Rebranding, is it really worth it?

What is a Mean Green? Is it a little confusing that our mascot is an Eagle? And “A Green Light to Greatness” as our brand identity? Considering orientation was a few years ago and not remembering our slogan before the rebranding that happened last year, it has just an acceptance of sorts, but does it really matter?

Every organization wants a strong brand. They want the recognition and benefits of a strong brand. Knowing where your strengths lie and incorporating those to your audience can have a lasting effect.

Some of the most visible organizations are sports teams. Everything lies with the team name and meaning. Yesterday the New Orleans’ NBA basketball team unveiled its team name change from the Hornets to the Pelicans. The unveiling of the logo, colors and team name Thursday showed its connection the local community. Pelicans have a strong population in the area and are Louisiana’s state bird.

This change could also tie into the environment of the Gulf Coast. The partnership between changing the environment and the team opens new doors for the team. The organization investment in the environment can also spark new buzz for the team when its name change takes place next season.

As a representation of local culture, Hornets are making the move to connect unlike other team names that seem not to make sense. It’s giving the community a meaning. Professional teams have been traded from to city before. The Utah Jazz were once from New Orleans but now the name doesn’t make sense as the jazz culture isn’t big there as it is in New Orleans. The last basketball team to be renamed was the Oklahoma City Thunder, who were once the Settle supersonics. The renaming opens a door for the Charlotte Bobcats to the use the name Hornets in the future.

Outside of sports, recently American Airlines unveiled its new look that includes a new logo, and employee uniforms. American Airlines, which is going through Chapter 11 bankruptcy, took a risk and criticism for the change. The change of logo is the first change in 40 years. The uniforms have not changed in 20 years. The company has declined to release how much this will cost. Some praise the new look but don’t know why they chose now to rebrand.

So what’s are they benefiting by this sort of rebranding? According to the article in the Houston Chronicle, the key components of a good brand strategy are instant messaging, assurance of quality, social factors and emotional appeal. Key message gets your point across and leaves an impression. Strong brands are associated with quality. You know that every time you buy a Coca-Cola it will have the same quality taste. The buzz around the rebranding can lead people to back into the arena or airplane seats. The Hornets are definitely trying to get people invested emotionally support back to the team. And well, American Airlines are looking for people to fill up those new planes.

Benefitting from Scandal

With the breaking story of Norte Dame’s football player Manti Te’o story and the power of anonymity on the Internet, one TV show can benefit from the publicity off the scandal—“Catfish: The TV Show” an MTV reality TV show.

The TV show, hosted by Yeniv “Nev” Schulman, helps people through the struggles of meeting and dating online. Most stories involve people who lie about why they can’t meet with the person they claim to be dating. The show uses social media to investigate the truth about the person’s identity. Schulman, himself a victim of online dating, was documented in the 2010 film Catfish as he interacted with a woman that went by the name Megan. The film’s popularity propelled the use of “catfish” to associate to a person who lies about their true identity. Since then Schulman along with film producers have gone out to help others in similar situations. Or as other have speculated to make “catfish” a popular term.

The show and its team, riding off the scandal coverage, are now the go-to-experts on the subject. Schulman took to his twitter account to reach out to Te’o as to try to help him tell his story.  Schulman even tweeted he had been contacted by a women involved in the story and even promised to investigate more. The Wall Street Journal, along with other media outlets, published a blog entry commenting on safety producers to prevent something like this happening.  Their suggestion: do your research, look for red flags and if it’s too good to be true it may be not be true. And after one quick Google search both Catfish film and the spin-off show come up as the top searches.

The question is whether the show can benefit from publicity and how long. The brand can survive as people’s interactions turn more online friendly. While the truth behind the Te’o is still unrolling, Catfish can surely benefit from helping news sources with first-person accounts of similar stories. The series still has two episodes left to air in its first season. The story now infamous had many people intrigued who have never been interested in sports.  Now Catfish will attempt the same thing. Talk about free publicity.

Both the show and film have been criticized for its lack of authenticity as every person who has been investigated agrees to come out and admit the truth. It does not portray the whole story or how hard the producers work to get the “catfish” to come out in the open. In December the show was picked up for a second season and if the Catfish team takes on the story, it would sure to help the show’s ratings.