May 25, 2013

Indians unveil 2013 advertising campaign: “This is a Tribe Town”

February 22, 2013 by 43 Comments

“This is a Tribe town,” will be the theme of the of the Cleveland Indians’ 2013 brand campaign, the first installment of which the team released Friday morning. Replacing the two-year run of “What If?,” The campaign features a series of videos of Tribe players and personalities detailing why they’ve chosen to join or remain a part of the organization and the city of Cleveland.

In the first installment, new manager Terry Francona, whose father, Tito, played for the Indians from 1959-1964, details how his passion for the Indians, their fans and the city played a vital role in his decision to return. The campaign also will appear in television, radio, print, online, and out-of-home advertising.

“I spent the first six years of my life here, going to the stadium with my dad: cheering for the Tribe, cheering for Cleveland,“ Francona says in the video, which can be viewed at Indians.com. “This is a town that doesn’t give up. Being a Cleveland sports fan takes resilience. The passion is real. The fans are real. Cleveland is a Tribe town. ”

Subsequent iterations of this campaign will feature radio voice Tom Hamilton, first baseman Nick Swisher, bench coach Sandy Alomar Jr, and outfielder Michael Bourn. The team claims that the unveiling of the new brand campaign comes amid “heightened attention spurred by the team’s active offseason – specifically the acquisitions of Swisher and Bourn – which significantly improved the 2013 team.” Said attention has reportedly resulted in increased ticket and merchandise sales, and jumps in traffic on Indians.com and the Indians’ social media channels.

“’This is a Tribe town’ captures perfectly the passion we feel for our fans and the community we serve,” Indians president Mark Shapiro added.

[Related: My (Limited) View From Goodyear]

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  • MrCleaveland

    One slight problem. This is a Browns Town.

    Man, who comes up with this stuff? Do they really think they’re fooling anybody? Do these marketing people even live here?

    WFNY readers could come up with a dozen slogans better than this one for free.

  • mgbode

    I’d think Cleveland was a Tribe town 1901-1947 and then again from 1995-1999. outside of those timeframes, I don’t think Tribe-town is apt.

  • thenoclist

    To each his own. To me, Cleveland has and always will be a Cavs town.

  • EZ

    “I spent the first six years of my life here, going to the stadium with my dad: cheering for the Tribe, cheering for Cleveland,“

    Peeing in The Trough…

  • nj0

    After the “what if?” campaign, this seems pretty boilerplate.

  • Garry_Owen

    Population: 1

  • Garry_Owen

    Jim Brown thinks the Indians’ marketing department is “average.”

  • ThatAlex

    I can’t help but think that this ad campaign is a shot at the Browns somehow.
    I don’t know what the motivations were for this specific campaign were, but I’m not sure they were entirely positive.
    If this is a shot at the other sports teams (which is pretty hard NOT to see it that way), then this seems kind of petty.
    And for the record, I would hate it just as much if the Browns ever created a marketing campaign saying “This is a Browns town.”
    It just conjures up the notion that this city isn’t big enough to adequately support three professional sports teams.

  • Harv 21

    thinking the same thing: um, did someone move us onto a rez in South Dakota?

    Betcha the marketing peeps were going for something comforting and familiar for locals, something that sounded like a B-side Michael Stanley anthem they squashed before release 20 years ago.

  • Harv 21

    The Garrymeister bringing his Friday game.
    Don’t mess.

  • Harv 21

    be kind, leave some O2 in the room, Smokin’ Owen.

  • gct

    The Browns basically did create that marketing campaign. Who can forget G E Smith (of SNL… fame?) and his “Browns Town” song his band performed live at games for a few years in the mid-2000s. Simply awful.

  • BisonDeleSightings

    I thought this was a Crunch town.

  • MrCleaveland

    I’ve always liked the “Indian Fever, Be a Believer” jingle. Why not re-use that?

  • thenoclist

    Should have went with What If This Is A Tribe Town?

  • Harv 21

    or sink, depending on whether it was flash bat day crowd and state of dad’s back.

