Build a Brand Workshop or... How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Empty Seats

This post begins a study on the Crew and the MLS brand and what the Crew can do to right the ship. Comments are encouraged as this is meant to be a positive exercise and examination on not only what the front office can do, but also what the fan base can do to right the ship.



When they announced the “Dare to be Massive” campaign I applauded. I thought it was the right thing to do. Then again, who isn’t in favor of a sports team they like selling more season tickets? I mean, seriously it’s not that hard of a proposition to get behind. Then I saw this video on Massive Report.

Setting aside the usual lip service you’d get from any commissioner of any league when he is being interviewed by ANYONE and the weird guy in the blue shirt that keeps looking in the camera, there were a few takeaways I got from this video that make me very nervous. Garber stated “Our goal here today is to try to get the mojo back. To try to re-kindle some of that success and passion that existed in the corporate community and season ticket community and getting back to being the leader that this team had been many times in it’s 16 year history.”

It’s no secret to anyone with an Internet connection and 30 seconds on their hands that the Crew haven’t been drawing well at the box office. Since the opening of Crew Stadium in 1999 there have only been four years in which the team’s attendance increased from the previous years. Only one time was the increase larger than 500 fans per game. We’ve got trouble folks. Right here in the capital city. Don has found much prettier girls to take to the prom and something needs to be done quickly.

Last season Columbus finished 17th out of 18 teams in average attendance. Folks, New England averaged over a thousand fans MORE per game than Columbus. NEW friggin ENGLAND. Honestly the only reason we wern’t in last place is because San Jose’s stadium only holds 10 thousand.

The issue, and my concern is this. A loose translation from the “Google: Corporate to English” translation tool reveals what the commissioner actually said in the Massive Report interview.

Our goal here today is to try to get the mojo back. - “Seriously guys, what the hell? 12 thousand fans a game? I got more people than that to my kid’s birthday party and we charged 10 bucks for parking too.”

To try to re-kindle some of that success and passion that existed in the corporate community and season ticket community - “Come on, show up to games! Nobody is going to want to slap their logo on a jersey if you can’t even fill your damn supporters section!... Yes, yes I know New England can’t fill theirs either, but we promised the guys from UHC Patriots season tickets.”

getting back to being the leader that this team had been many times in it’s 16 year history - “Guys, Detroit wants a team, Orlando wants a team, Ottawa wants a team, I want a team in New York. At some point this league will stop expanding. When that happens and large stacks of money start being waived in Clark Hunt’s face what will the counter offer be?”

I can tell you if that counter offer is 12 thousand fans a game, this team will be gone faster than you can say Baltimore Colts.




So why is the Crew drawing so poorly? Yes, factors such as the weather may have come in to play, but it was sunny and 71 on a Sunday afternoon when we played Chicago in June and we only drew 13,498. This is a game when school is out, against (arguably) our biggest rival and we couldn’t even get the stadium to ¾ full.

Why are people not showing up? The Crew were winning games at that point (the team only had three losses at this point in the season, all of which were away). To find out lets look back even further.

Before the expansion era in MLS (pre 2005) Columbus had finished above the league average attendance every year except one (1998, the last year at the shoe). After the expansion era started Columbus has finished below the league average every single year.


Lets look at what MLS was promoting in 1999.

Lets now look at a commercial from 2010.


What is the difference between these two spots? For that matter, what is the difference between Major League Soccer’s branding pre-expansion era and post-expansion era? Night and day. There is a message in what they are currently putting forward. The league has created a brand that it wants to be associated with and it is feeding that image in everything it does.

2007

2007

2011

I understand that a few of these videos aren’t produced by MLS, but that’s not the point. The MLS brand is excitement, participation and a sense an organic community of ownership with their fans. This is what the league has become. If you look at every team that drew over 18 thousand fans last year you see the exact same thing. These teams have embraced the MLS brand and are running with it.

