Games have been one of the biggest growth areas on social networks within the last few years and brands have had to consider if online games are a tool they can use to engage with their customers. These games are not those associated with the X-box and Playstation but those on social network sites such as Facebook.

Facebook is clearly the most popular place to partake in these games with over 83% of respondents to an Information Services Group survey undertaken on behalf of Popcap Games saying that this was a site they had played games on.

The survey found that 55% of social gamers are women and that they are also more regular gamers than men with 38% of women saying they played multiple times a day compared to only 29% of men. Women are also more likely to play with people they know (which will help in reaching personal networks which are easier to leverage). The average social gamer the research found is a 43 year old women.

Social games are varied with the best known and most highly played being Farmville, Fish World and Pet Society (animals are currently very popular) but there are also games enabling you to run your own business, fight trolls and orcs or just play simple challenge games in a short break such as Tetris.

How to use these to develop a brand needs to be considered in the same context as other social network marketing.

Firstly listen to what consumers are saying about your brand and understand how you can influence this either to reinforce the positive or refute the negative. Make sure that you are honest and clear in all communication which occurs throughout the game and be relevant, do not try and shoe horn yourself into where you do not belong. Ensure that you have clear goals and targets that you can measure performance against and include in these ways of creating dialogues and multilogues if at all possible.

It is possible to advertise on some games and there is also the possibility of building brand awareness by product placement within the games especially those that use virtual currency as a way of earning money. A simple mechanism of adding in a product to a game if it is relevant and linking this to a real world incentive can have a positive effect.

Games are forever evolving and developers of virtual reality games are frequently adding features due to gamer demand and brands can benefit from linking to these. Sorority Life gamers indicated that they wanted to drive cars round the campus so developers created a limited edition pink VW Beetle for the game and they sold over $250,000 worth of virtual cars in 2 days and brand awareness even in a virtual environment is still awareness and will result in viral spread as each of the gamers tells their gaming friends that they have bought a new VW Beetle! Remember a lot of gaming conversation goes on outside of the gaming environment.

So there are plenty of opportunities to advertise and influence, you could even commission your own game but more of that another time, first off have a strategy, use what is already there and test the arena to see if it can work for you.

In answer to the heading; social gaming can develop your brand but you need a strategic not a shotgun approach.

Yes, it is a little disconcerting. The fact that most marketers and businesses are still getting to grips with the ever changing digital age, makes the headline above somewhat confusing.

Are we supposed to stop trying to figure out if, and how, to use online community opportunities, mobile marketing, various forms of net and web development, dialogue based content and everything else that digital gives us access to?

Does this mean that Facebook, You Tube, Twitter, Digg etc. are a waste of time as marketing and brand development channels?

The answer to all the above is an emphatic NO. Digital is here to stay but not stay still. The technology will continue to develop, becoming more sophisticated and accessible in the process. And this pace of change will continue to be very, very fast indeed. In fact businesses and organisations that fail to capitalise on these opportunities will rapidly fail to communicate effectively at all. They will self marginalise and be marginalised by others.

So what does post-digital mean then? Well, it’s a paradox. The more digital becomes ingrained in the minds of people, the more seamless and integrated its place in everyone’s daily lives gets, the less distinct digital becomes as an initiative or strategy in it’s own right.

Post-digital means that businesses and organisations need to stop thinking about digital per se and get back to concentrating on who and what they are and what, therefore, they are really trying to convey to all their audiences and stakeholders. From this, they can successfully define communication strategies that utilise all channel opportunities in the most effective way, accepting that digital in all its forms is just another essential part of the mix.

If digital is an integrated part of life, shouldn’t it be an integrated part of strategic thinking too?

Back in the dark ages, how many businesses based their need to have a website on the fact that everyone else had one, rather than defining that web was a really effective way of telling their stories and then using it to best effect? The answer to this is clear when you look at the vast array of pointless and miss-used websites that still exist.

Now imagine the same problem but amplified by the hundreds of diverse digital channels available to brands now and in the very near future. The potential mess, waste of money and lost opportunity really doesn’t bear thinking about, so make sure that you are not part of the problem and indistinct noise by making communication strategy and integrated marketing your post-digital priority.

Green branding has been a big hot topic for some time and Purple Frog has been invited to contribute to important new research being conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit into the way that green branding is being addressed by major corporates.

The Research, due to be published later this year, will provide a resource and valuable insights into the way that global electronics brands develop green brand activities in the UK and Europe as part of wider brand and business strategy.

