2018 All Things Lions Marketing & Promotions

[TheLionKing]

Another thing that pissed me off is the beach ball being tossed around in the stands. Is the in game budget that bad that the Lions have to resort to a cheap beach ball for game experience.

[Gridiron Ernie]

There are several things about this club that piss me off: the discontinuation of "Roar You Lions, Roar" (I'll settle for hearing it once during the 3rd quarter stretch), the roof constantly being closed (is there a law against opening/closing it DURING a game??), the sloppy use of different shades of orange in their uniforms and merchandising. Pick a Pantone guys, and stick with it. Hopefully burnt orange. And complete lack of creativity with the scoreboard.

But I have to hand it to the club last week. They nailed Family Day. Lots of kids at the game. Lots of things for kids to see and do. And best of all, bringing a kid out during the introductions. Each child was introduced with a member of the defence. A great idea that was well executed.




DH

Hilarious that you should mention the Lions' theme song today, David, in that just this very afternoon I'd been on the phone with my older (70-something) Lions-fan sister, chatting about the upcoming game and she spontaneously burst forth into the song's first stanza, and of course I uproariously off-key joined in -- it's got such a jovial "oom-pa-pa" sort of cadence, guaranteed to put a smile on one's face IMO. (BTW -- it's not the sort of thing we regularly do! Just out of the blue this afternoon, and it left us laughing... and then along came you -- quite rightly lobbing your complaint.) Had you heard my singing you might have had second thoughts about complaining about the discontinuation though!

And, oh yes indeed, as a hobby artist, quite familiar with mixing subtle shades of paint and dealing with the various hues of the colour-wheel, it drives me quite mad that they can't seem to manage burnt orange colour control. Embarrassingly unprofessional. I'm not aware that other CFL teams show such sloppiness, but I could be mistaken on that. Seems to me Rider green is uniformly green, and Bomber blue is uniformly blue, etc. but perhaps not. And, no, TheLionKing, after having been rudely bonked on the head&face while intently trying to follow an exciting play unfold, I don't like that beach ball bouncing around either. It distracts me and makes me just a little nervous, as that smarted!

[David]

It should be pointed out that "Family Day" appears to be a league-wide initiative. I don't know if all teams follow the same blueprint, but I believe the CFL was looking to scale more concepts for all teams to use. I am not sure if all teams brought kids out of the tunnel but I think letting them run out on the field after the game was done in other ballparks too.

And, oh yes indeed, as a hobby artist, quite familiar with mixing subtle shades of paint and dealing with the various hues of the colour-wheel, it drives me quite mad that they can't seem to manage burnt orange colour control. Embarrassingly unprofessional. I'm not aware that other CFL teams show such sloppiness, but I could be mistaken on that.

I know to the average person this point may seem nitpicky Ernie, but getting your suppliers to manufacture hats, t-shirts and coffee mugs in one uniform colour orange seems like a fairly simple instruction. I raised the point to Skulsky who paid lip service to it but it hasn't improved. It looked really bush when (Adidas?) brought out the "Diversity Is Strength" t-shirts in that pale orange colour.

We should be uniformly burnt orange and ebony black. Period. Like (pick most any team....) the Toronto Argonauts are Oxford (dark) and Cambridge (light) blue.


DH

[Gridiron Ernie]

I know to the average person this point may seem nitpicky Ernie, but getting your suppliers to manufacture hats, t-shirts and coffee mugs in one uniform colour orange seems like a fairly simple instruction. I raised the point to Skulsky who paid lip service to it but it hasn't improved. It looked really bush when (Adidas?) brought out the "Diversity Is Strength" t-shirts in that pale orange colour.

We should be burnt orange and ebony black. Period.


DH

Ain't this a beautiful thing -- that colour? (Though one might be tempted to rename the colour dirty orange with #30 sporting it!)
But note the seeming consistency -- attention to detail -- even the field crew had the colour sense to match up pretty closely with the burnt orange colour scheme when painting Empire's yard-line numbers. Not too bright n' gaudy in one direction or too "creamsicle-y" in the other. I suppose it could in part be a matter of the old-time 70s-era camera's technological limits (similar shades merely blending toward uniformity) but with my nostalgia-tinted glasses (LOL) I prefer to think it was exactly as the photo depicts. i.e. being a case of demonstrated knowledge of and pride in our true colour, burnt orange. Wee nitpicky rant complete/over and out.

