Personal branding is a new language in the age of the Internet, spawning a whole new process of thought concerning the way we market ourselves and how corporations and organizations attempt to sell themselves to the world. Brands come and go and rise and fall, enveloped in all the seasons of our tastes and interests. For example, depending on who you ask, one such brand whose image has seen a slight decline as of late is that of the Oakland Raiders.
The Raiders have endured 11 straight seasons without posting a winning record, and are currently on their way to season no. 12. In fact, it's well possible that the team could go 0-16 this season, particularly when you consider the strength of their division. Oakland currently sits at 0-5.
Given the length of Oakland's winning drought, two Arizona sports talk show hosts were driven to wonder how strong the Raiders' brand is today, particularly for the younger generations who grew up without knowing what the old Silver and Black used to look like. Their argument starts out harmlessly enough, but quickly devolves into a passionate war of words which nearly turns into a fight.
The two hosts, known collectively as Doug & Wolf, started out their discussion by consulting Twitter to see what their listeners thought about the subject. Doug, who was speaking against the Raiders, pointed to an overwhelmingly negative response from Twitter users as a reason why the Raiders' public perception is beginning to decline. Wolf bristles at the notion:
"I honestly think that you put too much stock in Twitter," he said. "That's what I think."
There was a palpable disgust in Wolf's tone when he mentioned the social media platform. It's awesome. It's like listening to some self-assured know-it-all who clearly knows nothing at all. In case Wolf is unclear about what year he's living in, Twitter and other pertinent social media are massive parts of personal branding today. You can't have a discussion about branding without talking about them.
Still, though, Wolf was insistent about Oakland's continued strength as a brand in the NFL. The two continued to go back-and-forth about the matter.
Then, when Doug mildly insulted his intelligence, Wolf decided he wasn't going to take it anymore.
"By the way, nothing is over my head that you say," said Wolf. "Nothing."
"As Aaron Rodgers would say, 'relax.'" said Doug.
"You know what Doug, shut up."
"No, don't ever tell me to shut up."
"Shut up!"
"You're not man enough to tell me to shut up! That's a joke!"
"You want to go? Seriously! You don't ever say that to me! BULLCRAP!"
From there, you can hear Wolf stand up, rustling the papers around him, clearly ready to brawl. Thankfully, nothing further came out of it.
This #brand game has clearly become too real if a couple, old sports radio hosts are nearly throwing punches about it. However, for the record, Doug is probably right. In terms of jersey sales, the Raiders have just one player among the top 50 highest-selling names across the league. For merchandise sales, the franchise isn't even in the top 10 in the NFL. Those statistics aren't particularly encouraging, are they?
[via Deadspin]
