A new way of thinking begins....

My good friend, Daniel Webster, took pen/quill to paper/papyrus and defined these terms:

sport, n. 1. an often competitive athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess; 2. diversion; recreation; 3. jest, pleasantry; 4. mockery, ridicule

art, n. 1. the production, expression, or realm of what is beautiful; 2. a field or category of art; 3. illustrative or decorative material; 4. skill in conducting a human activity; 5. a branch of learning; 6. skilled workmanship or execution

mar-ket-ing, n. 1. the act or process of buying and selling in a market; 2. the commercial functions involved in transferring goods from producer to consumer

So, using the transitive property of mathematics...

sparts mar-ket-ing, n. 1. the analytical (and sometimes comical) study of the styles that continually change the game on and off the field; 2. the business mentality of fusing sports (recreation and pleasantry) with art (expression, decorative material and skilled workmanship) as it relates to marketing (commercial functions involved in transferring goods from producer to consumer); see also: generating new merchandising revenues, shedding a "loser image" and activating sports brands

This won't be like your dull-to-the-senses business review of what's hot, what's not and what's just gawd-awful. I'll be more than sporting (jest, pleasantry) to great designs and innovative branding ideas and applications...and I will be just as sporting (mockery, ridicule) for horrid "art" that seems to kill sports properties and events before they even begin selling tickets.

This will be an educational forum outlining the creative development of sports marketing, er, I mean sparts marketing, brand treatments, advertising communications and any and all consumer-targeted messages designed to:

A) Drive you the fan to follow the team, which then leads you to

B) Buy tickets for the upcoming game so you can be around others who like the team, which then leads you to

C) Buy merchandise and apparel that lets you tell others that you associate with said team, which then leads to

D) A stadium full of logo-ed fans, buying hot dogs, sodas, beers and that ever popular $300 retro jersey, which then leads teams to

E) Design and unveil commemorative logos (anniversary, retro, turn-ahead-the-clock, alternate, yada yada yada) to make more money due to

F) Everyone just having to buy ANYTHING with that logo on it, because it's a collectible, which then leads to....

Well, you get the point. The entire business of sport (or sports, depending on where you are from), gravitates, rotates and always leads back to the team's brand. Stop and think about your favorite team and the reasons why they changed logos (new ballpark/stadium/arena, new "attitude," relocation) or why they didn't (tradition). In addition to the obvious departments that bank on new branding initiatives (merchandising), others like ticket sales, community outreach programs and Kids Clubs all score big when a new logo sucessfully unveils (that is for a different discussion).

Guest writers will offer their insights into the creative process, including the designers who created the either hot-selling logos and uniforms, and the culprits using Microsoft Word to design anything other than a memo.

I welcome any and all comments, so please tell me. And remember, this is for posterity, so... be honest. How do you feel? (I will include random movie quotes to make my point, much like this one from "The Princess Bride.")

The Sparts Marketing Web site (www.spartsmarketing.com) will be up and running soon, containing in-depth research on the HOW and WHY a new logo and/or uniform set was created, not just on the unveiling itself (for that, please visit my good friends at the Society of Sports Uniform Research at www.ssur.org.

Lesson #1 begins next Friday. Please bring your No.2 pencil and plenty of loose leaf, college-ruled paper....