America needs a Brand Champion

It’s July – we just had our Independence Day and we have been in a recession for years. Millions of people are and have been out of work. We are facing a debt and budget crisis. Our political parties seem to just be jockeying for positioning instead of getting real things accomplished. The people of America want and a need a Brand Champion.

Brand Champions don’t come up with catchy slogans or cool-looking logos. No, they understand that real results come from developing a brand promise that people can get their arms around, and they deliver on that promise by creating a great brand experience, consistently.

America is just like any other business or organization that needs a leader to take charge. Who will define what an organization wants to get accomplished, craft and create how that is going to happen, and execute that on a consistent basis. We need someone – anyone – within our government to step up and be our Brand Champion, and act as a leader who builds consensus and builds bridges. We need someone who has not just an idea or an agenda, but a real action plan. Someone who has tactics that will help us as a country overcome our problems, (debt and budget) and put people back to work. This requires a Brand Champion that all people, not just one party or the next, but all people can believe in, stand behind, support and have faith in.

Like other brands our Brand Champion has to be real, in that he can connect with his constituency with real ideas. He must use tactics that will show signs that we are making real progress. He can’t be all hat and no cattle, he has to deliver the goods and produce economic stability that helps businesses and the markets buy into his plan. This plan needs to work and signal stability, and with that stability, businesses can start to hire again: bringing down the unemployment rate, stabilizing the housing market, and generating cash into the marketplace.

America and I need a Brand Champion that we can believe in, whoever this Brand Champion is will probably get elected or re-elected this coming year. Whether that Champion is our current president or someone else, I pray that this Brand Champion stands up soon and leads the charge to a real plan that produces results, because that is what real Brand Champions do. They deliver real results through their leadership, consensus building and ability to get things done and execute.

Will our America’s  next Brand Champion please stand up, NOW?

I am guilty of being a sports junky since my early childhood. And in that time, I have noticed athletic teams, both college and professional, always changing their logos and uniforms.

Most likely, everyone’s first thought is: “they change their uniforms for the obvious reason—money.” But this is not the case. Major League Baseball teams do not directly make profit from jersey sales. The MLB as a whole has official licensing revenue sharing from official MLB merchandise sold. The New York Yankees lead the MLB in apparel sold, but they do not receive direct revenue from those sales. The NFL and NBA have similar revenue sharing models. This opens the question, “why do they change their logo or uniforms?”

The first reason teams re-brand themselves is that they are starting a new era. Many times it is a front office change in ownership. The new owner wants fans and its competition to know that not only will there be a change in its uniform, but also a change in how they will run their operations. We have seen this in many professional teams. For example, the Dallas Mavericks made a change in their look when Mark Cuban took ownership of the franchise. You can see here their old logo and uniforms changed to the new look after Cuban took ownership. Not only did the Mavericks change their uniform, they changed how they compete and how they were coached and run from the front office. The same can be said for the Cleveland Cavaliers, whose old uniforms went from black and blue to their new look. The new uniforms changed when Lebron James was drafted, but the logo changed when new owner Dan Gilbert took ownership of the team in 2005. More examples of ownership changing and the uniforms changing related to a team’s success is the New England Patriots. They went from the angry Pat the patriot to a more statuesque look. Here is a better view of the old Pat. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim went from a Disney owned uniform to a more traditional look, and after the change, won the World Series.

The second reason for a team to re-brand its uniform is a change in venue. Some teams change uniforms when they get a new stadium. An example was when the Buffalo Bills rebuilt Ralph Wilson Stadium in 2002. The Bills went from these old uniforms to their new look. The Cleveland Indians did the same when they left Municipal Stadium to Jacobs Field (now called Progressive Field) in 1994. They went from old block lettering that was even used in the movie Major League to this fresher look.

Another reason for change is an attempt to disconnect itself from a long history of losing. Some of these eras can be a few years but some have been a few decades. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a great example. The Bucs were on a decade-long losing season streak with these beauties and changed to these more modern looking uniforms. After the change, it took Tampa four years to make it to the NFC championship game and the following year, Tampa won the Super Bowl. The Los Angles Kings started the “silver and black” era when they acquired Wayne Gretzky from the Edmonton Oilers. The Kings went from a men’s league look to the more recognizable sweaters. The Cleveland Cavs had similar success after making a switch in uniforms. Once dead last in the league standings, the team made it to the NBA finals before losing to San Antonio. The Denver Nuggets made a change to their colors in 2003 when they drafted Carmelo Anthony out of Syracuse. They had a more traditional color scheme that was changed to a fresh and bright colored jersey.