I hate mentioning teams like Portland and Seattle, so for this exercise I will not. Instead I will look to the east. Philadelphia has embraced the culture of it’s supporters. Heck, half the reason Philadelphia even has a franchise is due to it’s supporters so why wouldn’t you? They have done an amazing job at two things. First and foremost they feature the Sons of Ben in the majority of their advertisements. An example of which is right here.

Secondly, they keep the Sons of Ben the hell away from the families. Obviously Crew Stadium was built well before the advent of segregated supporters sections in the USA, but in Philly’s case, having a newer stadium is rather helpful. There are only two access points to the walkway behind the supporters area. This helps the locals who are bringing grandma and grandpa to their first match to know where to go and where to steer clear from.

The Union, as well as other teams have done something that the Crew have attempted to, but have not succeeded at doing. This was an amazing start. However, when it is followed up with this it becomes deeply troubling. If you Google the phrase “Black out the Galaxy” EVERY link except the last that comes up on the first page takes you to thecrew.com or another Crew related website. That’s sad considering there’s a name of another team in the thing that I just Googled and the word Columbus or the word Crew are not in there.

Also if you look at our promotional schedule it includes days such as “Silence the Sounders” and “Put out the Fire”. I know, I sound like a broken record as I’ve obviously already stated this before, but if you are marketing the away team as the primary message of your advertisement you are not building your brand, you are building theirs. Promoting the Galaxy in Crew advertisements does one thing. It states to the Columbus marketplace that you believe the Galaxy are a superior product and thus will help your bottom line if you market them more than your own product. This is a dangerous precedent and unfortunately has been going on for five years.

So what do the Crew need to do to? There’s a number of things. First and foremost shore up the brand. Provide on-point messaging to the people of Columbus and pull themselves out of the fourth place in the mindset of the Columbus sports community. Secondly, deliver on the promise that you have set up with your branding. Third, develop your fan base from a local fan base in to a regional fan base.

This has to happen. It’s not really optional anymore. If you look at teams such as Toronto FC they already have pockets of supporters as far away as Detroit. The Columbus Crew must evolve and grow as a brand and they must do it in 2012. In the next few posts I will examine each one of these steps and provide ideas and a pathway to get there. I believe “Dare to Be Massive” was an amazing start. I believe this club can do it, but if it’s just the employees of this club this mission will fail. This fan base must take a more active role in the ownership of this brand and must propel it to the next level.

When Crew Stadium opened in 1999 the team jumped from an average attendance of 12,274 to 17,696. This was an increase of 5,422 fans per game. Last year Columbus averaged 12,185. With the “Dare to be Massive” campaign my sources tell me that we have eclipsed last year’s season ticket figure already and it isn’t even 2012. This is a great start. This is a crossroads for the Crew and the Crew’s fan base. This can be the team that pulled itself up by the bootstraps and showed why it is the hardest working team in America or it can be the team that faded to black.

#ocCREWpyChicago

I've been sick as hell the last few weeks so not posting much. I will just leave you in the capable hands of guest blogger this week Jim Irizarry from Varsity Thoughts on a JV World whilst I go and get caught up on my drinking.

Before I go... Seriously. Guys. I'm scared. Apparently some Chicago fans are wizards.

Now without further delay. Something completely different.

...

Hi. This is Jim. Stuff gonna's happen during the game. Goals will be scored. Penalties will be called. We'll probably see someone flop on the ground because that's what the Fire is known for (I think). All I know is that, right now, someone in this room just admitted to liking "Don't Mess with the Zohan." I think I need new friends. Final score, 3-1, Crew.

Rewrite

"I'm working on my rewrite, that's right
I'm gonna change the ending
Gonna throw away my title
And toss it in the trash"

-Paul Simon

I was so excited about the Crew's new "Dare to be Massive" campaign. The idea of working to get the season ticket base back up to 10,000 is an important step for the club and honestly is very overdue.

