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Abstract
When the Charlotte Bobcats became the Charlotte Hornets at the beginning of the 2014 NBA season, the team became the first in history to rebrand itself with a moniker previously used and recently dropped by another NBA franchise. Despite being bound by NBA branding and merchandising rules, the organization was able to re-imagine the original Hornets brand to create a new distinct brand identity that pushed the organization into the future while still honoring the past. The franchise employed a variety of creative brand communication techniques, including sending Hugo the Hornet mascot door-to-door in the community, and was able to again capture the hearts and spirit of Charlotte and increase attendance overnight. The new brand allowed the Hornets to move from ranking 25th in the NBA in attendance to 19 th and increase merchandise sales by 300%, despite winning fewer games than the previous season.
Keywords: branding, sport marketing, team identity, brand management
Introduction
During the final game of the 2014-2015 National Basketball Association (NBA) season, Matthew sat at his desk reflecting on the season. Matthew had held several marketing management positions in the NBA prior to coming to Charlotte at the beginning of the year to lead the organization's rebranding efforts; however, something about his work in Charlotte made him smile. From his desk, he could hear the final buzzer bringing an end to the 2014-2015 season in Time Warner Cable Arena. While the Hornets may have lost to the Rockets that night, he could hear the fans let out a strong collective cheer that grew as the players walked off the court. Though the Bobcats moniker brought NBA basketball back to Charlotte a decade earlier, it was Matthew and his team that brought the Hornets brand back to the Queen City, and its people were grateful. While the 2014-2015 season was not the franchise's most successful on the court, Matthew's work off the court to bring back the Hornets brand to the city of Charlotte had the whole city buzzing. When Matthew took over in his new role at the beginning of the season, he was told by the Hornets ownership to focus on understanding what the Hornets brand meant to the city of Charlotte. Matthew began to understand the Hornets...