Color me underwhelmed by the "You're a fan, you just don't know it yet."
But I'll admit that I have no real clue what might convert sports fans of other stripes to soccer. I've been a soccer fan for a long time, and so I don't really understand those who don't appreciate the sport. I grasp the concept that they don't, but the "why" of it baffles me.
Oh well.
"The MLS choice for a slogan this year sucks, they just don't know it yet."
ReplyDeleteIs it the same firm that keeps coming up with these winners? Why does a sports league need a slogan in the first place?
Let's have some fun with this cool slogan.
ReplyDelete"Bob's the coach; Sunil just doesn't know it yet."
Luis, I like your version...
ReplyDeleteAs someone who wasn't a fan of this sport until recent years, I think it's a brilliant campaign. This is obviously for the 'casual fan', which isn't any great revelation, I know. But the fact is that the soccer snobs (whether of the Euro or South-Of-The-Border variety) won't watch MLS anyway. No use pointing the message to someone who won't receive it. Who else is there to market this toward? We're sitting here reading a soccer blog...let me be clear, we aren't the target for these ads.
In my experience, many fans of American sports are tired of hearing that this is the most popular sport in the world, and become defensive about American sports in the process. These ads are simple, positive messages. They aren't saying "you should be watching because the whole planet is", it's relating something that they already like to the game that we love. You have to bait the hook at least a little...
And mosler, I could be wrong, but I don't think this is an MLS slogan. It's simply the tagline for the ESPN ad campaign. MLS has much more brilliant ideas...like "Embrace the Colors". Ugh.
This is totally ESPN not MLS. I also think I get it b/c it attacks almost everything people say soccer doesn't have that their sport has. The ads points out that soccer has something that your sport has and something you might enjoy about another sport. Therefore our sport offers something for everyone. Its almost saying "so whats not to like about our sport?" Also the ad uses American sports so that the casual American sports fan can get it. Its clever and maybe it will work on someone watching a boring regular season baseball game on ESPN.
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