The Next Step for the Norton Mitchel Blog

By David Mitchel, Director of Marketing

Going forward, I will be writing marketing posts in this same vein at Mitchel’s Marketing Mix. Also, I will be leaving Norton Mitchel Marketing to work as a Marketing Manager with ViralMarketing.Biz. It is a challenge that I am looking forward to. ViralMarketing.Biz will have a slightly different approach and service offering than Norton Mitchel Marketing and my role will be different. 

Thank you again to all of my loyal readers on this blog and I look forward to interacting with all of you at Mitchel’s Marketing Mix. 

Re-Branding the Nets: Swish or Miss?

By David Mitchel, Director of Marketing

The Nets franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA) is undergoing a re-branding effort. The Nets are moving from New Jersey to the Brooklyn borough of New York City. The team will be called the Brooklyn Nets next year, and they unveiled the new logo and color scheme yesterday. New uniforms will be coming soon.

The focus of this piece should not be whether or not the move was right for the franchise (certainly debatable), but given where things stand now, are the Nets re-branding properly?

A little history lesson is in order before I get into the specifics on the re-brand.

The Nets have been flip-flopping across the Hudson River for decades. In 1967, the Nets were an inaugural franchise of the American Basketball Association (ABA), and then known as the New Jersey Americans. The next year, the team was moved to New York and became the New York Nets. New York Nets was a terrific choice for a team name, because a net is a meaningful part of a basketball hoop, and it sounded close to team names of the New York Jets of the NFL and New York Mets in MLB. Given that the Nets home base was on Long Island, and the Jets/Mets were playing at Shea Stadium in Queens, there was rooting interest synchronicity among sports fans in the areas east of Manhattan. The Nets had some of their best years in the 1970s, winning ABA championships in 1974 and 1976. The ABA merged with the NBA in the Summer of 1976. The Nets remained in New York for one more year, then moved to New Jersey in 1977.

35 years is a long time. The Nets have the potential to make new fans in New York, but they are turning their back on the fan relationships they had built during the last 35 years in New Jersey. However, the Nets’ history in New Jersey was mostly putrid. There were two Finals appearances in 2002 and 2003 with Jason Kidd as the star player, but save for those years, there was not much to get excited about.

The new logo and color scheme is black and white, which seems very boring. This is supposed to bring back memories of the old New York city subway system in the 1950s, which was when the borough of Brooklyn last had a pro sports team (the Brooklyn Dodgers left for Los Angeles in 1958). However, 1958 was more than 50 years ago. I can understand how the logo and color scheme can connect meaningfully to the brand in theory. However, in practice, I believe it will fall short. I’m not convinced that the NBA merchandise buyer cares about the coloration of the 1950s New York City subway system.

A look that would connect more meaningfully to the brand would be an updated modification of this color scheme and uniform. This red, white and blue color scheme with that uniform would be a great hit. This was the idea that the Toronto Blue Jays just implemented with a new logo and uniform design of their best days in the 1980s/early 1990s. Last year, the Los Angeles Kings in the NHL reverted to their silver & black color scheme of 1988-1998, which included some of their best years. Both the Blue Jays and Kings got a good deal of positive sentiment about their re-branding efforts. After all, the Nets had their best years in New York with that color scheme and uniform set and that is truly meaningfully connecting to the essence of the brand. I also believe that the name ‘New York Nets’ is a better, more inclusive name than ‘Brooklyn Nets’ as well. New York Nets give them greater appeal in boroughs other than Brooklyn and harkens back to the glory days of Julius Erving and the ABA.

In the video accompanying this article, some brand management and profitability issues are discussed. The Nets are selling tickets at a greater rate in Brooklyn and have greater sponsorship opportunities. This can positively affect the revenue and profitability stream.

The most important aspect of the Nets re-brand is the quality of the product that they put out on the court. The Nets were tied for the 5th worst record in the NBA this season. Their best player, Deron Williams, is a free agent and there are strong indications that he will sign with another team next year. If that happens, next year is not looking good and the Nets could be a few years away from being respectable, which will affect ticket sales, sponsorship sales and merchandise sales.

There’s a lot not to like about the Nets re-brand, but a lot of these issues can be put on the back burner with a high quality team on the court contending for a championship year in and year out. Unfortunately, that does not appear to be the case in the near future.

Updates

Hello There!

It has been a while since the blog was updated. In the meantime, I have had some more recent posts over at DuetsBlog. The hyperlink included will take you back to some of my older Duets posts as well.

Some new posts are coming.