The subject of green branding, its influence and priority in overall brand awareness generation and its sustainability in the minds of consumer groups and business leaders as the environmental ‘landscape’ evolves, now form a significant part of most brand and marketing managers consideration.

Planning if, when and how to promote a businesses environmental credentials requires careful, balanced and realistic understanding of what the business is actually offering its audiences in terms of green advantage. This consideration needs to factor in corporate social responsibility policy, offer attributes, internal culture/operation, real audience benefit and other brand and marketing communication activity.

Most importantly, green brand development has to consider other competitor and whole market activity, together with consumer attitudes to the environmental messages that they are exposed to and their ability, through social and online mediums, to explore, debate, challenge and expose these messages.

In the UK, consumer groups have been exposed to so many green brand messages in every aspect of their lives, that simply promoting a general ‘environmental’ brand no longer brings credibility. Instead, businesses need to rigorously evaluate the way that they build green branding into overall brand and marketing communication, in order to avoid the risk of spending valuable budgets by jumping on the green bandwagon – without opportunity for good returns or positive brand impact.

If your business needs to evaluate its green brand position and communication approach, why not make it a policy to give Purple Frog a call.

Today going green is something we all must do and the construction industry is without doubt a sector where this is very important. Going green however needs to be a fundamental part of the brand of your business if consumers are to believe you are serious. Do not just bolt it on to your marketing strategy, make sure it is a theme throughout your business and that your staff believe in it as well.

All marketing strategies should be embedded with the business objectives and in most instances they should be used to inform and develop the objectives of the business not just respond to them. Marketing is about ensuring your values are projected into the market place and it is important that your values are in tune with those of your consumers because this will increase their propensity to buy into your brand and products or services and therefore the more likely they will be to purchase from you either now or in the future.

In the Green Perspective survey published by the Chartered Institute of Building an overwhelming majority of respondents saw the value in sustainable building. Although the survey identified an increase in demand for sustainable products over the five years (2002-2007), this increase appears not to have reached significant enough levels for the industry to act. The reason for this lack of widespread market appetite is seen as a shortage of client awareness and education towards the financial benefits for building green projects. And yet the industry (86 per cent of respondents) believes there are financial benefits to be had from producing energy efficient buildings.

There are numerous other facts with the document that can be downloaded here but what it did not cover was the ways in which marketing and a brand ethos that embeds sustainability within the business can help deliver increased profits and greater capital value in the future.

Innovators and Leaders

There always need to be innovators and leaders and you should ensure your company is one of them, don’t just follow others. Increasing brand awareness and educating consumers of the benefits has historically been very expensive and fraught with dangers but the rise of the internet has enabled this to become more cost effect although it is still necessary to be aware of potential dangers.

Building a Strategy

Your strategy will need to reflect your business and your offers and will only really work over the long term if you have a product or element of your service that is clearly green, sustainable and adds value to the consumer as a result. The value need not be cost related it may make your product more expensive but if it is real and you highlight the core values in your marketing then you will have started the process of education. As mentioned earlier the Internet has enabled messages to be passed around more quickly and more effectively. How you use it will depend on your business and offer, but the ultimate is to get your customers and potential customers talking about it and encouraging others to talk about it. Just having a web site and hoping people will find it will not work, you need to be actively out there pushing your potential customers towards it, through social sites, industrial forums, news sites, and those where your potential customers currently engage. Creating your own group on Facebook may work but I suspect that you will only end up talking to those already in your sector, so search out where your customers are talking and talk to them there.

You can also use your current advertising spend to encourage debate and to get people to join in and you do not have to change a currently successful strategy either. All you need to do is evolve your current campaigns so that they ask for input, offer reasons for debate or even just become a vehicle for collecting data, which you can then use to grow your influence.

There are so many options available and so many possibilities to stand out from the crowd all you need is to understand what is remarkable about your product and service within the green environment that consumers care about and then build the right strategy to talk about it.

The Purple Frog team is thrilled to have won all Siemens’ white goods portfolio creative and campaign development.

Our work will include consumer brand awareness and product launch advertising in national and tactical press, in-store awareness and promotional activity, online support and specific niche campaigns.

This is particularly exciting for us as it comes as a direct result of our work with Bosch over the last 3 years. Purple Frog will handle both accounts to ensure the maintenance of brand distinction and effectiveness of marketing communication for each brand in the UK.

It is a significant and welcome reward for us, and means that we have to create clear demarcation between creative and account teams whilst maintaining effective strategic and brand custodianship across both – a fine balance for our Account and Creative Directors.

