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One of the best ways to connect with your customer base is to put a relatable face on your franchise. This is even more impactful in entertainment sports such as NFL football. Sure, in most cases, the quarterback will be the face of the franchise, but there is almost always another player who is also out there, and also relatable to the market. A player that more fans can see themselves as, or at least see themselves as friends of.
Eli Manning may be one of the most down to earth and generally agreeable QBs in the league, but he is still more of a hero to the average New York football fan than a “real guy.” He comes from football royalty, with a famous father and an even more famous brother. When your face is on the commercials between the snaps, it’s tough to connect as a Man Of The People.
Sure, sports fans want a larger than life “Broadway Joe” or “Air Jordan,” but they also want a Michael Strahan. Yes, he killed it on the field, but, beyond the gridiron, Giants fans loved the guy. He cultivated that likeable everyman demeanor not just into a stint on network sports TV, but as a cohost on a weekday morning gig opposite Kelly Ripa. It doesn’t get anymore mainstream than that. Lacking that direct connection to the “folks” can turn into a profit sink, followed by a declining brand, and complaints of consumer alienation.
The PR lesson here, Torossian says, is that any brand that depends on a team component for sales must cultivate brands within their brands, and define their customer approach based on those individual markets. In football, you have the Hero, the Everyman, the Enforcer, the Antihero, and the Showboat. Each of these characters are marketed to a slightly different demographic, building a communal dedicated fan base that will come together to keep brand sales in the black.
And, this concept isn’t just applicable in team sports. Walk down the snack aisle next time you are in the grocery store. Think about the commercials used to sell various Frito-Lay brands. If you didn’t know any better you might think Doritos and Lays played for entirely different teams.
So, where do you land on this? Are you trying to market all of your products or services to the same group of people, or can you create some brand “personalities” to widen your appeal, and increase your bottom line?
Ronn Torossian is the Author of, For Immediate Release, a bestselling PR Book. Torossian is a veteran in the Public Relations world and knows how vital it is for Pro Sports teams to build and maintain their brand reputation.
