Advice for John Collins
Tips on how to keep/make the Browns wildly popular.
1. The Browns are NOT the NFL. I know this is obvious, but it's important -- Browns fans don't really care if the team embodies the NFL. In fact, we'd prefer the team to embody the city, with an emphasis on history and character. I know you're a marketing guy, so if you want to market this team you should differenciate it from how the NFL as a whole has been sold. In a nutshell, take the Cleveland-area market and appeal to it's fundamental instincts. Then package and sell that. This is a town that is both fiercely proud (not a lot of transplants here) and insecure. You'd do the team and a town a great service by positioning this team as the embodiement of Cleveland. And I suspect that wouldn't be a bad way to position the team nationally either.
2. I know you aren't going to be involved in the football aspects of things, but you can make an influence in one very significant way -- push to educate and expose the players and coaches to the history of the team and city. At a minimum, it would make the team's representation at press conferences and in the media much more savvy if the entire organization had a better sense of these things. At best, you could help foster a team who's players are as proud of suiting up for the fans as the fans are as proud of the team. I don't really care how you accomplish this, though I have a couple ideas -- 1) get some well-respected former players involved on a regular basis in Berea, meeting and mentoring players, taking them out to dinner and what not. Show players the lives true Cleveland football heroes. 2) Require some sort of player/coach interaction with fans, and I don't mean signing autographs at the IX Center. Perhaps as part of the end-of-season wrap up the players meet with fans to discuss the season and the fans hopes for the next year. I think Cleveland fans would really love a little recognition that the players really care about winning. With today's pro athlete, sometimes it's pretty hard to tell.
3. Improve the game-time environment at Cleveland Browns Stadium. 1) Lower the volume tone down the flashiness of announcements, canned crowd chants, music during the middle of the game. This stuff is often a distraction, and it kind of sucks away crowd enthusiasm. It certainly hurts the crowd from getting into the rhythm of the game. 2) Get a new PA announcer. They guy prefaces everything with "Attention Browns Fans!!!" as if some people at the game AREN'T Browns fans. I'd much prefer a more plain-spoken voice along the lines of Tribe broadcaster Tom Hamilton. I think the difference would be quite an improvement. 3) Please, my god, please show replays to the fans who have paid to be at the game. There is no reason to deny the paying fans the information that is provided for free to people watching from home. Shouldn't the game experience be better at the stadium? And isn't it the fair thing to do?
4. Browns lunch boxes. Invest in the future.
5. Promote gameday, including tailgaiting. It might be against your better instincts to encourage fans NOT to spend money inside the stadium, but it's the right business decision to encourage people to get downtown early and stay late. It's also the right thing to do for the city. Gameday should always generate an electric feel in the air, and with CBS the epicenter. Some ideas: 1) Work with the City to keep tailgating both fun and secure. It might only take one press conference during the preseason announcing that the team and City want to encourage tailgating. 2) Put the CBS/Fox pregame show on the big screens both in and out of CBS -- not only can fans see this from the parking lots around the stadium, but it focuses everyone's eyes where the action is. 3) Do something visually to CBS during the weeks of home games -- driving through downtown, circling downtown waiting to land -- it should be obvious to everyone that something big is going to happen at the stadium. It's be a great new tradition. Maybe a giant gametime countdown on top of the stadium? Maybe some cool lighting effects?
6. Do what you can to bring Bernie back into the fold. It's really been a disgrace that he's been marginalized. Don't wait until he's somehow involved with another NFL team to realize the value he has in this city.
7. Browns beer cans. This might be shamelssly aping Pittsburgh's Iron City, but why not?
1. The Browns are NOT the NFL. I know this is obvious, but it's important -- Browns fans don't really care if the team embodies the NFL. In fact, we'd prefer the team to embody the city, with an emphasis on history and character. I know you're a marketing guy, so if you want to market this team you should differenciate it from how the NFL as a whole has been sold. In a nutshell, take the Cleveland-area market and appeal to it's fundamental instincts. Then package and sell that. This is a town that is both fiercely proud (not a lot of transplants here) and insecure. You'd do the team and a town a great service by positioning this team as the embodiement of Cleveland. And I suspect that wouldn't be a bad way to position the team nationally either.
2. I know you aren't going to be involved in the football aspects of things, but you can make an influence in one very significant way -- push to educate and expose the players and coaches to the history of the team and city. At a minimum, it would make the team's representation at press conferences and in the media much more savvy if the entire organization had a better sense of these things. At best, you could help foster a team who's players are as proud of suiting up for the fans as the fans are as proud of the team. I don't really care how you accomplish this, though I have a couple ideas -- 1) get some well-respected former players involved on a regular basis in Berea, meeting and mentoring players, taking them out to dinner and what not. Show players the lives true Cleveland football heroes. 2) Require some sort of player/coach interaction with fans, and I don't mean signing autographs at the IX Center. Perhaps as part of the end-of-season wrap up the players meet with fans to discuss the season and the fans hopes for the next year. I think Cleveland fans would really love a little recognition that the players really care about winning. With today's pro athlete, sometimes it's pretty hard to tell.
3. Improve the game-time environment at Cleveland Browns Stadium. 1) Lower the volume tone down the flashiness of announcements, canned crowd chants, music during the middle of the game. This stuff is often a distraction, and it kind of sucks away crowd enthusiasm. It certainly hurts the crowd from getting into the rhythm of the game. 2) Get a new PA announcer. They guy prefaces everything with "Attention Browns Fans!!!" as if some people at the game AREN'T Browns fans. I'd much prefer a more plain-spoken voice along the lines of Tribe broadcaster Tom Hamilton. I think the difference would be quite an improvement. 3) Please, my god, please show replays to the fans who have paid to be at the game. There is no reason to deny the paying fans the information that is provided for free to people watching from home. Shouldn't the game experience be better at the stadium? And isn't it the fair thing to do?
4. Browns lunch boxes. Invest in the future.
5. Promote gameday, including tailgaiting. It might be against your better instincts to encourage fans NOT to spend money inside the stadium, but it's the right business decision to encourage people to get downtown early and stay late. It's also the right thing to do for the city. Gameday should always generate an electric feel in the air, and with CBS the epicenter. Some ideas: 1) Work with the City to keep tailgating both fun and secure. It might only take one press conference during the preseason announcing that the team and City want to encourage tailgating. 2) Put the CBS/Fox pregame show on the big screens both in and out of CBS -- not only can fans see this from the parking lots around the stadium, but it focuses everyone's eyes where the action is. 3) Do something visually to CBS during the weeks of home games -- driving through downtown, circling downtown waiting to land -- it should be obvious to everyone that something big is going to happen at the stadium. It's be a great new tradition. Maybe a giant gametime countdown on top of the stadium? Maybe some cool lighting effects?
6. Do what you can to bring Bernie back into the fold. It's really been a disgrace that he's been marginalized. Don't wait until he's somehow involved with another NFL team to realize the value he has in this city.
7. Browns beer cans. This might be shamelssly aping Pittsburgh's Iron City, but why not?
posted by Michael @ 11:32 AM
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