Sometimes teams change the logo. The Seattle Seahawks once had this logo and moved to a fiercer looking hawk. The New York Football Giants made a change with this helmet logo to the current one. Sometimes a change brings good luck, the Denver Broncos went from these uniforms and logo to this new look. After the Broncos made the change, they won back-to-back Super Bowls in the 1998 and 1999 seasons. The Anaheim Ducks, formerly the Mighty Ducks, went from the Disney classic uniforms to today’s look and won the Stanley Cup two years after the change.

Not all changes have been for the better. Here are some that have gone wrong. This space look from the Dallas Mavericks only lasted one game. The MLB dabbled in this futuristic look shown by the Rockies and Seattle, which I deem horrendous. The one season NASL (National American Soccer League) team Caribous of Colorado may have the ugliest uniform in history of all uniforms which featured western style tassels. The University of Oregon football team has 384 different combinations of uniforms which range from unique to ugly. This is because Nike’s founders are former Ducks themselves and the world headquarters are located near the Eugene, Oregon Campus. The University of Colorado stole a play from the Oregon playbook with their new shoulder pattern design. When creating a logo or corporate image you might want to also make sure that it makes sense in that industry or within your company brand. In 1976 the Chicago White Sox had a double header against the Kansas City Royals and they ran onto the field wearing these interesting uniforms. Surprisingly the Sox only wore them for the first game of the double header. An opposing Royal, John Mayberry exclaimed, “You guys are the sweetest team we’ve seen yet.”

We can learn from the success and mistakes of sports uniform branding. You might want to consider creating a new logo when your company makes a change. If you change your mission statement or services you should consider doing a re-branding. The new logo or corporate identity created should be done simultaneously. You want to show this improvement in your approach and in all of your company’s materials. The change in your look should and will be reflected in the change you made internally within your company. This change in your brand must be calculated and well thought out to convey your message to your target audience and to the general public. At Brand Iron, we have made some great improvements in a company’s identity when they change their message or services. A great example of this is with our clients David, Hicks and Lampert and Caring Hands Chiropractic which can be see here.

For improvements in your brand or suggestions please call us at 303-534-1901.

For more information on the history of sports uniforms email Mike Slife: mslife@brandiron.net

I can’t tell you how many times I have heard companies say they want to revise and improve their company brand. Nine out of 10 times, what they really mean is that they want to come up with a new and improved logo, website or other visual presentations of their brand’s “look and feel.” A company’s logo/corporate identity, website and other visual elements are important in communicating a brand, but by no means are they the only things that represent your brand.

Your brand is a relationship you have with your customers, prospects, suspects, partners, vendors and the general business community. It’s hard for me to imagine how a logo, website or other visual elements solely convey what your brand represents. My personal feeling is that strong brands require much more thought than just a shinny logo or slick website.

I believe that strong brands, first and foremost, are strategically designed around what space you want to own and why your company is better than the competition. The company has to know just why it is better, and know how to effectively communicate that simple message clearly and concisely.

Great companies know how to effectively market and get their message out, not only through advertising, but through multiple mediums that reach their targets via the mediums that their targets interact with. You must accept and believe that these days it requires many mediums to be able to make a connection that is real and cuts through the clutter to drive results.

First, you have to know how to integrate this message into your company internally. Get the operations, sales and marketing all on the same page and understand what the brand stands for and how to deliver on the stated brand promise.

Great companies also understand that it takes more than looks. Your product or service has to fulfill the promise that it is cracked up to be. It has to be able to deliver the goods and make customers and clients true brand believers.

For a brand to be great these days you have to have strategy, substance, succinct message, and yes, a good logo and nice website. But you also must have the determination and commitment to succeed. A great brand requires a holistic and integrated approach, much more than just a snappy logo.

Written by Michael Doyle, President of Brand Iron