Thank you,

David Mitchel

Michael Vick & Nike: The Second Time Around

By David Mitchel, Chief Marketing Officer

Nike recently announced that they will be signing Michael Vick to an endorsement contract, 4 years after terminating a previous contract due to Vick’s involvement in a dog fighting ring. Vick was incarcerated for 2 years as a result.

Nike appears to have established a standard for behavior in celebrity endorsement. Athletes can endorse Nike so long as they are not convicted. When Kobe Bryant was accused of sexual assault, his endorsement contract was not terminated; rather it was suspended until he was cleared by the justice system of wrongdoing. Tiger Woods faced no consequences from Nike for his infidelity. The mantra seems to be that athletic performance matters most. During the 2010 NFL season, Michael Vick played quite well on the football field.

Nike must have determined that the benefits of Vick endorsing the brand outweigh the drawbacks. Most of the calculations Nike makes on celebrity endorsements are spot on. I was still slightly surprised by the timing of it. The NFL is in the midst of a contentious lockout, and it is becoming more likely that at least some of the NFL season will be lost. This could be detrimental to the popularity of the league and its athletes.

Nike likely sensed that his image was recovering. He nearly won a popular vote to be the cover athlete on the EA Sports Madden 2012 video game, the premier pro football video game. Vick was on the cover of the Madden 2004 video game. A common perception seems to be that Vick served his time for the crime, and that it is time to move on. Nevertheless, a segment of the population will not forgive him for the atrocities that he committed against animals.

I expect Nike to keep a short leash (pun fully intended) on Vick’s behavior during this endorsement deal. If he has an off the field misstep, he likely will not receive the same treatment that Woods and Bryant received. Public sentiment will turn quickly against Vick if there is another scandal (whether criminal in nature or not) and Nike would move to protect the image of the brand.

Are ‘Junk Food’ Ads Appropriate for Children?

By David Mitchel, Chief Marketing Officer

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation is reporting that fast food chains, including global brands McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut, are not making good on a promise to curb advertising geared towards children under 14. There are many who feel that the Australian government should take action in this situation.

As a graduate of Thunderbird School of Global Management, the perennially ranked #1 MBA program in International Business, I’m pleased to be writing about a pertinent marketing topic that is outside of the market of my home country, the United States of America. At times, I have felt that much of this blog has been too US centric.

Nevertheless, many issues in marketing (and business as a whole) have global implications. While there are many country specific differences, there are aspects that are similar globally. This situation hits on a couple of them.

The task of brand managers is to understand the marketplace for their branded product offering and utilize the various components of the marketing mix to enhance a brand’s profitability. Selecting the right media channels for product promotion is a key part of the equation.

Regardless of the regulatory environment, blame should not be laid at the feet of brand management teams. In this case, it is up to parents to provide education on nutrition. Parents should be the ones that should be setting a positive example regarding food intake for their children. Parents play an instrumental role in the development of children, and this can alleviate some of the issues at play here. Parents need to understand how pervasive advertising is, and limit exposure to the types of advertising that they deem to be as harmful to children.

Advertising and brand management is a gray area. Fast food advertising on programs known to have a significant child audience is only done because it is perceived by brands to be an effective media buy. If parents took more responsibility for instilling habits commonly perceived to be healthy in children, the allure of fast food ads would diminish and brand managers would need to alter the marketing mix in some significant way.

The Impact of an NFL Season Lost

By David Mitchel, Chief Marketing Officer

Advertising Age recently posted an article discussing the economic impact of the entire NFL season being lost. This article touches on many traditional product marketing themes but also has a broader perspective than what is typically associated with the marketing mix. The financial consequences are wide ranging.

The NFL lockout has been going on almost two months at this point. As of this writing, there seems to be no end in sight for the lockout. In recent interviews with Nashville SportsRadio WNSR, I stated that I felt like a loss of 4 regular season games was a reasonable expectation. I think many out there would be glad if I were to be wrong in this prediction. Right now, I don’t think that the entire season will be lost, but it is within the realm of possibility.

Big consumer products brands have to be concerned about the loss of the Super Bowl, the biggest platform in advertising for many of these brands. Super Bowl ads are a big part of the product promotion strategy for many of these brands. Bud Light is an example of this, and I explored how they would handle the NFL lockout. Not having the Super Bowl as an advertising channel would be a big loss, and it would be challenging to compensate for that loss. There’s really nothing else for a lot of brands that can deliver the impact of a Super Bowl ad provided that it is done right.