We’ll keep you posted as our work develops.

Member-based organisations are waking up, some with a bump, to the reality that in today’s world they can no longer automatically rely on the loyalty of established members or that they will renew their subscriptions next year.

So why are more people questioning the value of membership? It’s easy to blame the economic downturn. It’s equally easy to conclude that organisations are not providing enough benefits to be attractive, but the simple truth is that if people want to be a member enough, they will pay for it. The question is not ‘are we offering enough benefit?’ but ‘are we offering the right kind of benefit?’

There are some very clear rational and emotional differences between being a member of an organisation and being a customer of a business.

a) Members tend to align with a brand for deeper reasons of affinity and benefit
b) Membership is less about product or service and more directly about credibility and status
c) They feel more a part of the organization and that they can be actively involved with it – sometimes at considerable investment in time
d) Members are more likely to feel part of a club made up of likeminded people – they have a ready made sense of belonging
e) In some cases, members believe that they ‘own’ the organisation. It can become their driving force
f) Members will think longer and harder about whether to relinquish membership than consumers do about brands – they are less fickle
g) Membership is the ultimate challenge in long term relationship building and loyalty because the ‘offers’ do not substantially change
h) Membership is more akin to a businesses relationship with its shareholders than customers

Whilst gaining new members is a central pillar of most organisations marketing and brand strategies, the need to retain and grow the ones already in place – won over considerable investment of time and cost – is now understood as an imperative because membership is no longer regarded as ‘money in the bank’ year on year.

In some regards, it is easier to nurture an already established relationship than to encourage new uptake and possibly switch. Gaining new members tends to rely on timing and correct insight – the strength of your targeted message/offers/benefits at a moment when the target is becoming disaffected with their current relationship. Inevitably this means lower ROI if the timing is wrong. Some targets switch because they are already positively aware of your brand – this has probably been developed over time and with considerable investment in marketing and brand development activity.

Some professional bodies invest in nurturing student membership through university partnerships, presence at events and regional student programmes. Whilst this can use a substantial part of marketing and recruitment budgets, time and resource, the aim has always been to create a ‘cradle to grave’ relationship – initial engagement and support through education and entry to a given profession, followed up by ongoing development, qualifications, CPD, events and knowledge provision.

The established member may be working as a brand advocate by speaking well of you or even actively working on the organisations behalf. They are certainly easier to talk to (they are already engaged with you), however this is offset by the time and financial investment needed to keep their relationship with you positive and growing – you need to keep them happy and the longer they are with you the more demands they will make and greater expectations they will have. As they become more comfortable in the relationship they will inevitably become more demanding, critical and vocal. They will expect more and will take more for granted. If they remain happy they will be your biggest advocates. If they become disaffected, you may not only lose them – probably forever, but also create a critic of you.

Many organisations have over the years offered their members more and more – in many professional bodies this has led to a loss of focus on the real reason why members become members – qualifications, professional credibility, awareness, understanding and respect from the ‘public’, privileged knowledge and ability to work. The ancillary offers have taken over and the more members are offered, the more they expect and demand. In turn this has led to increases in member drop off, as organisations have failed to deliver on these increased expectations. Members become disaffected with the ancillary offers rather than delighted with the ‘real’ benefits of membership. Some organisations have desperately tried to deliver on these offers, at substantial cost financially, investment in new people – member/customer services, events management, PR, commercial operations, marketing etc. and diversion from the ‘real’ work of the org.

In a sense, members are being turned into customers and the organisations themselves are driving this forward – to their own detriment. And they are doing this at a time when members have an increasing amount of organisation choice – competition – and less available funds to spend on membership fees. In addition, one of the major historic attractions to these organisations – privileged knowledge acquisition – has been eroded by easy internet access to ‘free’ knowledge from world leading sources.

One glaring piece of evidence to support all this is the significant drop off and lack of uptake in membership from younger age groups (under 35), particularly in professional bodies. These organisations are no longer seen as the ‘must belong to’ priority that they once were. As a consequence, some member orgs are increasingly seen as out of touch, not commercially astute and stuck in a bygone age – causing further barriers to uptake.

Many professional bodies, Institutions and member-based not for profits have been around for many years without substantial change. A few have evolved their offers – additional qualifications, CPD programmes, accessibility to documents and papers, events and venue hire, restaurants and cafes etc. and some are now re-evaluating member offers in the face of member drop off. Many have been slow to react to a changing world and the effect this has had on their, and their members, position in it. Others have reacted by reducing membership fees, relaxing membership criteria and regulation and offering gimmick based incentives – all of which have reduced the power of their number one attraction – credibility and high status. Some have even changed their governance and structure to increase a perception of accessibility.

