The GWS Giants are reportedly considering a name change.
“Greater Western Sydney” doesn’t pop. The club president says that people don’t identify with it. It doesn’t support the brand.
He’s not wrong about the symptom. He is wrong about the solution.
When someone says, “Let’s rebrand!” Your answer should always be, “No.”
The Vessel Is Empty.
A brand is a container. A vessel.
You fill it with meaning. Or…the world around you fills it for you. And, you will never be happy with what that becomes.
The Giants left the vessel empty. The community filled it with apathy.
That’s worse than anger.
Anger is a strong emotion. People care enough to be upset. Apathy is the opposite. People don’t care at all.
That’s much harder to recover from.
Don’t believe me. Look at the numbers.
A crowd of 8,092, the lowest in club history. Home attendance ranked 17th of 18 clubs in the AFL.
Only 97 kids in the under-13 boys category signed up to play in Western Sydney. The lowest of any region in the city.
Membership flat at around 35,000.
Meanwhile, the Sydney Swans, same city, different relationship, draw 30,000-plus crowds and have over 60,000 members.
The Giants have been in the competition since 2012. They’ve played in a grand final. They have had stars. Still, the community embraced them.
That’s not a brand problem. That’s a meaning problem.
The brand doesn’t mean enough to the community for them to embrace the team.
Rebranding is a Sugar High.
A rebrand feels like momentum.
It generates headlines. New eyes. Temporary attention.
The board can look at it and say, “See? Something is happening.”
But rebranding doesn’t create an emotional core. Time. Consistency does that.
The Sugar High will fade. That’s not the dangerous part.
The real danger is what happens next.
When the new name, new identity fail to deliver the connection that made you move from the old identity, the apathy becomes cemented.
The market learns a lesson: “We didn’t care before. We don’t care now. We’re never going to care.”
Meh.
Doing nothing feels like failure. But the possibility of change exists.
A failed rebrand eliminates the possibility of connection…period.
That’s the risk.
Refresh. Not Rebrand.
Let me make a distinction. This is important.
A rebrand tells a story of failure. It is the corporate equivalent of burning the house down because you want a new kitchen.
A refresh is a story of confidence.
“We know who we are. We just want to make you see us the way we believe you should.”
A sharper focus. A new story. Better energy. A focus on connection.
The Giants don’t need a rebrand. They need a refresh…anchored in a real strategy.
What does that look like?
Start at the beginning: What does success look like?
Tangible. Intangible.
Not just memberships, revenue, ticket sales. But in emotion, connection.
Sports teams have the greatest brand attribute possible when they do it right.
People really care. They will tattoo your logo on their body. They cry when you lose. They pass their love of your team down to their children.
People give a shit.
Do people in Western Sydney give a shit about the Giants?
The numbers seem to say no. If that’s the answer…that’s the work.
Not a new name. A new relationship.
The First Real Move.
You start with feeling…emotion.
What do people really feel about the club? Ask them to put it into words. Two or three.
Get to the root of what comes to mind when someone sees your colors, hears your name, catches a glimpse of your stadium.
What do they really say? You have to know.
That’s Brand Tracking 101.
Do people feel about us the way we want them to and think they should?
It is likely that this capability doesn’t exist inside the club.
That’s not catastrophic. That’s an easy fix.
Build it. Talk to people. Listen. Find the gap between where you are and where you want to be.
Don’t flinch when the answers come back.
You need to know this. The distance.
Because you need every action you take to be consistent with the goal of filling that gap with meaning.
Every community visit. Every social post. Every matchday experience. Every decision must ask the same question: “Does this reinforce those two or three words we want people to feel about our team?”
That’s not a rebrand. That’s a refresh built on a commitment.
It’s slower. It’s harder. It’s a leap of faith because you don’t get the Sugar High.
It’s also sustainable.
That’s the only thing that will build the Giants up…a commitment to connection.
And, hard work and focus.
For Your Consideration.
The Giants aren’t the only organization that thinks hitting the rebrand button will solve their problems.
Businesses in all industries do it far too often.
New name. New website. Big announcement.
Sugar High.
Then…the same structural issues resurface.
The empty seats don’t fill. The customers don’t return. The connection doesn’t form.
Keep the name. Refresh the story. Connect. Do the real work.
That’s not just a better strategy. That’s one that fills your stadium…over and over.
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