can say both words the same way, but there’s a difference between the actual dog and the actual mindset. It’s just different. It stands out. It makes sense. Yeah, D-A-W-G all the way.”
(Photo of Jalen Reagor courtesy of the Philadelphia Eagles)
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