they missed the boat on this one

AAA, ITS THE WAY WE PLAY

leave it to the brewers to screw up their slogan

C'mon, you're missing the big picture here.

That slogan had a .977 OPS at AAA last year, with a .425 OBP. Billy Beane wanted it bad, and was willing to give up Barry Zito and some anti-fungal creme for it, but the Brewers showed abnormally good judgment in keeping it around for this season.

Well, we like to say that as the national pastime baseball mirrors the culture at large so this is in keeping with that. Nearly every business puts more into logos and slogans than into things like producing the best product and/or providing the best customer service.

I'm actually surprised some of the big market teams haven't been more aggressive in promoting brand. Imagine a Super Bowl commercial in which the Yankees play off a "you're either with us or against us" theme in which they emphasize their domination/evil empire image as a way to sell merchandise?

Maybe if/when there is an MLB channel such that anyone, anywhere can follow any team we may see that kind of thing one day. Certainly the Braves and Cubs "superstation" status has built their fan base well beyond their immediate regions.

And, you know, taking this further, if Hooters can have their own airline in which they ferry folks from Newark to Myrtle Beach, it's not inconceivable that a baseball club could do something similar.

I would argue that the Yankees promote brand by winning.

Ha. I can't wait to watch Sportscenter Highlights of their first 9-2 loss.

"I would argue that the Yankees promote brand by winning."

That's not arguing so much as being beside the point.

There is always additional profit to be made for any business.

Microsoft has 98% market share but there are folks over in Redmond at this moment trying to find ways to not only get that final 2% but also looking to get into and control a whole lot of other markets as well.

Also, last time I saw the data (a couple years ago), both the Chicago White Sox and the Oakland Raiders had the highest profits in merchandising. Neither team has done a whole lot of winning, but they both have uni colors in black which was the number one color choice for buyers.

Yes, yes, winning is the best, but there are so many ways to get creative with branding and merchandising.

The Raiders established their brand a long time ago by winning. Once you've established a brand, expanding with slogans and hot colors is fine. But a slogan works a lot better when you have a team that can live up to the expectations the slogan creates.

Slogans are as relevant to modern branding as Darrin Stevens (both the old Darrin and new). Most are bad and few last long enough to have an impact.

Like the two most successful ones of recent memory, "Just do it" and "Drivers Wanted," slogans or taglines or themelines, need to be part of a top to bottom branding effort that stands out and is authentic, something the product experience can deliver on.

Sports slogans are a waste of money. The on-field product is the driving force. And when I saw the body of work for the agency that "developed" the Brewers slogan, I knew with complete certainty that Selig wasted his money.

Selig, wasting his money? Never!
Seriously, I think this slogan is a potential PR disaster, because it's accurate. As the Brewers slog their way to 65 wins, writers on deadline will continuously point out the accuracy of the slogan: this is indeed the way the Brewers have played for a decade.

As someone who knows a thing or two about advertising (I'm an account supervisor for a large ad agency) I can say that the easiest way to sell a product is to have a great product with ubiquitous distribution channels and competitive pricing models.

Failing those elements, promoting the hell out of a product is an effective way to sell it UNLESS the brand is defined by the performance of the product as is the case in professional sports. The Brewers brand essence is "Losers with a seedy underbelly" this will not change until Selig and his family relinquish control or devote the necessary resources (not just money) to building a winner.

Advertising and Promotion won't save a woeful franchise, merchandise sales are often more a funtion of the brand essence of the player who's jersey you buy than the team they play for.

The Brewers are a kind of postmodern baseball team. They'ved moved beyond your traditional measurements of success. It's not whether the Brewers win or lose; it's the way they play.

FWIW: I was in NO way trying to suggest that the Brewers slogan will have the desired effect of putting fans in the seats or raising their revenue in any wya.

I was only pointing out that baseball in general and teams specifically can take marketting/branding quite a bit further than they currently do.

