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Strategy April 04, 2019

Three Marketing Takeaways From the Omaha Storm Chasers’ ‘Rebrand’ as the Omaha Potholes

What started as an April Fools’ Day joke turned into a reality – and a brilliant bit of marketing.

By  Christopher Ruvo

Minor League Baseball has once again proved itself a repository of creativity when it comes to branding, marketing, fan engagement, and community do-gooding.

The latest example comes from the Omaha Storm Chasers, the Triple-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. For one night only, the team will re-brand as the “Omaha Potholes,” complete with corresponding uniforms and logoed merchandise.

It all started with a prank. Omaha experienced historic flooding this year. The flooding, and rapid snow melt, exacerbated seasonal potholing, which left local roads pocked and cratered with tire-busting holes. As an April Fools’ Day joke, the Storm Chasers tweeted that they would be rebranding as the Omaha Potholes on June 31 – a day, in case you didn’t catch it, that doesn’t exist.

The gag fooled quite a few people. Even sports business reporter Darren Rovell fell prey.

More importantly, though, Storm Chasers’ fans loved the Pothole fake rebrand. Many encouraged the team to go forward with the idea – something the club decided to oblige, as Rovell notes above.

Sympathetic to local struggles in the wake of the massive flooding, the Storm Chasers are using the popularity of the Potholes initiative to help the community. Twenty percent of sales of Potholes-branded merchandise, including T-shirts and hats, will go to help restore Little League fields damaged by flooding in the Omaha Metro area through Chasers Charities, the club’s charitable arm. Jerseys will be available too, but were not yet retailing as of this writing. Additionally, the Potholes – sorry, Storm Chasers -- will be auctioning off baseball-related collectibles on Potholes Night, scheduled for April 24.

Virtual rendering of the limited edition Omaha Potholes hat.

Virtual rendering of the limited edition Omaha Potholes shirt.

Marketers can haul in some valuable takeaways from the Storm Chasers’ initiative. Here are just a few we thought of.

Know Your Audience & Tailor Your Outreach To Them: At the end of the day, the Storm Chasers are entertainment providers. Fans attend games and follow the team on social media for enjoyable diversion. There’s a general irreverence in Minor League Baseball teams’ images, and the Storm Chasers are no exception, even playing themselves up as the “weirdest team in baseball” – something that resonates with the fan base. As such, a playfully PG tongue-in-cheek -- but plausible -- April Fools’ Day prank of the type the team pulled was probably always going to go over well with audiences. What made it even better, however, was that the Storm Chasers tapped into the frustration many are feeling over potholed roads and turned it into a communal laugh-sigh of shared understanding – a sort of “Ha-ha, yup. That sounds about right.” Calling such an experience cathartic for Omaha locals would obviously be going way too far, but it’s fair to say that many driving those potholed roads all the time would probably relate and, perhaps, have a gallows chuckle over the “Omaha Potholes.”

When You Get Momentum, Make the Most of It: Let’s be real. Sometimes, marketing can feel a bit like shouting into an empty cave. So when you do get robust engagement, it’s important to capitalize – without overdoing it. That’s just what the Storm Chasers did here. And what’s even better, they executed something savvy brands across industries pull off: They gave their customers exactly what they want. Fans were quite vocal in saying they desired the Potholes prank to become a Potholes reality. The Storm Chasers committed to making that happen, thereby pleasing their core fans and extending their time in the spotlight, as national media outlets, including MLB Network, reported on the gag-turned-real.

Add A Give-Back Element: Donating a portion of proceeds from the merch sales and raffle items toward a charitable initiative that addresses a real need in the community from which the Storm Chasers draw their fans is morally commendable – and a marketing masterstroke. The charitable initiative will earn goodwill among the Storm Chasers’ audience and become another talking point that will help keep the team top-of-mind even after the Potholes novelty fades.

By the way, if you’re not totally sold on going to Potholes Night, keep in mind that April 24 is also Wiener Wednesday, with hot dogs available for just 25 cents each. It’s also “Bark at the Park,” which means fans can bring their pooches to the game. Sounds like fun. Tickets can be purchased at this link: http://bit.ly/2UnBkWB.