I said I was excited. Then someone decided to go and shit all over it. Honestly this article just re-hashes the same lame excuses that I've heard from everyone as to why the Crew aren't moving tickets. There was something that I found interesting in the article however. This quote:

“The Buckeyes dominate the sports landscape. They dominate the media and they extract a significant amount of resources from a small market,” (Mark) McCullers said. “If fans say we’re not marketing enough, it’s because we have a hard time getting a lot of attention because of the Buckeyes’ dominance. We spend just as much, or more, than most MLS teams in their markets.”

There's the key word there. SPEND. In case you didn't get the memo traditional advertising doesn't work anymore. That money that you are spending to advertise on the radio, buy billboards, put spots on TV? Why not just set it on fire? It would generate about the same amount of revenue.

Mr. McCullers. I beg of you to buy the following books.

Punk Marketing.

Creating Customer Evangelists

There is a reason the Dallas Mavericks attendance doubled under Mark Cuban. It had nothing to do with winning and it had nothing to do with giving away tickets on the radio.

It also probably didn't have to do with putting all of their advertising money in to promoting the AWAY TEAM.



Honestly. Kudos to the Crew for selling out the game tonight against LA, but I don't believe that the above promotion had anything to do with it at all.

Silence the Sounders?
Black out the Galaxy?
"It's Vancouver's first trip here so lets give them a not so warm welcome."

How do any of these tag lines convey what to expect at a game? What do any of these tag lines say about the Crew? What does a casual fan think when he or she reads/hears/sees these tag lines?

Direct quote from a friend of mine who is a 1 to 2 game a year attendee, but not someone who follows the team.

"Are the Crew so bad this year they have to promote the away team to get people to show up?"

That is the brand that these "marketing" messages are cultivating. The team is so horrible that nothing good can be said so the away team is the most marketable feature of this game.

This is the brand that the Crew have established for themselves.

Fortunately I don't believe it's too late to change this.

A few things right off the bat. Re-work the sponsorship booklet. Page 5 shows the Crew doing an appearance at a Home Depot. The only people there are the people working the booth. There are NO FANS in this picture. I've been to events where fans have actually showed up. Maybe next time someone could bring a camera? Also on pages 2 and 3 eliminate the pictures where you can see huge rows of empty seats. Why would anyone pay to sponsor a team when the materials that you distribute can't even show the best results?

Find a brand. "Work Hard. Play Harder." just doesn't say anything. Also it's not being paid attention to in the marketplace or there would be more awareness of the team. Pick something shorter that generates excitement.

STOP MARKETING THE DAMN AWAY TEAM. It's much easier to establish one really good brand than establish 17 temporary brands. Also when you focus your effort on branding the away team you give the casual fans nothing to hang their hat on.

On a related note... stop putting a large portion of your media spend on marketing the one game a year that sells out and instead focus on the other 16 home games.

Stop wasting money. When putting together next year's advertising budget take the money you were going to waste on television and radio and use it to hire someone who understands Guerrilla marketing.

This can be fixed, but it must start now.

"Every minute after midnight
All the time I'm spending
Is just for working on my rewrite, that's right
I'm gonna turn it into cash"

Oh... Canada.

"They've got trees, and mooses, and sled dogs,

Lots of lumber, and lumberjacks, and logs!
We all think it's kind of a drag,
That you have to go there to get milk in a bag.
They say "eh?" instead of "what?" or "duh?"
That's the mighty power of Canada."

It's weird. I don't want to be that guy that just rants at other bloggers. I really don't want to be. I had something written for tonight that was completely different than what I'm about to post. I felt good about it. Then I saw this. It was so insurmountably stupid I had to respond.

Ben... Can I call you Ben? Ok awesome. Meet me over at the right side of the page.

