Branding tops fans in name game
NASL team name to be revealed, expert says process can be messy
Tuesday is a big day for Ottawa soccer. That’s the moment when our very own North American Soccer League team will actually get a name.
Ottawa Fury owner and CEO John Pugh, Bill Shenkman — part owner of English Championship League club Millwall in London — and their OSEG cohorts will be joined by NASL Commissioner Bill Petersen under the dome at Algonquin for the big reveal.
What’s the inside scoop? Your guess is as good as mine, and it is possible the name will not match any of the more than 4,000 offerings from fans.
This is not a voting exercise where the title mentioned the most is declared the winner. That would be too easy.
Andy Davidhazy tells me there is a lot more to finding the right name for a brand new franchise. He should know, since he is creative director of Downstream, an internationally-respected, Oregon-based company that advises organizations on how to brand their teams or businesses.
I confess to being surprised when Davidhazy told me the OSEG group’s decision to take the fan involvement route for picking names for both the NASL and Canadian Football League teams is something that “can get kind of messy.
“It would be nice if the most popular fan choice was selected,” he says. “But it never happens, especially with naming and logos. It can get messy because these are abstracts and it is very difficult, if not impossible, to get consensus.”
In other words, however you slice it, there will be some people — and maybe a lot of people — who don’t like the choice. That can result in some negativity.
But it is a necessary evil for more than one reason.
First, it begins the process of involving the fans — a marketing necessity.
Second, close examination of all the offerings can tease out where fan sensitivities lies.
Third, it can point to popular local themes set around Ottawa landmarks, our history.
“All-in-all, the exercise provides valuable data points,” he says. “I’m impressed OSEG is so committed to community connection to both its teams that it opted for this process. It was ready to deal with any turbulence if it came along.”
Davidhazy points out his company is not in the business of selecting the names. Its mandate is to take all available data, conduct focus groups, talk it up and then give OSEG a template for guiding it towards its own decision.
He talks about authenticity, uniqueness, connection to the city and its history. “It is nice to have a name that is a little uncomfortable or awkward in an interesting way and indicates to fans that you stand for something intriguing,” he says.
“At the end of the day, you are a business, and merchandising and marketing are important. But it should be cool and stylish and something to be proud of.”
The more I listen to this the more difficult it sounds. And the name is not the end of it. Next will be the logo, then team colours.
Davidhazy says he has a huge “war room” in his Oregon offices, with two teams of people working on logos for both the soccer and CFL teams. In this case, they will come back with multiple recommendations for debate before the owners come to a decision.
That’s the consensus method, which not everyone embraces. Davidhazy says he remembers walking into the office of former Walt Disney head honcho Michael Eisner with 50 logos for a project.
He looked them through and picked one. No discussion here, which is absolutely not the way OSEG is going about it.
It is also refusing to take the decision-making process completely out of the hands of the fans — its customers. It’s involving them because it needs them as much as they need it. They need to be buddies for this to succeed. That’s strong community commitment in my book.
Whatever name is announced on Tuesday evening there will not be universal approval. Never is. But even if the name is a little “off” for some, it will soon be accepted once the action begins and the team starts to establish what we all hope will be a winning reputation.
By then, the Ottawa X will have a recognizable logo and distinctive colours. I like royal blue myself, but that’s probably because I’m a Chelsea fan. OSEG’s football leader John Pugh would plump for red because he is a Manchester United fanatic. But even if he is the soccer boss, I am sure he will not be making this decision alone.
And whatever name comes down, whatever the logo and team colours that come later, what really matters is the fact we will soon have a pro team to call our own.