Branding and Home Teams
Last night I watched the baseball All Star Game. I’m a Red Sox fan and bleed red for sure. But some fans, ah…er New York fans seemingly do strange things and act in strange ways.
Why?
Branding.
New York Yankee’s fans feel so passionate about their home team that they actually booed all the Red Sox players, even though they were playing for the American League. That’s right, they booed their own team in essence.
Furthermore they booed the wives of the Red Sox players? Last time I checked they had little influence over the game.
I’d like to think Red Sox fans wouldn’t have booed the Yankee players but that’s probably not the case. The rivalry runs deep. But actually booing your own team? Makes no sense logically. But from a branding perspective?
In the end though they cheered as JD Drew of the Red Sox hit a 2 run homer. Ultimately I think they realized that we were on the same team.
Feeling passionate about a company, product or team can make you do nutty things huh?
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July 16th, 2008 at 10:27 am
I know – it’s beyond a branding thing. one would like to look at the team as a whole, a conglomerate of experience, and ultimately this is true. but so is the power of the individual. though i don’t bleed blue pinstripes (i’ll leave that to my brother), i am a new yorker, born in the bronx 10 minutes from the stadium. and still have the ball i caught in august 1976 yankees v a’s game. i am not a big sports fan, don’t know players or stats (again see my brother) but i enjoy a great game of ball.
nostalgia is an important element in branding — seeing the outside of that stadium, i am a kid again in a heartbeat! how does that happen?