Sports fans in Calgary, Canada, have started nothing short of a virtual fan uprising against the new management of their city's Lacrosse team, the Calgary Roughnecks, winners of the league's coveted Champion Cup in 2004 and 2009.
During the 2010-11 season, the team found found themselves in financial difficulty. In 2011, team owner and president, Brad Banister, sold the team to the NHL's Calgary Flames.
The new ownership quickly implemented a total re-branding of the team, complete with new uniforms, new music during the games, higher prices for 50/50 tickets and a new mascot.
A "roughneck" is a worker of an oil-drilling rig and is synonymous with a tough, hard-working man. In a city whose economy is driven largely by the oil and gas industry, Calgary fans identify with the concept of a roughneck. The previous team mascot, was a a figure of a man wearing a hard-hat, known as "Derrick Driller". The mascot's name of "Derrick" was a play on words, as it is both a man's name and a piece of equipment used in the oil patch. The concept of the drill is another double-entendre, since a drill is both a tool used in the oil industry and sports training drills are a series of repeated exercises designed to sharpen athletes' skills and precision.
Lacrosse is one of Canada's two national sports. Its fans are known for being vocal, opinionated and intensely loyal.
So, when the new management abruptly retired the ten-year old mascot, in favor of a honey badger, fans cried foul play. The new mascot was introduced at the first home game of the season on January 21, 2012. At first, fans were confused by the new mascot, which represents a rodent native to Africa and has little relation to local culture. Media reports noted that "confusion quickly turned to concern".
When fans realized that the new team uniforms had also eliminated the image of Derrick Driller who formerly appeared on the front of the team jersey, effectively wiping out all traces of their beloved mascot by the new management, fan concern turned into a full-out rebellion. Fans flocked to Facebook and Twitter to express their feelings about the new mascot and plead with the management to bring back Derrick Driller.
Twitter becomes an anti-badgering platform for fans
Fans rallied on Twitter and not only used the well-known hashtags of #Roughnecks, #NLL (short for National Lacrosse League) and #NLLRoughnecks, but they created a new one of their own: #bringbackderrick. Fans chatted about their dislike of the new critter and begged management to bring back their beloved mascot.
Tweets under the fan-created hashtag included an online fan petition to bring back the mascot, a plea to the city's major asking him to intervene on fans' behalf and angry comments that the new management was alienating the fans.
Fans Fueled by Anger Flood Facebook
Fans also turned to Facebook, expressing their opinions on their own status lines, as well as on the official team page.
While some fans said they liked the new mascot, the majority of respondents expressed negative opinions about the new mascot. One fan commented that his posts were deleted by the page administrators, the team responded that they reserved the right to delete posts that were profane or contained spam. The fan offered a rebuttal that his post contained neither and that he was a 10-year season ticket holder. Other fans called for a complete boycott of the team.
After the censorship comment, fans took matters into their own hands, creating both a Facebook group and a Facebook page.
At least one reporter mentioned a 2011 viral video about a "Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger" that portrays the fearless creature eating snakes. The video, full of foul language, has been touted by some parents as being inappropriate for their children.
Drilling to the Heart of the Matter
What seems to upset fans the most is the lack of consultation and input from the public and in particular, seasons' ticket holders and long-time supporters of the local team.
A local newspaper article quotes the team's director of business operations, Mike Moore, as claiming that "a great deal of research was put into the choice". Fans, however, are asking, "What research?" Long time seasons-ticket holders point out that they were not invited to focus groups and were not asked to take part in any surveys or market research.
It seems that being left out of the process is what has these sports fans more upset than anything.
Canadian sports journalist and social media expert, Debbie Elicksen, commented, "Wow, that's some major corporate disconnect." She makes the point that social media is a great way to engage sports fans on a variety of levels.
The play is not over
It seems that fans are unrelenting in their fight to bring back the old mascot. Whether they will be successful remains to be seen.
Members of one Facebook fan pages in favor of bringing back the old mascot has proposed a T-shirt campaign to get their message across. A lively online discussion has sprung up around the idea of an anti-badger T-shirt campaign that has included comments about copyright infringement and which designs the group members like more. Ironically, this is the very type of marketing research using social media that the sports team itself would have been wise to engage in with its fans when it came to testing the idea of a new mascot for the team.
The lesson for sports teams and businesses is that there is a growing trend among consumers that they expect to be part of the process when it comes to major changes that affect their experience as a consumer. For sports fans, a mascot is part of their experience. Twenty-first century fans expect engagement beyond tweeting about scores and excitement over upcoming games. They also expect consultation and public debate around all aspects of the fan experience.
What are you doing to engage your raving fans in a social dialogue about their experience of being your customer?
References
Calgary Roughnecks - http://www.calgaryroughnecks.com/
Nolais, J. January 23, 2012. "Roughnecks fans badger team to bring back dumped mascot". Metro News. Retrieved from: http://www.metronews.ca/calgary/local/article/1077867--roughnecks-fans-badger-team-to-bring-back-dumped-mascot
Down, John. January 27, 2012. "Calgary sold on honey badger". Calgary Herald. Retrieved from: http://www.calgaryherald.com/sports/Calgary+sold+honey+badger/6059889/story.html
Komarnicki, Jamie. January 26, 2012. "Mascot mutiny mounting for Calgary Roughnecks." Calgary Herald. Retrieved from: http://www.calgaryherald.com/sports/Mascot+mutiny+mounting+Calgary+Roughnecks/6052021/story.html
Busby, Ian. January 26, 2012. "Roughnecks officially retire Derrick mascot". Calgary Sun. http://www.calgarysun.com/2012/01/26/new-ownership-gives-derrick-pink-slip