"How being open, honest and professional can build a brand"

From SportsBusiness Journal

Review by Philip Pierce in KIN 501

Ryan Richeal’s article How being open, honest, and professional can build a brand summarized the success former Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey accomplished with Fenway Park and Boston Fans.

Guided by his personal values, Yawkey focused on the team and not individual players. Moreover, Yawkey knew the importance of connecting with Boston’s fanatics and made it a priority to build that relationship.

Richeal’s article combats some of the most obvious reasons a brand could falter such as the team’s recent poor performance and unfortunate traits of social evolution. “People are more transient, attention spans are shorter,” Richeal writes, “expectations are higher and more immediate.” (Richeal, 2012.) Despite the obstacles, Richeal urges “any company should start by recognizing the value of reputation.”

The Red Sox traded Babe Ruth but have always seen the value in their employees. The Red Sox disposed of Roger Clemens in his prime but will always embrace the community. And most recently, the Sox unloaded Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, and Josh Beckett to the Dodgers while staying true to Red Sox Nation – the fans.

Richeal highlights those three crucial pieces (employees, community, and fans) as a foundation to creating and maintaining a reputation that will build a brand. “Encouraging employees to be socially responsible allows them to benefit from better teamwork and greater work satisfaction,” Richeal writes. Furthermore, social responsibility extends beyond the Green Monster out into the community. “A truly successful effort will link prosperity between the team, its employees and the community to result in the long-term emotional bond of the team,” he adds.

Yawkey’s idea of a social conscience is reflected in Boston’s Customer Relationship Management strategy and has given them a marketing advantage over other teams. “All organizations should realize that the health of a community is interwoven with the health of a team”. (Richeal, 2012)

I could not agree more with Ryan Richeal’s ideas for building a successful brand. It seems like many brands in turmoil, the organizations or athletes that fill recent news headlines are in a branding nightmare because they forgot one of the three: openness, honesty, or professionalism. In addition, I think Richeal hit the bull’s-eye focusing his article on three central components of sport brands: employees, community, and fans. Richeal is right, times are changing. Some teams respond by spending more money but I agree with Ryan, invest in more time, effort and thought.

People are the backbone of sport teams. The more teams can connect with their people, the more fanatics will emerge, and the backbone to the business will be strong. In Tom Yawkey’s case, a Nation will be formed. “Teams don’t have the luxury of building on decades of tradition any longer,” Richeal added, “but, as Yawkey taught, stay true to the brand, and love and respect the customer. The team will be rewarded with a stellar reputation and a fan connection that is stronger and more enduring than the average business-consumer relationship and less influenced by the cycles of on-field performance and off-field competition.”