Of course, the loss of a Super Bowl may prevent a brand from making a major advertising misstep. However, there have been brands that haven’t had success from their Super Bowl ads that had significant marketing issues besides product promotion. Good examples of the last sentence are late 1990s era dot com businesses. Subaru is a example of a brand that recovered from misuse of the Super Bowl as a means of product promotion. Subaru’s 1993 introduction of the Impreza model was advertising during the big game that year. Although the commercials did point out aspects of Subaru’s superiority, they didn’t resonate well. Subaru spent their entire ad budget for 1993 on these ads. It is nearly 20 years later, and Subaru has never aired another Super Bowl ad. The brand still exists, as does the Impreza model. This example proves that although the Super Bowl is an important product promotion platform, it is not the be-all, end-all for brands. The rest of the marketing mix must work harmoniously together, and a brand can be strong enough to produce results even if a Super Bowl ad doesn’t score well in the USA Today AdMeter.

The Ad Age article also points out the consequences to the network broadcasting the Super Bowl, which is scheduled to be NBC. The other networks that broadcast the NFL (CBS, FOX and ESPN) would suffer losses, but NBC could be the hardest hit, since they are the home of the showcase Sunday Night Football games and the Super Bowl. While all broadcast networks have been struggling in the recent years for a number of reasons, NBC has really been struggling.

The sooner that this lockout can be resolved, the better that it is for all parties involved. All parties involved in a broad statement, and it included a lot more than just the owners and players. It includes a multitude of brands in many product categories, television networks and the Indianapolis metro area (host of Super Bowl XLVI in Feb. 2012). There’s a lot at stake here, and an equitable solution is desirable.

A Marketing Hangover?

By David Mitchel, Chief Marketing Officer

In 2009, “The Hangover” was one of the biggest hits at the box office. It was also a great example of various elements of the marketing mix working harmoniously together. The product was well perceived and the promotion of the product was well executed.

For those not familiar with the film, it is about a bachelor party in Las Vegas gone horribly askew. Warner Brothers did an excellent job of selecting the correct media in promoting the film. The product was most suited for an audience who can identify with excessive partying and bachelor parties. More specifically, that would mean this is a youth oriented product. Precisely, the product best resonated with males ages 18-34. Given the product and the target market, the film was heavily promoted in the social media space, particularly on Facebook and YouTube. Additionally, since Warner Brothers had a large promotion budget for the film, it was heavily promoted on television channels that could deliver a young, predominantly male audience. ESPN programming was a natural fit for the brand. “The Hangover” was successful in theaters and later on DVD because it was perceived as a quality product by a distinct audience that had been targeted correctly. Had “The Hangover” targeted a 55+ female audience in their advertising, the movie would not have been nearly as successful.

However in 2011, Warner Brothers is running into some trouble with promoting the sequel, “The Hangover: Part II”. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has ordered that the trailer for the new film be pulled from theaters. There was no specific reason given, but it is visible that the trailer was approved for Appropriate Audience by the MPAA. It appears that the audience of “Source Code” was not deemed to be appropriate. “Source Code” is a PG-13 movie, whereas “The Hangover: Part II” will be rated R.

It would have made sense for Warner Brothers to use the red band trailer for R rated films and promote “The Hangover: Part II” in other R rated films. A good example of a cross promotion occurred in 2007, when the film “Superbad” was advertised during “Knocked Up”. The two films mentioned in the previous sentence had similar audiences and Judd Apatow was involved in the making of both those films.

Of course, there are other issues for this film besides its promotion tactics. The most crucial issue is the fact that most sequels fail to live up to the standards set by the original film. There are already some signs that this could happen for “The Hangover: Part II”. One sign is that Mike Tyson will be involved in this film. In “The Hangover”, Mike Tyson’s appearance was a tremendous plot device. He appeared in two scenes (Caution: Scenes may not be appropriate for all audiences). Tyson’s presence was well integrated into the setting of Las Vegas. “The Hangover: Part II” will take place in Bangkok. It is difficult to fathom the logical connection between Mike Tyson and Bangkok. Also, someone gets lost after a bachelor party gone awry, which is eerily similar to the premise of the first film. The quality of this film may not be as well perceived as the original.

With promotion tactics, the film should stick to the formula that made it so successful the first time. Promote it to an 18-34 primarily male audience and those with inappropriate senses of humor. The film itself will need to demonstrate that it is going to be materially different from the first, and will take sophomoric humor to new heights. That’s an effective way to market this film.

For brands not in the entertainment world, there are crucial lessons that can be learned from this tale. Always make sure that the product is being targeted to the right market. Make sure that the needs of the target consumer are being met and offer a quality price-value proposition. All these things are easier said than done. Experience and expertise help to enable a brand to perform these fundamentally correct marketing actions.

Update (4-7-2011): The Hollywood Reporter gives us more insight into why “The Hangover: Part II” trailer was pulled from theaters.