The St. Louis Cardinals, always a contender in Major League Baseball’s National League, are mulling over a major shift in their branding effort by altering their primary team color and logo from All-American Red to yellow, GamingToday has exclusively learned.
The proposed change is a result of team research suggesting the Cardinals’ logo design, specifically its colors, has more bearing on customers’ opinions than initially thought. The team recently contracted with neuroscientists asking them to examine the neural machinery behind color. Their report said the science behind color processing is very powerful and completely underexploited.
The scientists say, “The implications of color’s effect on people’s emotions are far reaching, and understanding your customers’ connections to certain colors could increase the effectiveness of your company’s branding methods.”
Additional research compiled by web design and marketing company WebPageFX, reveals people make a subconscious judgment about a product in less than 90 seconds of viewing, and a majority base that assessment on color alone. In fact, almost 85 percent of consumers cite color as the primary reason they buy a particular product, and 80 percent of people believe color increases brand recognition.
A team spokesman, in a confidential report that, thanks to high winds, blew out of a trash pick-up vehicle and was relayed to this reporter, said the color change initiative was prompted by the recent sighting of an unusual yellow cardinal, spotted in the backyard of Charlie Stephenson in Alabaster, Ala., in late January. Alabama remains a major enclave of supporters of the St. Louis baseball club because residents have always had clear radio reception of team broadcasts featuring Hall-of-Famer Harry Caray and later Jack Buck, also a Hall of Fame member.
Auburn University biology professor Geoffrey Hill told local media the “off color” cardinal is an adult male in the same species as the common red cardinal but carries a genetic mutation that causes it to have bright yellow feathers instead of the usual brilliant red.
USA Today, in reporting the sighting, notes red cardinals are found all across central and eastern North America, according to Cornell University’s Ornithology Lab. The lab says, “A year-round resident, the cardinal is a common visitor to bird feeders in winter, and it has been chosen as state bird in seven U.S. states.”
Non-red cardinals are very rare. “Yellow cardinals are a one-in-a million situation,” Hill said.
The memo, somewhat stained and odorous from its journey from trash receptacle to outdoor bin and then to a removal vehicle, reveals the re-branding initiative is being championed by a small group of team executives self-deprecatingly calling themselves the “bird brains,” who want to stimulate team apparel sales.
The team expects to have to weather significant fan protests if and when the announcement is made because team officials are considering requiring those fans in attendance and also those at home watching on television to be required to wear the new yellow-hued logo wear instead of red garments beginning in 2020. It’s unknown if radio listeners will also be required to observe the color change.
Other factors behind the color change include a feeling that Cardinal fans are tired of wearing red and that if fans switch to yellow, infielders and outfielders may have an easier time catching pop ups and fly balls.
“If fans really want to help the team, they will wear yellow instead of red and not complain when their old jerseys, hats and jackets become obsolete and they have to buy new stuff. Besides, let that under-achieving football team in Arizona keep the red. We’re sick of being confused with them,” an executive said in the report.
Team executives also spoke to prominent Beverly Hills birdwatchers Jane Hathaway and Pamela Livingstone, and were told the rare yellow cardinals are significantly more aggressive than their red counterpart, fly straighter and are better hunters. “These are attributes our players could use to surpass the Chicago Cubs. We can’t continue to let them finish ahead of us in the division,” a key executive said in the report.
The same team executive says yellow has not been a main team color since worn by Charlie Finley’s Oakland A’s when the team won three straight World Series championships in the early 1970’s. “Who would care if we switch from red to yellow and win the series three straight times,” he said.
A final decision on the change is expected on April 1st or it will be shelved indefinitely.