The National Football League in a public display of foolishness sent official cease and desist letters to several small Louisiana T-shirt shop owners ordering them to stop producing and selling t-shirts bearing the phrase “Who dat.” It seems the NFL was claiming to own trademark rights to the term. But wait, that term has been around a long time. Some say it originated in an 1890s jazz song.
The NFL also claimed the “unofficial” use would cause confusion as to the official status of the merchandise. The “official status” of the merchandise? Please. Are people buying the shirts because of the NFL or because of the New Orleans Saints?
I understand the NFL’s desire to, and the importance of protecting their team’s brands, but it seems in this case they’ve caused an unintended result. Now fans everywhere are calling for a boycott of the “official” merchandise. This could have been avoided if the NFL promoted their merchandise in a way that would cause people to prefer to buy “official” merchandise rather than “unofficial” merchandise. The NFLs decision to let attorneys substitute for effective branding and marketing backfired.
Louisiana’s politicians and a host of pulic figures immediately spoke out against the NFLs position and the NFL has since backed off, but the damage is done.
The National Football League would do well to understand that the NFL is not “the brand.” The individual teams are the brands that people support. And that the brand lives, not in the minds of management, but in the minds of the marketplace. The marketplace determines the brand. Savvy companies can and do influence the marketplace definition of their brand, but not with lawyers.
Now however, it could be said that some “confusion” has been cleared up: Fans are no longer confused about the NFL – the result is that the NFL is now a brand – and, whether right or wrong, it represents greed and arrogance.
Nevertheless, all this does benefit the Saints, because the “underdog” status and the “little guy” status greatly expand the team’s appeal to a much wider audience. Remember when the fans were wearing paper bags over their heads and calling the team the “‘aints?” New Orleans will now have more fans supporting them this Sunday than they had before the NFL cleared up the “confusion.”
All companies need to realize that brand management is not simple, should not be left primarily in the hands of attorneys and that it takes uncommon intuitive skill. What do you think?
Tags: brand, brand identity, brand value, Branding, influencing purchase decisions, Marketing, New Orleans Saints, sports branding
The NFL is also claiming ownership of the fleur-de-lis symbol, which has been around for at least 500 years. You have to wonder what these people are thinking.
If I would have read this a few years ago, I’m not sure what I would have thought.. but today I agree with everything in this post.
Enjoyed the posts..
Great thread. Enjoyed the posts..
If you don’t manage your brand, it will be managed for you — by your competitors.