Hurting the LeBrand

7|9|2010

I’m a die-hard Cleveland fan. I can’t help myself. (Just ask my wife about my reaction to “The Decision” last night.) I got a call from Joel Hammond at Crain’s Cleveland Business the day before LeBron’s big announcement to talk about LeBron’s brand and if it was incurring damage because of this free-agency circus. And my answer was nationally, no. Locally, yes.

That was before I witnessed the greatest spectacle of nonsense ever televised (and, yes, The Rock of Love Reunion Show is included in that.) And the fact that LeBron stuck to his cliché script perfectly even though many of the comments were incongruous.

“I never wanted to leave Cleveland.” But he did.

“But I also felt like this is the greatest challenge for me is to move on.” Yes, playing on a team with two other All-Stars is a HUGE challenge (NOTE: sarcasm).

I still hold that the real damage to LeBron was done in game five of the 2010 playoffs versus the Celtics, when he showed no passion or determination to win. And before that when he stormed off the court following the Cavs 2009 playoff loss to the Orlando Magic without shaking hands.

But LeBron and his pals at LRMR forgot (or never learned) one of the most important rules of branding. It’s stated perfectly in Marty Neumeier’s The Brand Gap: Your brand isn’t what you say it is. It’s what they say it is.

And right now, they aren’t saying very nice things. As a Cleveland native, I never expected the national media to side with us. We’re used to being the butt of their jokes. ESPN loves to show the Cleveland “failure reel” anytime any Cleveland team is televised. But lo and behold, LeBron’s ego pushed the envelope too far and created a groundswell of sympathy for my hometown and disgust for the self-proclaimed “King.” LeBron is taking a serious thumping in the court of public opinion. He held the league hostage for two months. He stole the spotlight from all the young players during the recent NBA draft. You can’t be a king without subjects and he just beheaded most of his.

Unfortunately for LeBron, brands are founded on trust. And he betrayed a lot of that yesterday. All of Northeast Ohio trusted that he wouldn’t and couldn’t be cruel enough to wrench the sword from the Cavs' logo and jab it in our backs. So now he’s got to work to rebuild his trust with however many fans he has left. He has to follow through on his promises. He has yet to light up any city “like Vegas.” He made Cleveland sparkle a little like Reno but that’s not enough. The new Miami Thrice has to win now. No excuses. No hurt elbow. Hire Jeff Gillooly, if need be. LeBron has made a career (until game five) of exceeding his hype. He was always better than expected. But I’m not sure anyone can overcome the sensationalism of last night’s broadcast. If he’s going to Miami to chase championships, he’d better catch them.

How much this affects his pocketbook remains to be seen. History remembers victories more than vices. If he wins championships, some of this debacle will be lost to the sands of time. Wins will sell his shoes, convince sponsors to continually throw money at him and keep the playground dreamers pretending to be him when imagining their own last-second heroics – everywhere except Cleveland.

I recognize the fact that I probably wouldn’t have written this had he stayed with the Cavs – but as a Cleveland sports fan, I’m loyal to a fault. Also Dan Gilbert is my new hero, despite his font choice, and I dedicate every quotation mark in this post to him.

Photo credit: Daquella Manera

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