From Google: Seattle population: 563374 New York population: 19,541,453 10% of New York (1,954,145.3) is greater brand recognition than all of seattle knowing the sounders in terms of pure numbers. Plus even though they don't play in "New York" the name New York is the greatest brand you can have in the USA. It's why most DPs want to in the big cities because their city is part of the brand
10% means they are insignificant in their own home market. People know New York. People know Red Bull. But people don't care about New York Red Bulls.
You make interesting observation about what they want to know as, la world class and Portland genuine, passion. What do y'all think some of the other teams are looking to communicate? Personally I'd like to hear what Houston, Dallas and kc communicate about their brand
But we are talking about brand recognition which is not just for local market but worldwide unless you want to rephrase it as local brand. Local brand RBNY struggles relative to the size of its market, but their brand recognition in a larger scale is superior
I seriously can't believe you are still beating that dead horse. The Galaxy were the #1 draw in MLS prior to the Sounders arrival, and still are #2. They do this with almost zero focused marketing. They have plenty of impact in a metro area of over 10 million.
Good point. I brought up Portland and LA because I'm familiar with them, they're both very successful and are very different strategies. I think it's too soon to see what KC is going for brand identity wise. Their market would dictate that they go more towards the Portland model, but maybe with a slightly difference emphasis. I haven't been to Livestrong yet but if I had to identify two words with the brand I would say "excitement" and "fun". I would identify Houston with quality and passion, but that's just me. It seems as though from the new stadium to the players there's a dedication to quality. Of course every club is TRYING to have quality but Houston seems to have dedication to it. So two words? "Dedication" and "quality". Dallas? Geez, I think I'll leave that to someone else. But I will say if you can't sum up a clubs brand in two or three words they're doing something wrong. Just my opinion!
Looking at thie from the local perspective. 1. Portland Great market saturation might be the best in their home market; are they really losing anything to the Blazers? 2. Salt Lake Again great market saturation, most likely just behind the Jazz; dead horse time, I’m still not a fan of Real but it’s not hurting them and their only competition has an odd name for the region as well. 3. Seattle Really impressive market saturation especially when you consider what they’re up against. That said of course they’re still behind the Seahawks they are going toe to toe with the Mariners though. 4. Houston Brand started hot due to winning, the stadium will be another bump this season, the market really has weak brands for its size. The Rockets are the strongest brand, the Astros are ok but they’ve been around for a long time and have never won anything I don’t think anyone really thinks of them when people think of power teams in baseball, the Texans are a power because they are an NFL team but brand wise they are the equivalent of FC Dallas so much there to work with but nothing special used other than just “hey we’re Texas.” 5. Toronto Still a strong brand but we’ve been seeing chinks, even if they sell all of the tickets fans aren’t showing up to every game anymore, this can always be fixed with winning. I don’t know how much people care about Canadian football and they might do well compared to the Raptors and the Blue Jays but they are way behind the Leafs and always will be. 6. Vancouver Look to be strong might move up or down over time, again I don’t know about Canadian Football but they are way behind the Canucks. 7. DC Could crash and burn depending on the stadium situation but it is a brand with solid market penetration though sure they are behind the Redskins, Wizards, Capitals, and the Nationals. 8. Philadelphia Sons of Ben look good time would move them up, they are obviously behind the Eagles, 76ers, Flyers and Phillies if support holds though they might challenge the big four in their market in the future. 9. Los Angeles Sure they win, but I really don’t know that this team has captured the heart of their city; they are well behind the Lakers and Dodgers, I’d say they are behind the Angels, Kings and Ducks the Clippers are such a stepchild they might compete with them. They are also behind USC and UCLA while they may be universities have very strong sports brands. 10. Chicago Good brand but well behind the Bears, Bulls and Cubs, certainly behind the Blackhawks and White Sox. Might be fighting the old MLS stereotype locally, would move up as improvements are made to getting more passionate fans in than casual families and soccer teams. 11. Columbus Only behind the Blue Jackets because the local newspaper has a stake in the team even then not by a wide margin, Clippers got a boost from a new stadium, likely won’t last as time goes on. Remarkably far behind the Buckeyes Columbus is 98% Buckeyes and leaves 2% for everyone else to fight over. 12. Kansas City So new can move up with time, why the Rapids just let them take their alternate kits I have no idea, looked good on Colorado away looks good on KC now. Sure they are behind the Chiefs but they could be in a fight with the Royals if they keep it up. 13. San Jose This brand just needs some TLC and it will move up. They are behind the 49ers, Raiders, and Giants slightly behind the Sharks could maybe compete with the Athletics but seeing as they are owned by the same guy more effort will likely go to the Athletics than the Quakes. 14. FC Dallas The Brand is just “hey we’re Texas” that’s a loser when you are competing against the likes of the Cowboys, Mavericks, Stars and Rangers. 15. Colorado The perception is the owner could care less, that perception is reflected in fan base. They are behind the Broncos, Nuggets and Avalanche but could probably win against the Rockies with more effort. 16. New York A brand based on marketing a product is always going to fail in New York; it has to go up against brands like the Yankees, Knicks, Giants, Devils, Rangers Jets, Mets and Nets. 17. Chivas Like L.A. but second fiddle to them and by a large margin. 18. New England Not only do they have to compete against great brands like the Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics and Bruins but all of them have won recent championships. They are so clearly the stepchild of the Patriots it couldn’t be any sadder and on top of that the New England/Foxborough thing only works for the Patriots because they are an NFL team and one with recent success, the Revolution might as well not even exist in Boston.
