One thing that sports organizations often want to do is speak to their consumers and do so using their brand. The Houston Texans football team is an excellent example of an organization who represents a particular type of brand in order to communicate with a particular type of consumer. The Texans are competing with another team in Texas, which is the Dallas Cowboys organization. And the Dallas Cowboys happen to be commonly referred to as “America’s Team.”
So, when the Texans were first launched, they had a very interesting marketing campaign. They essentially said that if the Dallas Cowboys were going to be America’s Team, then the Houston Texans were going to be Texas’s Team. They utilized their brand to speak to this idea of being Texas’s Team, and they used it to reach consumers who are actually from Texas and who really include their Texas pride among their personal values.
In terms of the actual product that the Houston Texans offer, there are a few examples of this. For one, the team’s logo is a longhorn, and that longhorn contains the Texas state flag. The team colors are also the colors of the state flag. So, essentially, everything that you will see concerning the Houston Texans and their brand really emphasizes the fact that they’re from Texas. They differentiate themselves from the Dallas Cowboys in that way, clearly saying, “The Cowboys are America’s team, but we’re Texas’s team.”
As a result, those individuals who really value being from Texas and make it a part of their identity can attend Texans games as a way of showcasing their Texas-based values. And the team embraces this. Oftentimes, you’ll see their players carrying the Texas flag out onto the field. You’ll also hear them say things like “Houston strong” or “Texas strong.” It isn’t so much that it has anything to do with the actual play on the football field. In fact, it wouldn’t really matter if the Texans were a bad team. However, sports consumers from the state of Texas are going to be attracted to them because, win or lose, they represent their state, and they show pride in it.
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