Fred Mangione, the Nets chief marketing officer, will speak this week at a sports marketing "summit" on the Nets rebranding last year. In giving a summary of what he's going to say, Mangione told a marketing website that at the core of the rebranding was an acknowledgement that it was all about "Brooklyn" initially, that the "Nets" brand was secondary.
"People always ask, ‘why didn’t you change the nickname of the team? Why did you keep the Nets if you wanted to rebrand?’" Mangione told Brief. "It was never about the second name; it was always about the first. It was always about Brooklyn." Thus, "Brooklyn," not "Nets" grace both the home and away uniform jerseys.
Mangione also noted that the Nets wanted a humble approach to their entry into the Brooklyn market, not that "‘oh Brooklyn, you’re lucky to have us.’"
"We took the approach that we’re thankful to be a part of this," said Mangione. "We wanted to keep it simple: ‘Hello, Brooklyn; we’re here. We’re glad that we’re now going to be a part of the fabric of the borough,’" Mangione said. "We didn’t want to be too bold. And it took off. As simple as it was it took off. It was the old ‘less is more’ approach."
Mangione added that there was a lot of pressure, that success was not guaranteed, because "You’re not new in New York often."
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