The Iowa Chops = horrific branding

Like everyone else, I was excited about Des Moines being the home for the Anaheim Ducks' new AHL affiliate.

I was not excited when I heard the name.

The Iowa Chops.  Seriously....this is embarrassing. 

The Partnerships and CVB have been working their tails off (no pig pun intended) to change the image the world has of Iowa and Des Moines.  We heralded national coverage in the New York Times, Forbes and other publications that said Des Moines had gotten a whole lot more hip, thanks to the East Village and some upscale restaurants.

And now we've named our hockey team after an irate pig?  Talk about three steps forward, five steps back.

Even if you like the name, there are other troubles with this brand.  Actually, much bigger problems.

Try this one on for size.  The hockey team doesn't own the rights to their own name.  The Iowa Pork Producers does.  Here's a quote from a recent news story.

"The Iowa Pork Producers Association has entered into a three-year marketing agreement with Schlegel Sports to allow use of the name Iowa Chops for its new American Hockey League team in Des Moines.  In addition to use of the name, the deal also provides the association with additional promotional opportunities.  The Iowa Chop has been a registered trademark of the Iowa Pork Producers Association since 1982."

So not only does the team not own their own name, but they're beholden to a promotional partner who is going to further muddy the branding waters by pushing chops at the Chops' games.

Anyone have a good pork recipe they can put in the season opening game's program? 

Ugh.

Think I am being too critical?  I've been gentle compared to Yahoo Sports, Fanhouse, our old NHL affiliate's fans, the Orange County Register and our new ones!

Update:  As always, I -- Drew McLellan, wrote this piece on branding and marketing.  Unfortunately I was logged in under the admin account, not my own.  Sorry that my name doesn't appear on the byline.  Hopefully regular readers will have just assumed it's me.  Because it is.

Comments

[Brett Trout]

Who is "IowaBiz?" How can we berate the blog writer on not getting his/her facts straight if there is no actual writer associated with the post? Anonymous blog posts = FAIL

[Drew McLellan]

Geez Brett....ease up. I've been writing the marketing and branding posts for a year now...so I would like to think you know it's me. (Drew)

I just accidentally wrote it while logged in as the admin, not myself the author. By the time I realized it and went to fix it, there were already trackbacks linked to the post so I couldn't. I've gone ahead and added an update just in case.

As for the facts not being correct...all the facts were taken from press releases and media accounts. So I'm happy to pass anything that is incorrect to their sources.

Drew

[Mary]

I think it's kind of cute. "Chops" ties in to hockey lingo, and into the picture of the hog. I like the tie in to the region. Another team that did so successfully is the Univ of Illinois at Chicago "Flames" - which ties into Chicago history. And "Chops" or not, I'd go - I like minor league hockey.

[Drew McLellan]

Mary,

I'm sure a lot of people will like the name. Which is great for the city and hockey. I grew up in MN, so I'm happy hockey is back!

From a branding perspective, I think the name choice was flawed. But that's not going to keep me from enjoying the games!

Drew

[Broodwich]

If we had marketing research and polls back in the early years of athletics would we have the Packers? How about the Cornhuskers? Perhaps the most successful college football program of this decade is named after an inanimate nut; the Buckeyes.

The Stars were affiliated with a very successful parent organization and brand in the Dallas organization and they flopped here. Why? Because they didn't embrace the market and they only had one season of compelling hockey. If the Chops are winners and people have fun at a reasonable price the butts are going to be in the seats.

Let the Chops worry what is best for their ticket sales, and I suggest that you lighten up. Des Moines is undergoing some phenomenal changes, and it has become a really good place to play. That's necessarily mean we need to make it easy for everyone to know this by calling our AHL Team the Des Moines 3G iPhones because that's what people on the coasts want. We need to be honest with ourselves and learn how to have some levity about where we are.

[Drew McLellan]

Broodwich,

You make an excellent point about the Packers. I'll bet that name wouldn't fly today. Maybe the Brewers would. And I think the Buckeyes might -- since it's their state tree.

As for the iPhone...actually Iowa was one of only a handful of states that completely sold out of the iPhone on the first day. So apparently the buzz about them isn't isolated to the coasts.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Drew

[Mark True]

Hey brother:

Have to respectfully disagree with your rant on this one. In the great big picture, this doesn't matter that much. It's a sports team name and it's pretty difficult to hit a home run (sorry for the mixed metaphor) on a new franchise name these days...a lot of them have been taken over the past century or so.

Secondly, we have to face it, Iowa is largely about agriculture. Look out the window. It's a whole lot more on-brand than the Energy or the Dragons. At least they chose to highlight value-added agriculture: They could have called them the tractors, the plowboys, the corn, etc. And who wants to remember the spring with a name like "the storm" or "the rain" or "the wind"? I don't remember everyone calling the "Barnstormers" a brilliant name, but it's pretty solid these days!

I applaud the team for working with the Iowa Pork Producers. It's a very creative solution for a budget operation. It's not like the Pork Producers are going to jack up the price in three years...that would be a PR nightmare for them.

I think this name, like the Packers, Cardinals, Cubs, Brewers, and others before it, will grow on us, too.

-Mark

[Doug Mitchell]

People said the same about the Chops big brother "The Mighty Ducks". I think they're now just the Ducks but similar lambasting occurred in California (pre-blogging days). The ownership issue aside, I think the Chops brand works and has a chance.

[Kurt Bowermaster]

I think this is a brilliant marketing strategy. What is the goal of any new sports franchise? To get name recognition and get the potential fan-base talking about you. That's exactly what the Iowa Chops marketing department has done.

And the logo design and team colors should be a very good seller on merchandise.

KB

[Drew McLellan]

Mark, Doug & Kurt,

Time will tell and you may well be right. I stand by my opinion. I think they could have done better than a angry pig.

And....I would never let one of our clients launch a brand and spend serious money on a brand that they cannot completely own and control.

I'm not suggesting that the Pork Producers would ever do anything to hurt the team or be unfair.

But sharing your brand sort of defeats the purpose of branding. Again...in my opinion.

But...for whatever the reason and even in disagreement -- glad to have you commenting on IowaBiz. Come back and jump into more conversations!

Drew

[Mark True]

I think DISagreement is so, negative. How about DIFFagreement! :)

- Mark

[Timothy Johnson]

Drew - it could be worse. Look what naming convention this judge had to deal with: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080724/ap_on_fe_st/new_zealand_bizarre_names_2

[Drew McLellan]

Tim,

You know, just when you think you have it bad, the Internet proves you wrong!

But, at least her name rhymed!

Drew

[Jason]

I like both the name and logo, and I can tell a good logo design when I see one, since I've been a logo designer for a long time. Besides, this isn't the only sports team in the country that has a name associated with meat, OH NO. There is an independent professional baseball team in the Northern League called the Kansas City T-Bones. They've been around for a few years, and I've been to one of their games during vacation this year, and I've not heard a complaint about their name yet. Heck, they even have a mascot that's a bull named Sizzle! But anyways, I like the team so much, I almost got an official jersey, but wasn't willing to spend $100 right then. So all it comes down to is that you'll get use to it.