[WestCoastJoe]

We should be uniformly burnt orange and ebony black. Period. Like (pick most any team....) the Toronto Argonauts are Oxford (dark) and Cambridge (light) blue.

I recall when the words Burnt Orange were first used, at least when I first heard them. I loved the sound of it.

Is getting the same colour tone important? Absolutely.

It is a detail that needs to be right. No excuses for accepting a weak imitation.

Dodger Blue.

Cowboys Blue.

Patriots Silver and Blue.

Raiders Black and Silver.

Celtics Green.

Canadiens Red.

Lions Orange.

Get it right.

[Hambone]

Another thing that pissed me off is the beach ball being tossed around in the stands. Is the in game budget that bad that the Lions have to resort to a cheap beach ball for game experience.

I've always assumed when the irritating beach ball materalizes that it's the product of some fan bringing it in. Come to think of it the one or two that bounced around 242 on Saturday were orange as opposed to typical multi coloured beach balls. Maybe they started out in the Beach Party section? If so I can cut a bit of slack. Otherwise my first thought when once one starts bouncing around is "Damn and I left my pocket knife at home".

[Hambone]

I recall when the words Burnt Orange were first used, at least when I first heard them. I loved the sound of it.

Is getting the same colour tone important? Absolutely.

It is a detail that needs to be right. No excuses for accepting a weak imitation.

Dodger Blue.

Cowboys Blue.

Patriots Silver and Blue.

Raiders Black and Silver.

Celtics Green.

Canadiens Red.

Lions Orange.

Get it right.

A couple of observations WCJ.

When I first heard the term "burnt orange" which was when the Lions went to the orange jerseys with white helmets in the latter 70s my first thought was what the heck is burnt orange? And is it different than regular orange?

Cowboys Blue? Should be Cowboys white since they wear white at home and for most road games. As for the blue there is a lot of similarities to the complaints regarding the current Lion colours. To me the blue trim and numbers on the Cowboys' white jerseys has long looked like a different, much lighter, shade of blue than that of their dark jerseys.

Canadiens red? C'mon man. It's the bleu, blanc et rouge de Les Canadien.

[WestCoastJoe]

I recall when the words Burnt Orange were first used, at least when I first heard them. I loved the sound of it.

Is getting the same colour tone important? Absolutely.

It is a detail that needs to be right. No excuses for accepting a weak imitation.

Dodger Blue.

Cowboys Blue.

Patriots Silver and Blue.

Raiders Black and Silver.

Celtics Green.

Canadiens Red.

Lions Orange.

Get it right.

A couple of observations WCJ.

When I first heard the term "burnt orange" which was when the Lions went to the orange jerseys with white helmets in the latter 70s my first thought was what the heck is burnt orange? And is it different than regular orange?

Cowboys Blue? Should be Cowboys white since they wear white at home and for most road games. As for the blue there is a lot of similarities to the complaints regarding the current Lion colours. To me the blue trim and numbers on the Cowboys' white jerseys has long looked like a different, much lighter, shade of blue than that of their dark jerseys.

Canadiens red? C'mon man. It's the bleu, blanc et rouge de Les Canadien.

Ha ha, Hambone. You want the rouge, eh? Eh? Les Habitants were my favourite team long ago, and Richard was my first sports "hero," from about age 5.

I did not remember when I heard "burnt orange," but I liked it right away. The orange itself I recall was very strong, as one might expect.

Sports uniforms and colours, et cetera, are a big marketing deal. I put together information and visuals for some presentations years ago. The Rams horn. The Colts horseshoe. So many symbols.
........................

Aside from uniforms there is also the mystique of certain numbers.

#7 ... Mickey Mantle

#9 ... Rocket Richard

#5 ... Joe DiMaggio

#19 ... Johnny Unitas. Peyton Manning revered Unitas. Manning wanted to wear high tops in honour of him for one game. The league said no. Booo

The story goes that Gretzky was very young on a certain team, and #9 was taken, so he got #99.

For many fans, and pro athletes, #32 has cachet. For this fan it had to be Jimmy Brown. Very ashamed to see him with Kanye West in Trump's office. I expect Brown is looking for a retroactive pardon for a number of assaults. Very sad for this fan. To me he might have been the greatest football player, for any position, ever. He was not my favourite, but I certainly thought he was the best. Favourite? Gale Sayers. Dick Butkus.

CFL? Willie Fleming. Jackie Parker. Joe Kapp.

The Browns? Named after Paul Brown, co-founder and first coach of the team.

