Recently, the Milwaukee Brewers announced that American Family Insurance will replace Miller Brewing as the naming rights sponsor for the stadium in 2021. As with any change, some people were upset; however, they were likely even more upset because 1) Miller Brewing is a more logical partner for the Brewers, and 2) the way the new sponsorship was announced was riddled with mistakes.
Let’s take a look at what should have been done:
WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?
Cold, hard facts usually never win over the masses, but that’s exactly what the Brewers COO used to explain the new sponsorship at a press conference. The COO said that American Family Insurance:
- Has deep roots with the Brewers,
- Has been a partner since 2001,
- Is a great Wisconsin heritage brand,
- Is making a major commitment to the City of Milwaukee,
- Is making an increased visible presence in our community and
- Is a sophisticated Fortune 500 company that understands marketing and will align with our brands.
As you can see, it’s hard for fans to discern how the new sponsorship positively affects them, since all the reasons above are benefits to the Brewers. The owner at least makes reference to the fans–without any detail–in his official statement: “We look forward to all of the benefits this new partnership will bring to both of our organizations and to fans of the team.”
Keep in mind that it’s hard for your fans, members, clients, customers
PRESENT CHANGE WITH SENSITIVITY
For most consumers, logic doesn’t trump emotion, and fans are understandably emotionally attached to the name Miller Park. That’s why it was unsurprising that the aforementioned self-serving reasons led to
What the Brewers should have done was contacted their fans directly (e.g. through email, social media, etc.) ahead of time to give them a heads-up about the upcoming change; been more transparent upfront about how the change occurred, especially since there had to be follow-up stories to explain how the whole thing went down (e.g. who initiated contact); and showed empathy toward fans’ love of the Miller Park name, especially in interviews, press release quotations and social media responses.
In addition, American Family Insurance also should have expressed more empathy toward fans. For example, the CEO tweeted in response to an article: “We negotiated in good faith & struck a fair market deal. This partnership fits w/a longer term ‘AmFaMKE/Strategy’.”
This message is too self-serving because it translates to “it was a great price for us and helps us expand our business.” A better tweet would have been, “We look forward to helping the Brewers remain competitive and engaging with fans in Milwaukee.”