A reporter recently asked, “How do you communicate new branding to a legion of fans who might not want it? Cleveland’s name change is a significant branding change. Even though it is the right thing to do, it could have consequences for fans. What this mean for other brands? And what should business owners keep in mind as they build their brands?”I thought my response was worth sharing with you, first, because it addresses a super-topical issue that many firms are struggling with, and second, because it gives insight into how to analyze a situation, find and seize opportunities, and leverage massive improvement (I think this is one of my core strengths–and if you need this sort of thinking, please reach out):

Pitch Title: Rebranding: Cleveland has some advantages (HARO) The Cleveland MLB team won’t be the first professional sports team to change–not even the first to change from less to more politically correct. The Houston Astros started out as the Colt 45s, and the Washington Wizards basketballers were once the Bullets.

And let’s face it–if Humble Oil can successfully do a complete rebranding–not just the name change but the whole image–from warm, fuzzy but lily-white Esso with its “put a tiger in your tank” mascot and pictures of smiling White men pumping gas for happy White families–to cold, corporate Exxon, whose ads were largely devoid of people and completely lacking in cute animals, the challenge of a well-established franchise with the resources to spread the news and a good political reason for making the switch should not be all that hard.

Cleveland is a city with a strong Black community and a long history of speaking out on racial justice. The team has an opportunity to bring that community into the renaming process, provide a sense of ownership in the new name. They also have not just an opportunity but a moral obligation to reach out to Native American communities, not just in NE Ohio but around the Midwest. They should commit some dollars to amplifying their voices and giving space to the case that Red lives matter as much as Black and White ones. They could easily put up a web page that didn’t just explain the reason for the change but gave room for Red folks to tell their stories. This could even be on the homepage of the current site with a button to redirect to the new site for the new name, rather than an automatic redirect.

As a green/social entrepreneurship profitability consultant, speaker, and author of Guerrilla Marketing to Heal the World (endorsed by Seth Godin, Chicken Soup’s Jack Canfield…)–I take businesses beyond mere “sustainability” (status quo) to “regenerativity” (improving): I help develop and market profitable products/services that turn hunger/poverty into abundance, war into peace, and catastrophic climate change into planetary balance. Branding and product/company naming have been part of my work since the 1980s.

She then asked me to get specific about her four questions, and I wrote,

1. How do you communicate new branding to a legion of fans who might not want it?

The easiest way might be to identify a group of maybe 100 influencers–maybe people who have been season ticket holders for five years or more and also have 5000+ social media connections and/or newsletter subscribers (these are arbitrary numbers, just an example). Woo them a little. Reach out several weeks ahead of the public rebrand and describe some cool VIP activities that only they and their cohort (and maybe they can each invite three friends) get to do. These activities could be virtual (a live smartphone guided tour through the back, player-only parts of the stadium with a knowledgeable live guide who has an important title and can do real-time Q&A, for instance). Or do an in-person version for five or ten masked, distanced super-VIPs (that’s pretty labor-intensive and risky, so it has to be a tiny group). Give them some big hints of the new identity, but not a full reveal. Have a guessing contest with prizes for the person who comes closest, and some other prizes too.

Then actually ASK for help in spreading the reasons for the rebrand. Ask also to help you come up with new chants, ideas for cool swag, etc. Make them involved partners who want to give you their best thinking and to share their love of the club with their own base. Take lots of notes, implement the best stuff, and credit those whose ideas you used and those who didn’t–by commenting gratefully on their own and your social media feeds (on Facebook, you can do both at once by tagging. That used to be true on Twitter but seems not to be right now.)

2. Cleveland’s change is a significant branding change. Even though it’s the right thing to do, it could have consequences for fans. What does this mean for other brands?

Yes, it’s a significant branding change but plenty of teams have done it before. See for instance https://popculture.com/sports/news/7-sports-teams-changed-racist-names-mascots/#7 . Probably hundreds of high school and community teams have also switched. While it has consequences for the team, in terms of the expense of replacing all the uniforms, swag, signage, and maybe even the beer cups at the concession stands, it’s hard to see “consequences” for the fans. Some may be unhappy about the change, but hey, people are unhappy when Trader Joe’s stops carrying their favorite snack. Life goes on. In fact, there may be some positive PR buzz for finally doing the right thing, even if decades late and precipitated by a national crisis around racism this past spring and summer. That benefit can be multiplied if the team makes some sort of reparations. It could be something as simple as offering unsold VIP boxes to a rotating set of local community groups working on diversity and inclusion, at no charge and maybe with some VIP treatment.

3. And what should business owners keep in mind as they build their brands?

A brand is not just the slogan, logo, mascot, colors, etc. It’s the sum of the customer’s or prospect’s experience dealing with your organization. This means that if you’re part of an organization that says it’s an ally around diversity, you have to walk your talk. The good news is that by paying attention to what your brand REALLY stands for, aligning with a higher purpose than simply revenue or showing fans a good time, you can build amazing loyalty. And since sports teams already have enormous loyalty, they are ideally positioned to take it further and do really great things that address and begin to solve our biggest problems (not just racism but hunger, poverty, war, catastrophic climate change, pandemics, etc.)–and actually help change the culture by taking leadership. I have a lot of resources on this at http://goingbeyondsustainability.com 

4. How does a business pivot after rebranding?

Carefully but with enthusiasm. Make your mistakes in the beta phase and get them out of the way before your public launch. Get as much buy-in as possible ahead of the launch.