It would be extremely, i.e. incorrectly, generous to say that 50% of lovely Washingtonians would draw a line between the words DC United and soccer. 300k people then, and into NYC's 8 million+, so we should be just fine at around 3 1/2% knowing
I don''t think 10% do, just some person I replied to said 10% do so I threw the fact at him that 10% of New York is more than Seattle
36,000 ssfc avg attendance/563,374=6.4% 20,000 ny avg attendance/19,541,453= 0.001% thanks for making my point. back to the real world. ciao bimbos.
For Pete's sake! I am talking about global brand not local brand. Locally Seattle is the biggest brand in the MLS among their fans..just outside the US they are not as known as the Galaxy and the Red Bulls. That's all
Is there a reason you went with metro population for NY and city only for Seattle? Not that it makes a whole lot of practical difference because NY is still far larger, but Seattle is at 3,439,809 and NY is at 18,897,109, when you take the 2010 census metro area data. 10 percent of NY is less than Seattle.
In Portland, when people get on the trains and they are crowded, I overhear a lot of "Oh right, there's a Blazers game tonight" when the Blazers are in town. When the Timbers are in town, I hear people ask "Oh, is there a Timbers' game tonight?". It is a small, but clear, distinction, at least for the moment, that the Trailblazers are still number 1. However there is a lot of awareness of the Timbers, and that gap will likely close in the next couple of years. On a completely unrelated note, I am sure there are a lot of people in Austria who are familiar with a soccer team who play in Red Bull Arena, which is owned by said company. Unfortunately for NYRB, the team I'm referring to is FC Red Bull Salzburg. More people are likely aware of that Red Bull team than the one in NY. Their kits are even quite similar (basically the only real difference is the shorts on the alternate), allowing for cursory glances to build the Red Bull brand, but lending confusion to both teams about who is what. As for other teams, I knew of Chicago, DC, New England, New York/New Jersey, and LA before I really started paying attention to anything with the league (flipping through sports channels and landing on the rare MLS game doesn't count). I couldn't have told you what any of the team's colors were, and I'd have been pressed to tell you the nickname of those teams, but I might have been able to do so.
Yeah, they OWN Estonia. I'm not sure about RBNY being high up on the list. I mean the brand of Red Bull the drink is VERY well known, the brand of Red Bull the soccer team is not nearly as well known as it should be given its advantages of money, players and location.
Globally everybody knows the Galaxy as Beckham's team. NYRB is also known globally through branding of the owners (FC Red Bull Salzburg, Red Bull Brasil, and RB Leipzig) plus Salzburg has a training facility in Ghana for African players. So as brands go NYRB is the biggest (Globally) and Galaxy is the biggest in the USA. Most of y'all will just be biased towards your team so since I am not a big fan of the league I believe that i have included a non biased opinion.
Most teams don't have much of a national brand. I base this list solely on non-Rapids jerseys that I've seen in Colorado - suggesting that there's more than local support, knowledge of - the teams.... Galaxy Sounders DC Crew Fire DC used to head the list, but even since the fall people remember who they are. Galaxy have always floated near the top. The Fire used to do better, and the Crew have always had some presence. The rest.... not so much.
On behalf of the city of Los Angeles, I officially apologize for LA having more winning teams than Houston . I guess our denizens are too distracted keeping up with all the championships that come our way. Not a native New Yorker, but based on repeat viewings of Entourage I would say New York Islanders?
Hey, winning is a good thing But being a winner in LA and having a brand that LA doesn't seem to care about when they win doesn't automatically make that brand a success story.
thoughtful post .. you overestimate the Quakes brand here in SJ. We're WAAAAAY behind the local ice skating team and when the A's move to downtown San Jose we'll fall further behind them as well.