Moving on from Our Time

On Monday, October 29^th, the Kansas City Royals officially finished cleaning house. First, the Royals fired first base coach, Doug Sisson, on August 4^th. Then, on October 4^th, the Royals got rid of their hitting coach, Kevin Seitzer. Now, in the team’s final move to erase any memory of the disappointing 2012 season, the Royals have given the coup de grâce to their marketing consultant firm. The Royals are now fixed.

Sarcasm aside, I think most people saw this move coming since about May. It’s not often that a marketing firm makes itself such a talking point amongst a fan base, but it’s also not often that a marketing firm takes such a balls-out approach for an upcoming season. Not to mention the upcoming season was for a ball club coming off eight straight losing seasons. I think we all know what I’m talking about.

“Our Time.”

A gutsy slogan that was supposed to usher in a new era for Royals baseball, it was branded everywhere and accompanied with current and former Royals players alike echoing it in perfect harmony and sincerity. Fans, including myself, couldn’t help but be excited about the 2012 season. After all, it was finally Our Time. Not anyone else’s time, they had had their time. No, from here on out, it was no one else’s time but ours.

But it didn’t take long for Our Time to transform from a slogan of hope to a punch line at the end of a joke. By about the time Chris Perez mocked it with a “Tribe Time” hash-tag on Twitter, the slogan was dying a painful death. Don’t get me wrong, I respect what the marketing firm was trying to do. Why should fans be confident in the upcoming season if the team and those around it aren’t confident as well? Things that are intended as good, however, can sometimes turn out so bad (and if you’re thinking, “You don’t know it was the slogan that caused the Royals do get rid of them!,” well, you’re certainly right that I can’t know for sure, but I’m certainly not the only person who is suggesting it either).

So, the Royals cut ties with those failed good intentions on Monday and moved forward with Walz Tetrick as their new advertising agency (Here's their website. If you take the time to look through it, it's some pretty creative and funny stuff). This is what the team’s press release had to say about the matter:

“We were fortunate to have several excellent options for an advertising agency partnership,” said Michael Bucek, Royals Vice President-Marketing & Business Development.  “Walz Tetrick came to the forefront with their originality, enthusiasm and an approach that meshed well with our staff.  We look forward to working with their team to further our brand development and provide fans with a connection to our players and organization.”

The agency’s responsibilities will include creative development and production, as well as media planning and implementation. 

“We are thrilled to be working with one of the most iconic brands in Kansas City,” said WTA president and owner Charlie Tetrick.  “WTA believes the Royals are a perfect fit for the agency, which holds an extensive portfolio of media, creative development and consumer promotional work across various industries, including sports marketing.  After assisting with branding campaigns for other local sport organizations including the Kansas City Chiefs and Missouri Mavericks, WTA is pleased to establish a partnership with the Royals, one of Kansas City’s marquee sports franchises.  The Royals have a promising year ahead, and we can’t wait to be part of it.”

According to their website, they have also consulted with Dairy Queen, American Royal, Boy Scouts of America, Prairie Band Casino & Resort, GE Transportation and Olathe Heath System. Give their website a look (which I already linked above) to check out some of their work. 

Since WTA is new this season, we at Royal Revival, out of the kindness of our hearts, are going to help them out with their 2013 marketing efforts and offer OUR suggestions for the upcoming team slogan. All for FREE! Can you believe that?! I mean, out of all of us, we have … like … (scratches head) … TWO full years of real world marketing experience. Obviously, we know what we’re talking about. So here’s what we came up with.

“2 in 13”

“Yeah, we booed Cano. What’s it to ya?”

“Cassel doesn’t play here.”

“Let’s be honest, we’re looking for a .500 season.”

“See, we traded Melky for a reason!”

“Soon-to-be-relevant. Or is that too close to Our Time?”

“If you like Garth Brooks, you’re going to love us.”

“What else are you going to watch? Soccer?”

“We’re not the Cardinals.”