Very few have addressed the central issue of what they mean to people – the public, professionals, members, education, governments etc. – in today’s internet based global world of easy access to competitors, knowledge, communication, peers and resource. What is it that provides members with real and relevant advantage over non-members? What is deliverable and sustainable without risking damage to brand, high status (in some cases, Charter and impartial, public responsibility), expectations and operational efficiency? What will win out against increasing numbers of real and virtual competition for member’s cash?

These are fundamental questions that when answered can not only direct what an organisation offers it’s current and future members (retention AND recruitment) but potentially determine future organisational direction, strategy and conduct. Proper analysis, insight, and strategic understanding of this type can also lead to solutions about one of the main barriers to organisational development and change – the established member base itself or, as I’ve heard more than a few CEO’s and Chairmen of professional bodies describe them, the ‘old guard’.

One way or another if, even after taking natural churn into account, membership renewals are in decline, there is only one reason – they just don’t value you enough. Even after all the things you have done for them.

There are many reasons why members choose to relinquish membership. Here are a few old chestnuts;-

1) The organisation no longer reflects their views or effectively represents them in their world – it is out of touch
2) Not enough is being done to raise their status, credibility and advantage to justify the cost of association with you
3) The organisation is either not addressing important issues effectively and is resistant to change, or is changing too much, too fast – this is a seemingly no win situation
4) The knowledge, advice and support that they gain can be found elsewhere and less expensively. They do not get enough privileged or unique insight
5) They no longer feel special
6) They do not get enough good and valuable communication from you – or they get too much that is not valuable
7) They are unaware of how much the organisation is working on their behalf
They feel that they have been let down by you – even if in reality they have not.
9) They do not get enough ‘free’ stuff. Or they are offered too much and feel that THEIR organisation is being cheapened.
10) They are unaware of the benefits on offer and assume that there aren’t enough to justify the fee
11) They believe, rightly or wrongly, that there are greater benefits somewhere else
12) They do not believe that THEIR money is being used in the right way

In reality, the reasons to relinquish membership are probably based on a combination of these, and other, factors. Generally, members do not choose to leave lightly and they make very considered decisions.

For a better understanding, do what many organisations fail to do – talk with your membership – they will welcome it. The prudent and objective analysis of your member’s comments is vital because you will probably get as many reasons for disaffection as there are members. This analysis needs to be part of your evaluation of if and how the organisation needs to change, not all of it.

Whilst as stated, some organisations fail to talk with their members, others do something far worse. They listen, then panic, then create ill-considered changes based solely on member’s comments. This may pacify the membership for a short while but it may cause substantial long-term damage to the organisation itself because, and this may come as a shock, the member base is only one part of the organisation. It is probably not why the organisation exists (very few Royal Charters include the phrase ‘service the wishes of the members’) and therefore should not solely determine the organisations direction.

Member-based organisations have something that most businesses can only dream of and have invested much in trying to acquire – genuine, substantial and deep rooted loyalty. ‘Know your customer’ and ‘ create effective CRM programmes’ are mantras chanted in businesses the world over. In member-based organisations, this knowledge should be implicit and relationships should not need to be created because everyone is in the same world already. But like any other relationship, the deeper it goes and the longer it lasts, the more there is at stake and the more it needs to be carefully worked at. The world and members aspirations change over time and organisations need to adapt or face the inevitable – messy divorce.

A great way to get someone’s attention – scare the living daylights out of them.

Maybe I’m just being a little cynical, but if one of our clients had a cure for a deadly virus, they would have one of the most successful brands on the marketplace. And it gets better because it will soon become the most wanted and sought after product in the modern era despite how little is known of its side effects, because people are scared, really scared.

When the World Health Organisation warns of a pandemic, and the governments around the world disclose potentially large fatality figures, the press goes into 6th gear and cannot stop talking about it, building the most fearful picture for the future.  The direct response is for all of us as consumers/taxpayers to contribute no matter what it costs to pay for a cure.  Our fictitious client is loving the success and demand for the product, and profit margins are boosted further by the decision to not implement any major marketing activity, leaving it almost completely to others to spread the fear.

Is this the most impressive marketing of a brand ever?  Ring a bell?

Brands and branding are responsible for many of the world’s problems today.

