THE CHARGERS BRAND WAGON

THE CHARGERS ARE BOLTING
They say no one ever wins in divorce (except perhaps the attorneys.)  When a sports team leaves a city it’s called home for 50+ years, you can expect some bad feelings.  But from a marketing perspective, the Chargers organization needs to call the right plays to try to make the best of a new situation.  While you may or may not appreciate the way the Spanos organization runs the team, as someone who has created award-winning marketing and branding for leagues, teams, players and sports properties I can surely lend some insight to how they should proceed with the positioning of their product going forward.

SHOW SPORTSMANSHIP

So far, the Chargers organization appears to have done everything wrong (and I’m not just talking about on-the-field performance) beginning with the instant alienation of the San Diego community.  While the Los Angeles market is a huge demographic and certainly has the numbers to support multiple NFL teams, attempting to keep any loyal San Diego, Orange County, and Inland Empire fans should still be a priority.  They say it takes 4x as much to secure a new customer as it does to retain one and the Bolts should do everything possible to engage those fans willing to jump on team-sponsored caravan buses up the 405.  Even if 20% of the fans carry over, it’s a great base to start with.   Because unlike other past NFL team moves (Browns to Baltimore, Rams to St. Louis, etc.) current Chargers fans are still a viable target market based on proximity.

But swapping to “Los Angeles” and flaunting “LA” on all their social media is like bringing your new girlfriend to the aforementioned divorce hearings.  Embracing all of Southern California is a much better approach and highlighting CHARGERS versus LOS ANGELES is a simple branding direction that at least attempts to create inclusion.

Here's the official statement from the Chargers on, well... bolting.

Remember, there is a rivalry between the two towns between the Dodgers vs Padres and the old LA Raiders vs Chargers (although Dodgers fans claim the SF Giants as their primary foe), so the only thing worse than losing your team is having them relocate to your rival town.  And the OC has had it's share of "LA slighting" with the whole "California turned Anaheim Angeles turned Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim now Los Angeles Angels" thing.  Note: just as I'm suggesting, they wisely limited backlash by focusing on the Angels' "A" logo versus the city name.
 

LOOK THE PART

On the subject of branding, coming into a market as the clear “second team” is hard enough (maybe even the third best pro team if you add USC).  Now, from Day 1, the Bolts have already made it worse with the unveiling of their “me too” LA logo.

Unfortunately, the interlocking “LA” looks like they spent 10 minutes editing the Los Angeles Dodgers’ logo.  The first impression of the Dodgers and Tampa Bay Lightning logos' love child doesn’t appear to have the cleaver, professional look that the NFL has become accustomed to with dynamic branding and marks.  To be blunt, the simple LA-with-a-bolt-emphasis just looks bad. And somehow it has managed to single-handedly upsets THE ENTIRE AUDIENCE by insulting A) current Los Angeles sports fans with a flimsy attempt to side with them via their beloved LA symbol, and B) any San Diegans willing to still support the team, for obvious reasons. 

The NFL is known for the "uniform police" who make sure the players wear their uni's properly so I can only imagine that the league has to be throwing the red challenge flag over this LAme logo.

All OUT BLITZ

If the Bolts strategy is to cut-the-cord 100% and loyal fan base be damned, then they should do it.  With rumors that they will eventually rebrand, a la the Tennessee Titans from the Oilers, and change the name, it’s best to “rip the band aid off” and do the rename at the same time as the relocation.  Start completely fresh, not in waves.  This whole make-shift unveiling adds to the appearance of a knee-jerk reaction when we all know they have been strategically exploring this move for years.

FUTURE GAME PLAN

Winning cures all.  Southern Californians are a fickle bunch and unless the team is doing well on the turf, the team can’t expect to fill the seats.  With all the hype, excitement and years of loyal Ram fans awaiting their team’s return, the team was still only one of two NFL teams with under 90% capacity.   Now, adding a second team with an extremely limited tie to the market (the Chargers did start off as the Los Angeles Chargers after all) they have an up-field battle ahead of them.  If the LA Chargers (Or LA Traffic, LA Paparazzi, LA Smog, or whatever they eventually become) wants to be successful and evoke the passion that the team had during their lone Super Bowl run, they need to perform on the field.  With better marketing, branding, and creating an inclusive environment for shunned San Diegans, the Chargers can make the best of a tumultuous situation.

Or just go sign Antonio Brown, Aaron Rogers, OBJ, Luke Kuechly, JJ Watt and Ezekiel Elliott and bring the Lombardi home… to LA.

How To Become a Marketing BARNACLE

In The Surfer's Guide To Marketing, we discuss different ways to utilize another organization's on-site event, promotion, or activation to drive your brand.   I refer to partnering with a larger exhibit or trade event as becoming a BARNACLE.  Your goal is to drive awareness and interactions for your product or service without disrupting the flow, causing too much attention from the host, or spending significantly more resources than the value you gain in return.

The BARNACLE, those little animals that live on the chin of a large whale, are the perfect surf-analogy example of how you should position yourself to be successful as an addition to an existing organization's activation.  The mollusk's main job is to subtly attach to a larger host and leverage their partner's existing efforts while sucking in plankton and getting a free ride.  They don't cause too much of a distraction and are able to have noticeable gains without expending much effort.  And that mentality directly transfers to the marketing world when creating an on-site partnership.

Having created activations at high traffic locations ranging from trade shows to shopping malls to the Super Bowl, I always approach the opportunity with the same philosophy of becoming a BARNACLE.  I want to ensure my brand gains incrementally more exposure and value than if we did a stand-alone effort and we do not disrupt the host to the point where we draw negative results or controversy.   

On-site activation for a major network premiere.

While some promotions, tours, or locations can have sponsorship packages ranging in the seven figures, most of the BARNACLE activations are established because your brand has smaller budgets with large expectations.   That's where The Surfer's Guide To Marketing becomes a valuable resource as we dedicate an entire chapter to the best approaches and proven techniques in this arena.  We discuss proven cases and provide a how-to for operating and thriving as the marketing version of the little critter on Shamu's face!

And for every successful case study in my book, there are also real-world examples of what guerrilla marketers do wrong  Recently, Ouya tried to crash the E3 video game expo.  Rather than pay to be included in the show, they thought (like many marketers do) that they could circumvent the official relationship by setting up in the surrounding area for less.  Instead of going through the front door, Ouya tried to go through the back door... or more accurately, the parking lot.  E3 wasn't too fond of this type of grass roots activation and the attached link describes the battle that ensued.

As a veteran of on-site marketing, I have been exposed to countless situations surrounding the "right" or "wrong" way to approach it.  The Surfer's Guide To Marketing explains my strategy for being a successful BARNACLE and Ouya definitely didn't approach it the way I would have.  What's your take on how to create a successful activation and what do you think about the article and E3 vs. Ouya battle?  Please leave your comments!

http://games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugged-in/ouya-tries-crash-e3-feuds-esa-171508817.html