Portland Timbers Unveil New Logo

The Portland Timbers have unveiled a new logo for their move to the MLS next year.

The long awaited new crest comes after Timbers fans have been teased with a series of four video clues released in the last few weeks aimed at building anticipation.

A banner showcasing the new mark, designed by Mississppi based RARE Design, was met by mixed reactions during half time of the USA v. England match being shown on the bg screen in Portland's Director Park yesterday. Here is RARE's press release detailing the inspiration for the new design.

Personally I don't mind it. It could've been better, but it also could've been a great deal worse. I'm a fair way away from getting it tattooed on my forehead but it's certainly growing on me.

Below is a comment I wrote in response to Kim Brater's timely post the other day:

...I think there are a few considerations here.

There was always going to be a new logo:
People can say what they want about the new crest, but the fact that the key elements remain intact is a tip of the hat to the history of the club, yet it also signals the significant step up to be joining the country’s premier soccer league. Personally, I think it errs on the side of being slightly too busy, but I can live with it. The best logos of any sports are 2-D and simple – (Red Sox, dare I say it Kim, the Yankees, the Steelers, the Packers, the Oregon Ducks, Montreal Canadiens, Minnesota Twins et al).

Haters would have hated it no matter what:
It doesn’t matter if it was the world’s greatest ever logo, some people would still resist change like the plague. The Blazers’ logo has only undergone subtle tweaks throughout its history, perhaps the tweaks to the Timbers logo were not subtle enough.

Portlanders are a unique breed:
In a corner of the country that embraces alternative lifestyles, being a Timbers fan has a peculiar cachet about it. In many ways soccer is the anti-NFL — it’s indicative of a broader, more worldly sensibility than what American football represents and I think that strikes a chord with many Oregonians. Furthermore, the Timbers name and colors synch up well with its geography. Lastly PGE Park’s location downtown makes it truly a team from the city of Portland. I have seen Timbers players walking around the Pearl and eating at Cha Cha Cha several times. This visibility gives Portlanders a sense of ownership of the team more so than if the Timbers played in some pre-fab stadium that was slapped up quickly and cheaply out in the suburbs.

The Timbers brand is a solid one:
How many expansion franchises about to compete in a new league enjoy the same sort of deeply entrenched support that the Timbers do? How about the historical rivalries with the Sounders and the Whitecaps? Sure, the Timbers positioning could be a little tighter – but this is not uncommon with sports franchises. Most teams only exist by virtue of their local monopoly — having largely unoriginal brands whose recognition/equity with their market is simply synonymous with sport they play. This is certainly not the case with the Timbers.

It’s often hard to define what a team brand represents as it will be many things to many people. I think what the Timbers brand does lack currently is that unmistakable punch of say, the Yankees (“the brazen, big city bullies”) or the Steelers (The hard nosed grit of the Steel City”). But let’s hope this develops in time. I think it will.

As the “Soccer City USA” nickname suggests, the Timbers brand resonates very strongly with the people of Portland. In a city starved of major league sports, I am guessing the Timbers brand will stir stronger passion and loyalty than MLS teams like FC Dallas, New England Revolution or the Columbus Crew. This is a good thing. Something to be grateful for and a solid foundation on which to build.

NO PITY IN THE ROSE CITY!!!!!!!

The Enduring Appeal of Losers

This is not the greatest time of year for a North American sports fan. Apart from March Madness, there is little to get excited about.

During this weekend lull, I’ve taken some time to dive into some great pieces how franchises build their brands. Glenn Rifkin’s 1999 article in Strategy + Business Magazine is a gem. It talks about the enduring appeal of the Boston Red Sox, who at the time were eighty one years into a World Series Championship drought.

Rifkin cites a great quote from famed novelist John Updike who neatly framed a key part of the Red Sox brand proposition: "All men are mortal, and therefore all men are losers; our profoundest loyalty goes out to the fallible."