(BTW I think the Red Sox have a pretty good brand but last time I checked they haven't won anything but a couple of playoff games ever decade or so :)

Yes, Edward, but the Sox lose dramatically, which inspires a whole different type of brand loyalty. :-)

it's pretty hard to be a brewer fan. i read somewhere that all their winning seasons happened when paul molitor was playing for them and since he left for toronto, they've sucked. big time.

the padres slogan last year was a woman singing "padres baseball: taking you there" which was supposed to communicate that it was a year of transition until petco park opened (as if that would guarantee a winning team). my wife and i instantly took the opportunity to change the slogan to "padres baseball: vague and unclear".

What makes it really hard to be a Brewers fan is the fact that the organization is criticized for every single thing it does wrong (or at least for everything the geniuses in the media and weblogs think is wrong), but is rarely recognized for actually making intelligent BASEBALL decisions, such as building one of the strongest minor league systems in baseball and unearthing cheap, talented players (Dan Kolb, Scott Podsednik) that other organizations simply cast away. The Brewers announce some lame slogan for next year and everyone is all over them, yet when they are named the Topps organization of the year, or lauded in some other fashion, one rarely hears a peep. If you are going to criticize them for doing something stupid, you also have a responsibility to applaud them for doing something right. The key to running a successful small market franchise is to develop a strong minor league system and to spend money wisely. One can look at the payroll cuts as simply greedy, or one can look at them as an intelligent use of resources. Save the money for a time when spending it on free agents will actually MEAN something! Doing what the Tigers did and overspend on mediocre players who really will not help much and will put the organization in a bind down the road is NOT the answer. Better to save the money or put it towards debt relief until the youngsters come up, the team is no longer awful and the money can be used on free agents that actually see a future in Milwaukee so you don't have to overpay.

That's a pretty accurate slogan, as long as it's spoken with resignation. "What can you do? It's the way we play."

With a 12 game improvement in '03 and a top 5 minor league system, I'll take my chances. While some would love to spend their way to mediocrity, rebuilding through the farm system is the only way to go.

some more teams

YANKEES - we will buy you
ORIOLES - best 3rd place team.....EVER
PIRATES - it could be worse, you could be in milwaulkee
ASTROS - yes, we are the astros, not the yankees.... but we are workin on it
DEVIL RAYS - yes, the bucanneers are here too
DODGERS - pitch like 1962, hit like .132
GIANTS - bonds and eight guys from row 44
ROCKIES - no, the batboy isnt pitching.... we're still in negotiations
TIGERS - 100 losses or bust
EXPOS - we're special, we have 2 home openers
PHILLIES - win the division and we'll still boo
PADRES - are we there yet?

sorry if i missed your team, cant think when tired, apologize if some arent that funny. even had to make fun of my team, still waiting for the o'malleys to come back, we want you back, we need you back

I'm sure that if the Brewers ever did something smart, we'd all be happy to applaud it. Heck, Neyer argued that maybe Posednik ought to have been the NL RoY, with the caveat that he'll probably never hit .300 again. With eleven straight losing seasons and an average of 98 losses over the last three seasons, it's a little hard to find something to applaud these days. You'll have a tough time arguing that trading their best player, in his prime, for a bunch of warm bodies and Lyle "Joe Randa-Lite" Overbay, is an "intelligent BASEBALL decision." It was, rather, a necessary BUSINESS decision, as they couldn't afford the $10-12 mil/yr. Sexson is likely to command soon. This is not a team trying to win. This is a team trying NOT to have to declare bankruptcy.

Finding the Danny Kolbs and Scott Posedniks (and Erubiel Durazos, and Joe Borowskis and Brian Daubachs, etc.) of the world is certainly helpful, a useful tool to supplement a pennant drive or trade for real, long-term, help, but much of it has to be called "luck" and nobody builds a championship team that way.

The slogan isn't quite right, though. It's not "...The Way We Play,"

"It's the Way We Run The Franchise"

That is, "Into the Ground".