When marketing and superstision collide
It was announced today that the Seahawks are retiring their lime jerseys. If you don’t follow the Seahawks, live in Seattle, or critique jerseys (uniwatchblog.com) you might not have even realized that these jerseys were actually worn. These jerseys were worn in one game, a humiliating defeat, and have now been put on the shelf er, taken off the shelf… presumably until the NFL wants a new marketing gimmick (see this years AFL jerseys).
I’m not necessarily a fan of the jerseys myself, but I have been intrigued by the newly found revenue stream of teams and leagues, the third jersey. Teams have found that if they wear a throwback jersey, introduce a new color jersey, or even re-brand their entire uniform that people will buy the jerseys and that these jersey sales are big money. Look at a team like the University of Oregon (Yes, it took alot for me to capitalize that) and the 5 jerseys their football team has worn this year.
However, with the Seahawks wearing the jerseys only once and announcing that they won’t wear them again, this third jersey may have been a Marcus Tubbs sized flop (I’m talking about the fact that we drafted him one pick before Steven Jackson). Around Seattle there have been billboards, bus ads, newspaper ads, basically a jailhouse blitz of advertising dedicated to these new jerseys. Without the Hawks wearing the jerseys I’m sure the sales will be drastically falling off and I wonder how long it will be until the only place to find your “Green with envy” jerseys will be the half-off rack.
I don’t have any numbers, but it appears that this third jersey may have been the first major failure in the “buy our new jersey” revenue stream. I doubt that the amount of money spent on advertisement has even been recouped in the few weeks since the jerseys were worn until today when they are retiring cutting the jerseys. You also have to consider the amount that Reebok spent to produce and distribute these jerseys (I wonder if the Hawks have a contract with Reebok into how much they have to wear a third jersey as players cannot change their name or number during the season unless they’re traded).
I’d imagine there were many meetings taking place after practices that involved the football operations saying that they don’t like the look and that the jerseys were bad (They were 0-1 in them) and the marketing department was saying that the team should wear them at least one more game to help recoup the costs. At the least I’m surprised the fact that the jerseys were being retired came out before Christmas and I’m sure the marketing team is not that pleased with Jim Mora for eating into the “Green for the Holidays” jersey sales. The advertising push, mixed with selling these jerseys off the sales rack ($25), rather than as one off authentic customized jerseys ($259-$309) is not a winning combination for anyone involved and I’m sure it will cause teams to take a longer time deciding which third/throwback jersey to wear, produce and sell.
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