Capitalism and globalisation in the form of homogenised corporate monsters rule ok. They get inside our minds and make us do things that, left to our own devices, we would avoid like the plague.

Surely brands are therefore clearly evil and almost Orwellian in their ability to change our behaviour to suit their own ends, know our thoughts and actions and brainwash entire social and cultural groups.

But hang on a minute. This view, held high by the anti globalisation, anti capitalism lobby misses one or two rather important points.

Don’t all of us, ‘brainwashed’ and easily manipulated consumers in the free world make our choices BECAUSE WE WANT TO? No one forces us to do what they want and no one penalises us when we don’t. We choose to pay premium prices for a Nike or Lacoste branded T-shirt but probably couldn’t be paid to wear an HSBC bank one.

We make purchasing choices about almost everything from food to clothes to batteries and insurance and it is brand that allows us to have choice – without it, how would we know what our choices were? How could we differentiate between products? How could we express a preference? How would we know whom to trust? Even the ‘No Brand’ brand has become an influential and recognized…. well…brand.

Brand is now so influential that it is used to promote choices that go well beyond purchasing decisions. Some support football clubs because of associations of style, glamour and success rather than a local affinity or allegiance. We donate to charities because of the worthiness of their cause but also because of our levels of trust in them based on our perception of their brands. The Red Cross is still one of the worlds most recognized and respected brands. Many people in democratic countries base their voting decisions on the brands of politicians and political parties rather than on a good understanding of policies.

Everything from people to countries are described as brands and as individuals we make choices based on how we believe others will perceive our unique brand as a result of our actions and decisions. The word itself is used (and misused) by almost everyone in the free market world

These behaviours are not new, however the positioning of them as brand building activity is. The business of deliberate, planned development in order to change and influence peoples views has, over the last 30 years, become one of the most important and considered aspects of business strategy.

Business owners, leaders and managers, regardless of their organisations size, scope and markets have become the primary custodians of their brands. There is a recognition that although successful brand positioning still impacts heavily on sales and marketing activity, all parts of a business can benefit and improve as a result of carefully constructed brand change and direction. More importantly, brand building is now understood to benefit the smallest SME as much as the largest multi national.

So is brand evil? Definitely not, so long as the activity is carefully and responsibly conducted and implemented and if it creates real change within an organisation and in the beliefs and minds of the people who are exposed to it. If organisations are able to differentiate themselves from their competition in a genuine and believable way and if consumers, donators and information seekers are able to make real choices or gain real benefit, then everyone wins. The trick is to embark on brand activity in the right way and for the right reasons.

To find out more about how you can develop influential, long lasting and growth generating brand change that will make a measurable difference to your business, workforce and customer groups, please contact Steve Cook, Purple Frog’s Brand Strategist or email more@purplefrog.co.uk

“In the knowledge economy, where agility outperforms size, where the customer is king, and creative, passionate people your only armament – new forms of leadership and team play are keys to success. It is about purpose and meaning, about something to believe in – about a new aesthetic: Inspiring people to dream and act. And it is about BEING the values, BEING the strategy”
Harald Knudsen – Said Business School

You have probably read the quote above, written by one of the most respected business academics in Europe, and have arrived a one of two distinct points of view – the ‘What a load of old tosh’ view or the ‘Wow, that sounds really interesting’ view. There is a third camp that a few of you perhaps subscribe to, which is the ‘That sounds like it should be really interesting if only I could understand what he meant’ camp. And in a sense this is the most important one.

Small businesses with limited budgets and marketing capability have historically been the last to consider that brand building activity could be both viable and beneficial for them. Some owner managers/partners believe, quite understandably, that THEY are the brand, that THEY inspire the belief of staff and customers. Others fear that spending on brand development will either cost a fortune or will be a waste of money or both. This view has (and this is ironic) been largely and erroneously created by the brand industry itself. Others think that brand is about image – logo design, advertising, sexy websites – things that they consider as irrelevant to them and their markets/customers or that require a marketing department to implement.

In reality, all of the concerns described above are born from a misunderstanding about what brand is, how is works and how it can measurably benefit small businesses. Part of the problem is the word itself – Brand. Brand is now so much a part of public and business language and thinking that it has gained a life of its own and is used and interpreted in an infinite number of ways. It is wrongly synonymous with big business, big spend, high street retail, fashion, design – things that most small business leaders do not consider relevant.