Canadiens fan, Hambone? What number did Beliveau wear? LaFleur? Those are pretty easy. Savard? Robinson? Lemaire? Dryden?

[WestCoastJoe]

Unitas, puttin' on the high tops.

johnny-unitas-high-tops-super-bowl-v.jpg

[TheLionKing]

Another thing that pissed me off is the beach ball being tossed around in the stands. Is the in game budget that bad that the Lions have to resort to a cheap beach ball for game experience.

I've always assumed when the irritating beach ball materalizes that it's the product of some fan bringing it in. Come to think of it the one or two that bounced around 242 on Saturday were orange as opposed to typical multi coloured beach balls. Maybe they started out in the Beach Party section? If so I can cut a bit of slack. Otherwise my first thought when once one starts bouncing around is "Damn and I left my pocket knife at home".

I complained to the Lions several years ago and was told that if the ball bounces onto the field, the security people is not supposed to toss it back into the stands. One time a fan spiked the ball onto a young lady's face causing beer to be spilled all over her dress. There was an ensuing kerfuffle about who is going to pay the drycleaning bill.

[Hambone]

Ha ha, Hambone. You want the rouge, eh? Eh? Les Habitants were my favourite team long ago, and Richard was my first sports "hero," from about age 5.

I did not remember when I heard "burnt orange," but I liked it right away. The orange itself I recall was very strong, as one might expect.

Sports uniforms and colours, et cetera, are a big marketing deal. I put together information and visuals for some presentations years ago. The Rams horn. The Colts horseshoe. So many symbols.
........................

Aside from uniforms there is also the mystique of certain numbers.

#7 ... Mickey Mantle

#9 ... Rocket Richard

#5 ... Joe DiMaggio

#19 ... Johnny Unitas. Peyton Manning revered Unitas. Manning wanted to wear high tops in honour of him for one game. The league said no. Booo

The story goes that Gretzky was very young on a certain team, and #9 was taken, so he got #99.

For many fans, and pro athletes, #32 has cachet. For this fan it had to be Jimmy Brown. Very ashamed to see him with Kanye West in Trump's office. I expect Brown is looking for a retroactive pardon for a number of assaults. Very sad for this fan. To me he might have been the greatest football player, for any position, ever. He was not my favourite, but I certainly thought he was the best. Favourite? Gale Sayers. Dick Butkus.

CFL? Willie Fleming. Jackie Parker. Joe Kapp.

The Browns? Named after Paul Brown, co-founder and first coach of the team.

Canadiens fan, Hambone? What number did Beliveau wear? LaFleur? Those are pretty easy. Savard? Robinson? Lemaire? Dryden?

You're not trapping me there WCJ. I ceded bleu, blanc et rouge to the Habs because red belongs to the Red Wings and #9 is for Gordie Howe, not Richard. Gretzky wanted 9 because that was his hero Gordie Howe's number.

My numbers?
#9 - Howe
#19 - Unitas
#24 - Willie Mays - I wore #24 playing rec hockey and fastball for years in honour of Mays. I did want 9 initially but somebody with a lot more talent than me usually already had it so settled on 24.

I was and still am a Colts fan and that goes back to when I started following the Lions when I was about 7. As much as I loved Unitas, Berry, Mackey, Curtis etc I loved watching the "Kansas Comet" Gale Sayers. Sayers came in about the same time Brown retired so I really don't recall Brown until watching NFL Films long after he retired. Leroy Kelly who replaced Brown sticks in my mind as Cleveland's back in the 60s. Brown was all about power and speed. He'd carry defenders until they couldn't hang on any longer and he'd break loose. Sayers was poetry in motion. About 7 years ago I was in Vegas and wandering through a series of stores between I think the Luxor and Mandalay Bay. There was Sayers signing autographs. I jumped at the chance to spend something like $40 for a print of him carrying the ball and his autograph. Butkus and Sayers? In one of the great coups of NFL Draft history the Bears traded for Pittsburgh's 1st rounder, 3rd overall, to give them the #3 and #4 picks. After the Giants took Tucker Fredrickson and the 49ers took Ken Willard, who both went on to very productive careers, the Bears selected Butkus at #3 an Sayers at #4.

Here's a couple youtube links you might like WCJ:





Numbers for your Habs? In order 4, 10, 18, 19, 25, 29. Like shooting fish in a barrel. I've always been fascinated by numbers. When I was about 6 my uncle who was a huge Leaf fan I think tried to brainwash me. He would rattle off a Leaf name and I'd tell him what number the player wore.