Have you been smoking crack? Just the fact that you have to write this sort of nonsense negates your point. May I present my bevy of counterpoints in silly blog link form? Also... this is my favorite. I honestly don't get it. Is it the hipster thing to do to talk on the internet about how much you "don't care" about tomorrows match? Tomorrow's match is on my calendar. I'm much more excited about tomorrow's match than Wednesday's against Houston. Do you want to know why? The Crew have lost to Houston at one point.

It seems awfully convenient that every time the Total Failure Club gets close to being eliminated from the playoffs the fan base begins to switch the story. Have you kids considered a career in politics? Oh look. Toronto has a 0.00539% chance of making the playoffs. So now we have to deal with this crap again. Listen. We told you that we thought you were nice, but didn't want anything serious after we took you to prom. Would you quit blogging about how over us you are and just admit you fracking hate us?

I get why you would write something like this. Toronto quit being the flavor of the month when Seattle came along. They moved even further down the food chain when Portland came along. Toronto fans thrive on one thing. Attention. You are now a third place team as far as attention goes and a last place team as far as skill goes. Don Garber got a new shiny toy. It's called the Cascadia Cup and now nobody cares about poor ol' Toronto.

Here's a tip from someone who's been around the block a few times. Start caring about what happens on the pitch and less about who sees you put up what banner or who hates/loves/doesn't care about who.

On an unrelated note, I had a great laugh with the whole we didn't piss on a church fence thing your folks bring up in your comments section. Umm... your buddies whipped their junk out in front of a road. It's an actual public road not an access road. It happened.

Anyway, sorry for all of you that had to sit through that, but I get sick and tired of Toronto fans acting like some sort of scorned 17 year old girl. "Oh my God. We have so much fan support!!!!" Well... your product is horrible and your fans act like 12 year old douche bags whenever they travel. Oh boo hoo. The Columbus police wouldn't let us light shit on fire and throw it on the pitch. Sob sob... we can't break the benches at Crew Stadium! If we aren't allowed to get drunk and break a lot of laws then get on our bus and go home we aren't coming back! Seriously. Good riddance.

It just rubs me the wrong way when I can't even read about tomorrows match without some Toronto fan trying to prove to me "how little he cares about Columbus." If you don't care about Columbus... DON'T WRITE ABOUT COLUMBUS!

I'd normally do one of my dumb match previews here, but I would rather go get sushi.

One last thing... the Vegas odds have nothing on the match tomorrow, but there is an estimate that at least two Toronto fans will end up acting stupid enough to get tased.

"Don´t fret precious I´m here, step away from the window
Go back to sleep
Safe from pain and truth and choice and other poison devils,"

A Response to a Conversation not Directed at Me.

"You don't use words like that. Saint Louise is listening."

I love reading soccer blogs. Seriously, I do. Some of my favorites, Pitch Fest, MLSUK (although the Seattle kid seems like a twat), Massive Report, Soccer By Ives, etc etc. So I'm always excited to see a new soccer blog come on the scene. I'm especially excited when it's different. So I was actually pretty excited by the premise of Football Not Soccer, a new blog by an English kid who has decided (according to his blog) that he is going to become an MLS fan.

Well. Not quite an MLS fan. He's decided to become a TFC fan. For all reasons due to it being the closest bad team to him. (Honestly though the Red Bulls are pretty horrible and last time I checked Boston is way closer to Sheffield than Toronto is). At least he has realistic expectations. From his blog: "Fittingly, Toronto FC’s next game is on September 10^th away at top the table Columbus Crew. I expect them to lose."

