Cleveland Cavaliers Brand Strategy: Replacing the Chosen One

It isn't just on the court that LeBron James' departure has hurt the Cleveland Cavaliers. The team faces perhaps an even more daunting task of rebuilding its brand following its supernova soaring south to Miami.

It's no secret that LeBron was a bona fide cash cow for the Cavs. Forbes has estimated that the "Chosen One's" departure has lowered the club's brand value by $60-100 million. Some sports executives have estimated that his leaving could reduce the franchise's market value by as much as $250 million.

You get the point. The guy is a big deal.

How to plug the holes of leaking brand value is no easy task for any corporation—just ask BP. In their favor, the Cavaliers (apart from owner Dan Gilbert's vitriolic farewell letter) are largely seen as an innocent party in all this. It wasn't that the Cavs had done anything wrong to damage their brand, more that LeBron felt he had a better chance of winning in Miami.

The problem for the Cavs is that for James' seven year stint, the club's brand has been LeBron James. This fact is perhaps best embodied by the ever-prominent, now notorious "We are all Witnesses" billboard outside the Quicken Loans Arena. For the duration of LeBron's tenure, the club's brand and checkered history were seemingly put in a holding pattern in the hopes that the local boy from Akron could bring some silverware to the title-starved town.

No dice.

What, then, to do? 

Building the Brand of a Variable Product

The problem with great players, no matter how good, or how durable, is that they all have shelf lives. Whether it's retirement, trades or free agency, the player won't be around forever. So any franchise that sacrifices its own brand for the sake of elevating its superstar's is likely to fail. Building a brand around a perishable ingredient is not a wise long-term strategy.

The motto of the University of Sydney, my alma mater, is the Latin phrase Sidere mens eadem mutato, which means "The constellation is changed, [but] the disposition is the same."

The same can be said of strong team brands—those that are beloved by fans regardless of their roster, coaching staff or whether the team is winning or losing. The great sports franchises derive strength from being a reflection of their home cities. This is true for team brands the world over. The Yankees, the Lakers, Manchester United, even the New Zealand All Blacks all play, live and breathe in a way that reflects the ethos of their home markets.

The key for the Cavs, then, is to determine what the club can embody that resonates strongly with the people of Cleveland. Many pundits are predicting the team's on-court performance to suffer, but this down period should be viewed as an opportunity to build a brand that resonates in the community regardless of on-court performance.

So far, Gilbert and the Cavs seem to be making all the right moves. The most obvious change is seeing the brand move from one of individual hero worship to one of blue-collar collectivism, a move that makes sense in the gritty midwestern town.

The new tagline being embraced by the team, "All for One and One for All," is the mantra made famous by the Three Musketeers, an apt one, given the swashbuckling swords in the Cavs' logos, merchandise and court design.

The new uniforms harken back to the club's earliest days in wine and gold, and have been lauded as "simplistic but bold." The new look was not unveiled at a press conference, but a "Tweetup" in August, reflecting the franchise's desire and Twitter's capacity to build dialog and more closely connect with its most hardcore fans.

Even Gilbert has joined the Twittersphere, perhaps a move he wishes he had made prior to publishing his controversial letter. 

Summary

The 2010-11 season is likely to be a rebuilding year both on and off the court for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Any team losing an icon of James' stature is bound to take hits in both game performance and brand value.

But rather than wallow in their own misfortune, it appears that Gilbert and the Cavs' management are viewing this as an opportunity to make a fresh start in their brand strategy. It may not make up for LeBron jumping ship, but the Cavaliers' spirit has been renewed, and the team now represents something that jibes with the ethos of its city.

In short, the brand, not a player, is now king. And in a league where players change teams so frequently, for Cavs fans, this can only be grounds for optimism.