[WestCoastJoe]

Great videos, Hambone.

About 1985, I had the opportunity to go the NFL Hall of Fame. I picked up a video of the NFL's greatest runners. That was $70 back in the day. I didn't think twice. Still got it. The clips of Sayers are all over that video. Jim Brown too. He was a powerful, fast, durable monster.

Ed O'Bradovich is in the Butkus/Sayers video you mentioned. He was with the Lions briefly. One of the things I remember about Butkus was a time when an opponent collapsed on the field of play, obviously in very, very serious trouble. Butkus was all over it, calling for help from the sideline. I think the player had not even been hit, but later died. It showed that the Monster of the MIdway was very human. I read Sayers' book, "I Am Third," in which he describes choosing Kansas over Nebraska. To this day he still gets hate mail from Nebraska fans, as he rejected offers to go to Nebraska. LOL Yes, I have seen those clips over and over.

Richard or Howe? Yup. As the Rocket aged, this fan suffered as Howe went on to obliterate his records. God bless them both. But the Rocket just had something about him that captured me as a Kid. I was about 4 or 5, and I saw his picture in the newspaper. He had fallen into the net after scoring. LOL His face was amazing to me. One of the greatest leaders of a team, in any sport, ever. He took the Canadiens franchise on his back. Richard joined the NHL 4 years ahead of Howe. Richard "made" that number 9. Ha ha. Both great. Both great.

Here is an amazing photo of Richard and Jim Henry. Much, much mutual respect. When I was at university some of the Americans there at the time mistook Henri, the Pocket Rocket, for Maurice. They missed out on the Rocket. I saw Henri here at a Lions' game, I think it was. And when I was very young I got Maurice's autograph at the old Forum at the PNE, after he was retired. He was reffing an old timer's game.

Great stuff, Hambone.

richard0902.jpg

[BC 1988]

Of course, "burnt-orange" belongs to the Texas Longhorns (to the extent that they patented Pantone 159 U back in 1967. Fascinating read about the circuitous route to get there starting in 1905.
https://alcalde.texasexes.org/2018/06/t ... nt-orange/
BC should have done the same--get their own Pantone and stick with it. I wonder if this ever came up during the Community Ownership years?

[WestCoastJoe]

For this fan, here are some more iconic numbers.

#15 Willie Fleming

#22 Joe Kapp, later #11 in the NFL

#9 Rocket Richard

#19 Johnny Unitas

#81 Gino Marchetti with the Colts. And Geroy Simon here with the Lions.

#40 Gale Sayers

#51 Dick Butkus

#7 Mickey Mantle

#9 Roger Maris

61* Mantle and Maris

#8 Yogi Berra

#31 Jim Taylor

#5 Paul Hornung

[Gridiron Ernie]

Of course, "burnt-orange" belongs to the Texas Longhorns (to the extent that they patented Pantone 159 U back in 1967. Fascinating read about the circuitous route to get there starting in 1905.
https://alcalde.texasexes.org/2018/06/t ... nt-orange/
BC should have done the same--get their own Pantone and stick with it. I wonder if this ever came up during the Community Ownership years?

Thanks for sharing this enjoyable and educational article, BC 1988. Love this kind of stuff. Pantone 159 U -- hmm... if any Lionbackers ever start a band this might be a good name! Anyhow, I really liked this section:

“Color is really a vibration. It’s energy,” says Gillian Rose, a New York-based color scientist and consultant. “It is not cognitive, it’s a physical, biological reaction.” Our hypothalamus, at the lower middle portion of our brains, processes color along with other sensory inputs, and translates those senses into emotions and even physical states, like thirst or hunger.

Humans, therefore, have innate reactions to certain colors, ancestral memories that tell us that, for example, black and yellow—the easiest color contrast to see—means danger. Rose claims that extroverted people like vibrant colors, searching for external stimulation, while introverted people seek calm, cool colors. But socially, we’re programmed with additional associations. Think color-coded gender-reveals for expecting parents, or red-and-blue maps in the news. These meanings are constructed, but powerful.

Burnt orange is, Longhorns (AND LIONS!!) will be pleased to know, a special color.

“When we look at orange, we’re looking at how much yellow versus red is in there,” she says. Ours is a patinated orange—browner, darker, and calmer. Rose, looking at a swatch of Texas orange, reads it like a tarot card.

Aggression. Enthusiasm. Rejuvenation. It’s a competitive color. “Courage is a big one. Over-confident,” she laughs. “That’s good for a team, right?”