The Houston Rockets have drafted a fresh slogan for the new season. “Get Red” has been recruited to replace “It’s Time,” which is being retired after one year.
All things red stood out in a recently conducted brand awareness survey by the National Basketball Association team.
As a result, “Get Red” will be the rookie tagline this week when the Rockets roll out the marketing campaign for the 2008-2009 season. The campaign kicks off Sept. 7 with the first of a series of billboards depicting players melded with a Houston skyline or inside the Toyota Center, dominated by the team’s red uniform color.
Chris Dacey, vice president and chief strategy officer, says the Rockets chose the color theme to promote the team’s distinct brand, ties to the city and emphasize a lively atmosphere at home games.
“Get Red” is a stark contrast to the tagline used during the 2007-2008 season. “It’s Time” made a bold statement suggesting that the team was ready to be a serious playoff contender. Although the Rockets captivated fans during a 22-game winning streak — the second-longest in NBA history — the team was unceremoniously bounced by nemesis Utah Jazz in the first round of the post-season.
Says Dacey: “Any time you come out with a bold statement, it weighs on the perception of the team.”
Higher price expectations
While a sea of red flows through the stands, fans returning for this season will pay more for seats.
Many of the least expensive seats at $10 or $15 in the upper bowl area will be unchanged. So will some of the most expensive club seats at $350. The majority of the price hikes affect midrange seats. For example, the 4,274 seats in the lower bowl priced at either $58 or $70 will now cost $5 more, at $63 and $75, respectively.
With the off-season signing of Ron Artest and the high-profile showing of Rockets players Yao Ming and Luis Scola representing China and Argentina in the Beijing Olympics, the team reports surging season ticket sales — due to even higher expectations for this year’s on-court performance.
Officials say the Rockets are well ahead of last season’s 7,000 in season ticket sales, though they did not divulge the number. A more concrete indication of the team’s surge is the fact that only two of the team’s 91 upper-level suites are vacant at this point, according to Seliece Caldwell, the team’s vice president of ticket sales.
Caldwell says the team is also in the process of building out four new courtside suites previously used as the locker rooms for the Houston Comets women’s basketball team, which moved out of Toyota Center to play at Reliant Arena this year. The existing 14 courtside suites are also sold out for the 2008-2009 season.
The new suites — which sell in a range from $225,000 to $275,000 — include 12 courtside seats and a private bar and lounge.
‘Red-ification’
Dacey says the Rockets’ marketing department will be running a full-court press to hype the “Get Red” theme until the regular season home opener Oct. 29 against Memphis.
Houston players will wear their all-red road game uniforms on opening night to emphasize the point, and Toyota will hand out red Rockets T-shirts to fans — when the team also hopes to set a new Guinness World Records mark for the most people wearing face paint at a game.
More details inside Toyota Center will also be subject to what Dacey describes as a “red-ification” of branding, from the color of plastic drink cups to the color of the Toyota vehicles parked along the concourse.
“We’ll be using the ‘Get Red’ message for everything we do out in the community, and hope it’s reflected with an association with the brand,” says Dacey.
Adam Nisenson, owner and creative director of Active Imagination, a Houston sports marketing and branding firm, says it makes sense for the Rockets to move away from a marketing campaign that makes promises of success, as was the case last season.
“The key to a marketing campaign is that it should last the entire season whether a team is winning or losing,” Nisenson says. “In this city, the main thing is that a campaign has to cut through the clutter. The Rockets season overlaps with pro and college football and all those other entertainment options like the Theater District, so your messaging has to really hit your target audience at a gut level. You’re trying to connect with a fan outside the season-ticket base who might only come once or twice a year.”
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