NESN: Raps Must Look Beyond Basketball Court to Remake Brand

[polo007]

http://nesn.com/2013/05/toronto-raptors ... ake-brand/

The revolution will be televised — on TSN and Rogers Sportsnet.

Big changes are underway in Toronto, where such alterations have been necessary for some time. The arrival of Tim Leiweke, who oversaw the Los Angeles-based group that owned the Lakers, Kings and Galaxy until being hired last month as CEO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, promises those changes will not be confined to the basketball court — because they can’t be, thanks to the Raptors’ own missteps.

The Raptors have no picks in this year’s NBA draft, the result of some ill-advised dealing that netted them little more than point guard Kyle Lowry. They have a collection of bad contracts, a promising yet unspectacular young player in Jonas Valanciunas and some mid-career types like Landry Fields and DeMar DeRozan, who are far away from fulfilling the potential they once showed.

Worse, the team has an image problem. Perusing the sports pages of Toronto and Canada’s major news websites this week, the only mentions of the Raptors were post mortems pillorying the tenure of outgoing general manager Bryan Colangelo. The Blue Jays and Leafs aren’t the only sports team to let down their city lately.

The removal of Colangelo, who will remain as the team’s president, is a workable first step. Leiweke has promised renewed “accountability” and “new thinking” in the organization, and the team’s next G.M. should reflect that approach. Someone in the mold of Utah’s Dennis Lindsey or Philadelphia’s Sam Hinkie would be perfect, assuming such candidates don’t run away screaming at the sight of Andrea Bargnani and Rudy Gay.

Before any of that can begin, though — Gay and Bargnani are both around for at least two more years, hooray! — the Raptors’ rebuild needs to start in the marketing department, not the basketball personnel department. Leiweke, to his credit, accepts this.

“We absolutely have had conversations about the color and the makeup of our brand, our uniforms and our image,” Leiweke said, according to The Associated Press. “To me, we should be all about the Canadian flag and Canada. We are Toronto’s team, but I think we have to learn how to be Canada’s team.”

[RapHippy]

Nooo no more of this "Canada's team" bull****. If we're going to be respected we're going to be a NBA team, not Canada's team. We need to stray away from gimmicks, and focus on selling our brand as a basketball team.

[joeyt618]

Damn. I was excited reading about a possible rebranding... up until the "Canada's team" BS. That's exactly the opposite direction of where I want this team to go. I understanding the marketing behind it, but as a team, I want its identity to represent the Toronto Raptors basketball club. No player, besides Canadians, wants to play for the "Canadian National Team". But I honestly feel, if we can produce a winning product on the court, the rest of Canada will be behind it. You don't need to put a Canadian flag on the jersey to get the country's attention.

[Purple+Black]

Augh so how is this a new direction? Can we get any more Canadian than this? What will they do?? We're going to be the Toronto Maple Syrup or the Toronto Beavers.

[Prodigy416]

Find it hilarious that the motivation to rebrand is to redefine our image in the NBA and attract/retain premier players, yet more of this "Canada's team" theme is supposed to help us accomplish that? This is not the NHL.

[22haytham22]

I cant stand this is Canada's team crap...look we are Toronto Raptors and the only way ppl in Canada will give a **** about us is if we have a superstar and win games...look what Vince Carter did, he blew up Canada and the US...bring us a team and the rest will follow

[RaptorNews]

Ditto on the "Canada's team" hate

[Mack11]

holy crap so this is happening?

[dozendonuts]

This is so stupid. Canada doesn't care about the Raptors because they SUCK not because of their uniforms, or name, or brand. Doesn't matter if we're called the Toronto Sewer Rats if we're a winning team and we're in the playoffs, the country will support the team. None of this "it starts in the marketing department", just win. It's really that easy.

[C_Money]

What if the Celtics and Lakers changed their jersey color and team name every 10 years? Keep it the way it is and just focus on the wins.

[RxOxP]

Nooo no more of this "Canada's team" bull****. If we're going to be respected we're going to be a NBA team, not Canada's team. We need to stray away from gimmicks, and focus on selling our brand as a basketball team.

Amen to that.

[Waylon Mercy]

Leiweke is really starting to piss me off with this Canada rebranding crap. Hes trying to
be a hero and make us into a corny gimmick none of us want. Im already getting sick
to my stomach with what their going to do to the uniforms. I hate how the Jays have that
giant Maple Leaf on their practice hats as I think it looks ridiclious.

We should be trying to blend in with the other 29 teams not scream that were different.
All I want from Leiweke is to get a good management team and stfu.

[ATLTimekeeper]

Some of you really picky considering you're hardcore fans of a team named after Juraissic Park. More fans = more resources. Maybe a Canadian-branded team will make a play for some Canadian players?

[J-Roc]

You know it's bad when someone from NESN decides to write about the Raps. When do you see a Toronto paper writing about the plight of the Timberwolves? TL, starting from the bottom....

[Double Helix]

Leiweke: "I think we should be Canada's team, not just Toronto's team."

Colangelo: "Already thought of it."

Leiweke: "No, I'm talking about us putting a freaking maple leaf on the back and introducing more red and less purple. Get rid of the whole Raptors TV thing. Let's call our channel... Are you ready for this? NBA TV Canada."

Colangelo: "Tim, did you do any research into where our team currently is at before accepting this position?"

Leiweke: "Of course I did! Just wait until I tell you my big plans for Chris Bosh! He's on TMZ all the time. He could be way bigger up here than he is!"

[VC-INJURY]

Also sick of the Canada crap. The base all their decisions on what works with hockey here. If they want to attract top talent to the Raptors, so they actually start winning and people care about them, they should name Magic Johnson the GM, Dr. J as the head coach, Larry Bird as Team President, Dr. Dre as Director of Game Day Operations and Kendrick Lamar as the teams new in-house announcer. Player would be fighting to play here

[Waylon Mercy]

Some of you really picky considering you're hardcore fans of a team named after Juraissic Park. More fans = more resources. Maybe a Canadian-branded team will make a play for some Canadian players?

What does that have to do with anything? Most NBA team names arent cool. Its funny how
the team name and branding was never an issue during the Vinsanity era when the Raps
were one of the hottest sport brands in the world.

Then Colangelo turns them into the Euro Raps changes the colors, jersey, logo etc and now all
of this stuff is an issue?

And I dont want Canadian players just for the sake of them being Canadian I want the best
players possible wherever theyre from.

[rapluva]

I say we pour maple syrup on every Toronto Raptor when they walk onto the court and to top it all off, we need to stuff their shorts with some Poutine... that's it.. there's your Canadian Brand Mr. TL.

[Prestige]

I don't know how much more you can sell a brand that is associated with losing. The team stinks and has stunk for most of its existence. End of story. Nobody cares about this 'Canada's team' garbage when the franchise is an embarrassment.

Start winning first, then you can start with everything else.

[Zeno]

Some things to consider.

1. They wouldn't be doing this for fans like us, who would probably support the team if they were called the "sh*theads" complete with a logo of feces.

2. Outside of Toronto, where people sometimes seem embarrassed to be in Canada, and large parts of Quebec, the whole Canada thing means something to people.

Whenever a company decides to market outside of its base, it runs the risk of isolating them, but I think they take for granted that the city of Toronto will support any degree of winning whatever the branding.