Updike wasn't writing as a marketer, but was certainly on to something. Everyone loves a winner, and whenever a team is on a hot streak, there is plenty of room on the bandwagon for fairweather fans to jump aboard. But the perennial losing team is embraced by a different kind of fan mentality -- the sucker for punishment, the type that values loyalty and commitment over the ephemeral ecstasy of championships.

Now that the Red Sox have exorcised their World Series Demons in 2004, and again in 2007, perhaps their brand has morphed into a different animal. But one club in the majors still appeals to this specific kind of self-loathing fan -- the Chicago Cubs.

When the 2010 season begins, the Chicago Cubs will play their 102nd season since winning the World Series in 1908. Yet they remain one of the strongest, most recognizable MLB team brands.

Perhaps the Cubs, similarly to the Red Sox, consistently fill the fan void that other teams are not willing to occupy. The downtrodden, unthreatening, lovable loser. To come tantalizingly close, year in, year out but to fall short is the Cubs legacy. Or as Abram Sauer puts it, the Cubs' brand is "the uncomplicated formula of hope and disappointment, and more importantly, the repetition of this cycle to the point of comfort in the routine."

Perhaps this is it. The Cubs put their fans through the wringer, teetering on the tantalizing fulcrum of ecstasy and heartbreak, yet how often do you hear of a Cubs fan switching their allegiance to the cross town White Sox? Political commentator George Will famously described Cubs fans as "ninety percent scar tissue." Why, you could reasonably ask, would anyone expose themselves to such emotional torture?

I think it's because scarcity creates value. Any bona fide Cubs fan realizes that there'd be fewer places in professional sports that would break into the throes of unbridled jubilation like the the North side of Chicago after a Cubs title. I'm a Twins fan, but I think a Cubs World Series win would warrant a trip to the Windy City.

What do you think? What is it about the Cubs Brand that makes it so powerful?

Did England Cheat To Win The 2005 Ashes Series?

It is hard to describe the cricketing rivalry between Australia and England to an American. My best stab at it usually involves imagining the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry on steroids. But imagine if this juiced up rivalry engaged the whole country and not just those famous two cities. And instead of several times a year, imagine if a Test Series is played only biennially and dates back to 1882. Then imagine if was not just the English and Australians watching but the whole of the cricketing world with over a billion people in countries diverse as India, South Africa, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, and several Caribbean nations? You get my drift anyway - the Ashes is a BIG deal.

It is telling then that in former England opener Marcus Trescothick's soon to be released memoirs he reveals that during the 2005 series, England used an illegal tactic in their narrow 2-1 victory. To produce the unplayable swing bowling that had the Australian batsmen in all sorts of bother, Trescothick had experimented with several brands of breathmints designed to trigger saliva production used to polish the ball. Designated as the the team member assigned chief shining duties, Trescothick enabled the English bowlers to create enhanced movement through the air and off the pitch - especially as the ball aged.

Unfortunately for the English, this tactic falls outside the laws of the game which state that no artificial substance can be used to polish the ball. Taking that definition at face value, Trescothick cheated.

However, like other ball tampering incidents this is a tough one to police. Chewing gum has become a staple for many international cricketers, so much so that it is safe to say that in every single test match of the past 20 years there is a good chance the ball will have been polished by a player chewing gum. I guess the difference in Trecothick's case is the experimentation involved in getting the ideal product (Murray's Mints) to heighten saliva production to its maximum capability. The nefarious nature of this operation is underscored by the suggestion that this was England team policy as Trescothick was established as "firmly the man in charge" of looking after the ball while England was in the field.

It is hard to imagine Trescothick's motives in revealing this information so long after the event. Especially with the Ashes back safe in Australian hands after their historic 5-0 clean sweep on the return series in Australia of 2006-07. In any event, I am betting this ugly revelation will remain fresh in the minds of Ricky Ponting's men as they look to retain their dominance over the English in the summer of 2009.