In his second blog post he goes on to discuss the "secret garden" of the MLS. "Talking of intrigue the MLS and its brief history is crammed full of amusing little details that draw me further and further into its circus. Take my new adopted team Toronto FC. Any guesses on who scored the clubs first ever competitive goal? Why it is former Millwall and Preston striker Danny Dichio of course! It turns out Toronto FC were founded just five years ago and Dichio is now a bit of a cult hero for the clubs supporters. In fact in honour of that landmark goal Toronto fans now sing a Danny Dichio chant in the 24^th minute of every match! Major League Soccer is honestly a secret garden full of weird and wonderful football facts and I have found the way in." That's ADORABLE. I assure you here in Columbus we don't have a Thor Lee chant although I would second his nomination for the Crew Circle Of Honor (I wouldn't even mind if they put his name up in red and black) I kid... I kid... Honestly though. What is it with new supporters groups seeming so contrived? Look at TFC's support. It's like someone Google'd "How to be a Soccer Fan" and then just followed that playbook literally for 5 years. I do think that if Toronto decides to do another time sensitive chant it should be a John Carver chant during the 8th minute as he is the last Toronto coach to last a full season.

So yeah. I'm having a bit of fun. I'm honestly happy that this guy is getting in to Soccer in the US. Then I read this post. The first part deals with stadium naming rights. He seems to take issue with Dallas' Pizza Hut Park. I take issue with this too. Their pizza is total crap. Buy pie from a local shop. It's way less expensive if you find the right place and probably a thousand times better tasting. On the naming rights angle though I believe he's all wet. Maybe he's never heard of York City's Kit Kat Crescent. Granted, it's not as prevalent in jolly old England, but it exists. Also the BARCLAYS Premier League? I'm sorry, but we aren't Major League Soccer presented by Chase Bank. (Although if the check was large enough I believe Garber would roll over and take it like a champ.) If it's just offense to the fact that a Fast Food restaurant is sponsoring the venue that's just silly. It's kind of silly to talk about questionable sponsorship when a large percentage of the Premier League's teams are sponsored by gambling websites.

As for promotion and relegation which seems to be a dead horse that everyone enjoys kicking the crap out of I'll put it very mildly. The league makes a HUGE profit off of expansion fees. Portland and Vancouver both paid $40 MILLION DOLLARS to join the cool kids club this year. Seattle and Philly paid less but not as little as Toronto who got in for the pittance of $10 MILLION DOLLARS.

I'm bolding those numbers for a very specific reason. Lets listen in to a conversation taking place in an alternate reality between an American businessman (we'll call him Bob) and Don Garber.

Businessman Bob - "Thanks for meeting with me Don. I'm very excited about talking to you about bringing Major League Soccer presented by Chase Bank and co-presented by Trojan Condoms to the fine city of St. Louis!"

Don - "We'd love to have St. Louis on board. I'll just need a check for $40 MILLION DOLLARS."

Bob - "Boy howdy that sounds great. The Budweiser pitch inside Trump Casino stadium has just been finished and the Boons Farm supporters terraces will be rocking when our first Major League Soccer presented by Chase Bank and co-presented by Trojan Condoms match happens in 2014!"

Don - "Perfect. Can I get the check please? St. Louis kind of smells and I'd like to leave now."

Bob - "One quick question for you."

Don - "What is it?"

Bob - "What's this relegation nonsense that I've been hearing about the owners voting in during the off season?"

Don - "Nothing you need to worry about."

Bob - "But what is it Don?"

Don - "It just means bottom three teams have to play in the NASL the next year and 3 NASL teams get promoted to our division."

Bob - "How much do they have to pay to get in to MLS?"

Don - "Nothing"

Bob - "Oh, and... what's the success rate of expansion sides in their first season in MLS?"

Don - "In the expansion era only one team would have finished outside of the relegation zone. Seattle in 2009. Every other expansion team would have been relegated."

Bob - "So I'm paying you $40 MILLION DOLLARS for a team that may have to play in the minors in a year?"

Don - "Yes"

Bob - "Don, are you high?"

That, my friend, is why promotion and relegation will never happen in MLS. I do look forward to continuing to read your blog.

To all 5 of my regular readers match "preview" for Saturday's match against the Total Failure Club will be up in the next day or so.

Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge On Seattle

"My favorite patient, a display of patience,
Disease-covered Puget Sound
She'll come back as fire, And burn all the liars,
leave a blanket of ash on the ground"

I don't really know why I hate Seattle as much as I do. I shouldn't. Maybe it's the fact that they are cheaters, yes... cheaters, maybe it's Drew Carey, who I've always kind of disliked (honestly the only funny part of that show was Craig Ferguson) or maybe, as I've stated in a previous blog, it's the insistence by their fan base that they were all HUGE USL Sounders fans yet logic, the actual numbers and common sense calls bullshit on that one pretty quick.

Here's the deal. When I was in sixth grade a bunch of kids that I went to school with overnight became HUGE Florida Marlins fans. Why? Because they had a genuine interest in the Miami metropolitan area? No. Because news of Major League Baseballs first expansion teams in our lifetime was all over ESPN. It was shiny. It was new. They wanted to be a part of it. Seattle, and to a lesser extent, Toronto and Portland are very similar to this. Shiny new toys that people haven't quite figured out yet.


Not enough time to do a match preview so instead I'll leave you with this. The Florida Marlins.

"It's so relieving
To know that you're leaving as soon as you get paid"

The Good Life

"Excuse the bitching
I shouldn’t complain
I should have no feeling
Cos feeling is pain"

So I was looking at Matt's season by season comparison and I have to say, I like where the end of this year is going. Two and a half months left in the season and we have more points than '08 and '09. This works for me. I know. I know. "But Jericho, boo hoo, LA, Seattle, Dallas and Colorado are ahead of us!!! Whatever will we do?"

Let me drop this nugget on you.

No Champions League participant has made it to MLS cup in the year after they qualified for Champions League. Ever.

LA and Colorado will play at least 6 additional games this year. Between Seattle and Dallas one team will play 7 additional games and one will play 8. (Open cup) Oh and I guess Toronto will play 6 more games as well. Nothing to hurt there, but their readiness for golf in November.

My point is this. We were "penalized" for our success in '08 and '09 by having all this extra fixture congestion. While I love as many games as possible and certainly want Columbus in the Champions League as often as possible, it's nice to know our guys will be more rested for the playoffs than the 4 teams currently above us in the table.

Without any further ado.

My postponed match preview...

hahaha get it... the match was postponed... so... I... wrote this late.

Yeah, that's it.

THE BATTLE FOR THE EAST aka THE BATTLE FOR FIFTH PLACE aka Columbus vs Philly.

FANS

Seriously guys. Doop is not a word. Also, nobody gets it besides you. You know what we call people who have a joke that only they get and it's their joke and nobody else will ever understand it? Andy Kauffman. Or... if we're pretty sure that the joke is stupid, as is the case with Philly's fans we call them batshit insane.



Also, for people who are Futurama fans. It just makes me think you all are secretly Red Bull fans.

ADVANTAGE COLUMBUS

Before I go to the next thing though I need to have a word with Philly Fan. Thank you for not being as douchy as Toronto fan, Vancouver fan, Portland fan and especially Seattle fan. Everyone in the league appreciates that. Even if 90% of what you say sounds like gibberish.

HISTORY

There's only a few teams that I can say this about so I figure I'll get this dig in.

You've never beat Columbus. I think it's just Philly, Toronto and Vancouver that are in that elite club, but it's still pretty awesome.

ADVANTAGE COLUMBUS

RULES

Jesus, there are a lot of rules on the Philly supporters pages. Although the one that intrigued me is that if you sell tickets to someone on Stubhub and they say you didn't tell them about all their rules you can get thrown out of the cool kids club. Well... that is what American supporters sections are all about. Having so many rules it stops being fun.

ADVANTAGE COLUMBUS

So there you go. Wow... I had a lot more things to say, but at this point the match is only 4 and a half hours away and I'm not even drunk yet.

Cheers and go Crew.

"I ain’t gonna hurt nobody
Ain’t gonna cause a scene
Just need to admit
That I want sugar in my tea
Hear me I want sugar in my tea!"