Soccer Advertising is Different

Soccer, in the United States, is blowing my mind.

Last August I went to see the Seattle Sounders play the Portland Timbers. It’s one of the biggest rivalry matches in Major League Soccer and it sold out Century Link Field—that’s 67,000+ seats. 

67,000+ Americans paid to watch a soccer game. That’s a BIG DEAL. 

Your biggest social media fans are sitting right next to you

If you could hire someone to exponentially improve your social media program’s organic reach, increase the number of word-of-mouth referrals you receive, generate thought-provoking, branded content for your website and social media platforms, and deepen and enrich your relationships with your members, you’d do it, right?  Guess what? You already have. And they’re sitting right next to you.

What makes the renaming decision easier? (Hint: when your name is shared by a notorious radical terrorist group.)

Imagine discovering an Islamic militant group ravaging Iraq and Syria shared your brand name (ouch!). What would you do? Abandon your name? Or hold onto the equity you’ve built and risk negative brand associations by keeping your newly controversial name?

These are the questions Isis, a mobile wallet company, faced when ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) started hitting headlines for links to sectarian violence against government forces and civilians.