Perhaps a better way of thinking about brand is to consider it as the way that people, all people, think about your business, its products, services and offers, the way your people behave, the way that you convey the difference between you and your competitors in order to gain advantage over them and the way that you can use these to grow now and, more importantly, in the future. In other words how you grow your businesses REPUTATION in order to grow its sales, productivity, profitability and most importantly, its future financial value.

When SME reputation/brand development is considered in these ways and is carefully (but not expensively) defined and implemented, small businesses begin to benefit in many ways from the effort. Workforce belief, thought, action and team working improves. Customers, suppliers, partners and shareholders gain better understanding and loyalty and limited sales and marketing budgets work harder because communication is routed in something substantial – pre determined recognition. Most importantly the SME is able to genuinely and believably create a point of difference and advantage over its competitors. Properly constructed brands are also sustainable for a long time regardless of offer and market changes. In other words, and this is the shocker, work in this area is an investment not a cost. Finally, when brand development is measured, it has a financial value. It directly adds to the worth of the business.

So, do you need to understand or believe the quote above? NO. Is brand important and valuable to SME’s? YES, if embarked on carefully, realistically and responsibly.

To find out more about how you can develop influential, long lasting and growth generating brand change that will make a measurable difference to your business, workforce and customer groups, please contact Steve Cook, Purple Frog brand strategist, or email more@purplefrog.co.uk

My ‘turn-key-and-hope’ car is giving me problems in the morning.  I have choices, many choices.  I could continue this dawn misery; I could get a lift to work with someone else; I could replace my car for a newer model; or I could listen to the press ads, TV ads, cinema ads, radio ads, 48 sheet poster ads, adshels, pr articles, Jeremy Clarkson test drives, Which? opinions, DM pieces, online ads, WOMs, blogs, social network sites, viral sites, emails… and… consider another brand!

In fact with almost everything in life, if something isn’t good enough, or it’s faulty, it’s out of date, out of fashion, too big, too small, or if it is just time for a change, we have the choice of other brands to consider.

So then, why is this not the case in football?  Let’s get the jokes out the way first:

1. I am a Swindon Town season ticket holder.
2. At odds to popular belief, the match-day stadium announcer doesn’t read out the crowd changes to the teams before kick-off.
3. And yes, 100 goals conceded in one Premier League season is a monumental record Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal will never beat.

‘Supporters’ of football clubs – those that have made a choice to attend the games of a particular club, do so because of a local affinity or allegiance.  Every one of those supporters wants his team to beat the opposition every game, every week. The fact that they don’t, and in my club’s case, rarely do, demonstrates that there is more than just club/brand loyalty at play here. Even for long-serving season ticket-holders, there are times when you have to say to yourself, “I really can’t do this any more.” The crunch comes after another soulless defeat or, even worse, a soulless, goalless draw where your heroes look like they just don’t give a damn.

These feelings are never more prevalent when at a pointless cup competition, which can be a thrilling away trip in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy. Many times I have found myself sitting in an 80 per cent empty stadium, trying to generate heat from a nuclear-heated, yet barely edible cheeseburger and wondering if I was going to get home before midnight. Half of me wants to congratulate myself for being a ‘loyal fan’ and for turning out on a frozen November evening, while the more sensible half is saying, “I must be a fool to be here.”

Worse still, when a football club is losing every week and the opposing fans give a cheerful reminder at how poor you are, what do us loyal supporters do? grumble; shout at the referee, ask for the board of directors to consider their positions; and then pay at the turnstiles next week to watch more of the same.

So why not change brand? Why carry on forever optimistic that the brand will get better?, optimistic that the brand will win something someday, optimistic that the visible branding on the forehead will eventually change from ‘loser’ to ‘winner’.
It’s almost a sin to talk, let alone actually switching allegiance of brand – football’s greatest crime and something I would never condone in anyone over the age of 16. I am sure many fans have considered quitting their club, not taking on another team, instead taking a back seat for a while. You can be sure that with a change of fortune or the big cup tie, these fans will flock back and regale everyone with tales of when they went to “that cup semi in ’87”, neglecting to mention the 20-year gap of non-attendance.

Being a football supporter and pinning your heart and loyalty to the club’s cause is not much different to an army joined together in vocal support for its generals; and no amount of better play, luck, insult or jibe from the other side is going to sway its allegiance.

So then, have I, or could I ever consider dropping my football brand for another?

No. No amount of distance, despair or indifference would make me commit such a heinous act*.

* Please don’t tell my fellow wolfies in the children’s enclosure at Molineux that after my granddad moved away from Birmingham and therefore took away my match day lift, I had no choice but to find another club. C’mon give me a break, I was only 6.