  • Garry_Owen

    I’ve been away for a while. The sabbatical was good. I was in a rut. My comments were grammatically and stylistically stale, flawed, and otherwise pedestrian. I’m recharged, refreshed, refined and refractive(?). I found myself, and have found myself whole. Those KGB guys in the huge black sedan couldn’t keep up, even through the snow.
    Granted, it’s all adrenaline. There’s still very little substance. I’ll probably burn myself out in about . . . oh . . .
    Screw it. It was just the caffeine. Is it lunchtime yet?

  • Garry_Owen

    “The 2013 Tribe: Not as Racist as We Appear. Honest!”

  • Harv 21

    They try to stick with “Tribe” and deemphasize Indians, for good reason imo. Lot of weird baggage with “Indians/Fever.” Like division rival will sponsor Blanket Day and our team will get sick.

  • MrCleaveland

    “Blanket Day”??? Wow, Harv went deep into left field to haul that one down. Nice.

  • Garry_Owen

    Let’s just hope it’s not “Tribe 2013: The Trail of Tears.”
    Amiright?

  • Natedawg86

    Trail of Tears could be good if we were the Champs and teams in our path were reduced to tears in the process

  • Harv 21

    multiple uptick.
    OK, pal, not sure what’s going on, but maybe let’s bring it down a notch and save some, there will be more posts.

  • Garry_Owen

    You don’t know that. The Chinese could bling this webbery clashing down on us at a moment’s notice.

    Besides, someone keeps jabbing me in the solar plexus with downticks.

    I. Must. Do. Better.

  • Harv 21

    Listen, I think WFNY has an assigned downticker. I’ve posted the most vanilla comments and gotten downticked once (always once). I’m thinking it’s Craig, Rick, and Scott taking turns trying to maintain order, like zookeepers banging on the bars when the feces flies.

  • mgbode

    pretty sure it was the Indians’ tears historically though. there was also a rather hard-headed famous Jackson involved (Andrew then, Austin now?). uh oh.

  • Garry_Owen

    Trying to maintain and enforce sanity is itself crazy. If you’re right, they’ll soon figure out that it’s just better to medicate the inmates than it is to try to rehab us. Eventually, even Yossarian accepts the deal.

  • Harv 21

    Yossarian? Oh, boy … hands clear! Voluntarily aborting this thread before the flock of downticks roost. Too tempting, and Friday is not Harv’s Self-Control or Better Judgment day. Catch ya on the next thread.

  • mgbode

    you bang on the bars and you don’t stop the feces from flying; you just become the primary target for it.

  • The_Real_Shamrock

    I was gonna down tick you for the heck of it and to also throw you off the scent but I didn’t. You know you’ve made it when you get down ticked. Embrace it, I have!

  • The_Real_Shamrock

    Where’s my MSB album….

  • The_Real_Shamrock

    That was funny!

  • Garry_Owen

    I’m just flingin’ it over there, too.

  • maxfnmloans

    Tito, duh!

  • http://twitter.com/AppleSautts Tyler Sautters

    Cleveland will the the town of whoever becomes relevant first.

  • nj0

    Nice.

  • http://www.redright88.com/ Tom_RedRight88

    The Indians got if half right. The slogan should be: This is a Tribe Town (at least until Browns training camp opens in late July).

  • mgbode

    and, after the weather warms up and school lets out.

  • Shadow_play

    Here’s Sandy’s clip: “I stayed in Cleveland because I wasn’t offered a Manager position elsewhere.”

  • Jaker

    That’s a joke, right? You pick the youngest, least successful of the bunch to represent the city? Otto Graham was winning championship after championship before the Cavs even existed.

  • thenoclist

    I said “To me”. Sorry I wasn’t alive in 1948 or 1964 when the other teams were winning. I grew up watching Mark Price and Brad Daugherty. The Browns have had literally zero success in my lifetime, don’t be a jackass.

  • Jaker

    HE SAID JACKASS. I’m telling the teacher… RICK! Where’s Rick?

  • ObieMassillon

    Michael Bourne on why he plays in Cleveland: “they gave me the most money.” This is a Tribe Town. Why would you choose to put him in one of these commercials? He would’ve played in Sheboygan if they would’ve outbid Cleveland.