Replacing Indians' brand takes time, lots of money

CLEVELAND — Last week the Cleveland Indians updated their fans on the research phase of their move to determine a new team name. But those who have been following the saga closely since the potential for a change was first hinted at back in July have wondered why the process has dragged on for nearly a year with the very real possibility that a new name won't be announced until some time 2022. Make no mistake, the change is coming. Vice President of Baseball Operations Chris Antonetti said in December on MLB Network Radio that the organization spent a lot of time reflecting on how it can be a part of positive change for social justice and equality in the community. "After hearing from leaders in a variety of different spaces, we thought it made sense for us to have a new name moving forward that could allow us to do a better job of unifying our fan base and bringing people together around a common good, which is when sports are at their best," Antonetti said. All of that makes sense, but expecting club owner Paul Dolan or team executives to snap their fingers and come up with a new name overnight is ludicrous. Meanwhile, the machinations of a total brand transformation remain a bit of a mystery to the average fan. Charles Campisi, chair of the marketing and sport management department at Baldwin-Wallace University, said one reason the process is moving slowly is because it's a tremendous undertaking, encompassing every aspect of the franchise's existence. It's also a delicate transition that the club only wants to make once and that means getting it right while giving fans something new and fresh that they can point to as a source of unity and pride. "From a marketing perspective, it's not just about changing the name and logo," Campisi said. "It's about how to replace a 105-year-old brand and get fans to buy in at the same time." Cleveland.com consulted Campisi and experts from Case Western University and The Ohio State University for their thoughts on the Indians' name change and why the process can seem so daunting while taking so long to get it right. What are the costs associated with re-branding? One of the biggest obstacles is the financial aspect of re-branding once the team committed to its name change. "This is not just about changing the name on the jersey," Campisi said. "It's everything in and around the ballpark, too." When Seattle changed the name of its ballpark from Safeco Field to T-Mobile Park prior to the 2019 season, the Mariners had three months until opening day from the time their contract was signed. The Mariners hired an outside firm to go around the park and figure out every single spot that read "Safeco Field." Campisi said the Indians will have to undertake a similar cleanse, if they haven't already begun to do so. "There are so many places where if you've been at the park, you don't even see it anymore because you've seen it so many times," Campisi said. "You're going to have a lot of instances of that around the park with 'Indians.' If you want to do it right, you take your time during this season." From a practical perspective, taking the entire 2021 season with the blessing of local and national Native American groups allowed the Indians to uphold contracts with vendors for jerseys, hats T-shirts and other items that were already on order. "If they changed it right now, I've got to imagine either MLB or the Indians would have to eat all of that cost," Campisi said. Jonathan Ernest from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University says the economics associated with a name change of this scope are relatively unprecedented. "A lot of those costs are associated with the fact that this brand has been built up," Ernest said. "When you're thinking about switching, especially in baseball, it's more difficult because of the local market appeal." Ernest says there are few examples of teams switching names that are not new teams or existing teams relocating to new cities. The closest examples could come from minor league baseball teams, who tend to change names and brands more often, as in the case of Akron's Double-A team which changed from Aeros to Rubberducks in 2013. "Studies that have taken place in minor league baseball and other sports abroad have shown when teams change names it's important to have a local appeal or tie-in — a regional identity associated with it," Ernest said. In baseball, even more so than football, you're dealing with a regional appeal rather than a national fan base. Why not go with an interim name like Cleveland Baseball Club? The Indians have gone to great lengths to give themselves an open-ended timetable from the very first announcement that they would pursue a name change. Doing so means they can decide on one new brand and move on from there, rather than going with an interim title. Re-branding twice adds more headaches to the process, Campisi said. "You don't have to sell this kind of weird, nebulous team name, whatever it would be — Cleveland Baseball Team or Cleveland Baseball Club," Campisi said. Washington Football Team owner Dan Snyder was in a different spot. He was facing tremendous pressure from corporate sponsors to make an immediate change or risk losing funding, and possibly his club. Fortunately for the Indians, their demonstrated willingness in the past to work with Native American groups, and move away from imagery and themes that have long been viewed as problematic afforded them the opportunity to undertake the process at a more reasonable pace. "You're going to go through the process, you're going to do it well, and then you don't have to do it back to back years," Campisi said. "The Indians already got rid of Chief Wahoo. For Washington, the name was the thing that was the challenge. They were forced into that position, whereas the Indians were not." How do you choose a name from more than 1,100 options? The club revealed last week that during its research process it had compiled a list of 1,198 potential new names that were considered, and the next step in the process would be to cut that list to 14 before unveiling a new name. When Seattle's NHL expansion team revealed its name as the Kraken in July 2020, it was the culmination of nearly two years of research and development to arrive on that particular brand. Todd Humphreys, a senior vice president with the Kraken, said in a 2019 interview that hours were spent talking to fan groups, season ticket holders, community and corporate partners about the decision. Many of those themes and ideas were echoed by the Indians in last week's update on the name change procedure. "You do a lot of research trying to find something that's going to be unique and also resonate," Campisi said. "That's a tough thing to do, especially in this day and age." Aside from the overwhelming amount of research, the fact that there are several beloved and beguiling candidates already in the local consciousness tends to cloud the process more than help matters. "Don't be surprised if all these names that are getting thrown about: Spiders, Guardians, Blues, etc. those really aren't ones they're going to consider because they want to strike that chord and find something unique," Campisi said. Once somebody files for a trademark on a particular name, it adds another level of legal and logistical red tape that the team must cut through. "If other teams have it, like Richmond is the Spiders, and there are other Spiders teams, it's not going to be the Naps, it's not going to be the Blues," Campisi said. "You're going to have to try and come up with something altogether different." It's unlikely the Indians will land on a new name that is already in use by a professional franchise from another sport or league. But if the trademark rights to a new name, like say "Spiders," are challenged in court, history shows that the team or franchise typically will win out. The process, however, just might take so long that it's faster and cheaper to simply go in a different direction. Will fans really get behind a new name when one is decided? Jesse Walker, an assistant professor of marketing at Ohio State University's Fisher College of Business, says another reason the process seems to drag out is psychological. He says the name of a sports team is a real part of a fan's identity. "There are studies that show this, when people see their sports team's logo it triggers the reward center in their brain," Walker said. "If you're going to make a switch this substantial, it's a meaningful change to people's identities." Trying to make that change overnight could lead to strong reactions, but if you can get used to it over time, it's easier to accept. "When the new name and logo emerges, people will probably be more open to accepting of it than they would be if they had changed it overnight," Walker said. There's an old adage that goes, "If the team's successful, the hot dogs are warm and the beer is cold." That means, if the team isn't winning, people will find things to complain about. So putting a winning team on the field is another component to a successful name change. "That's the best marketing you could ever have in sports," Campisi said. "If they can put out a winning team, yeah, you're going to have those fans that are frustrated, that just want their 'Indians' to be the 'Indians,' but you're going to have a majority of the fan base that's going to come back." Ernest says baseball is a different animal, and it's going to take time and generations of people going to games and building memories with their parents and friends in order to truly realize that fan buy-in. Whatever the new name is, it may take a couple of years for fans to warm back up to the team. Take, for example, teams that change their longtime color schemes and logos. Some fans jump right in and say they love it, others take a little longer. "It's not just your favorite team, it's your childhood," Campisi said. "Memories are attached to it."