re: Hornets247 Rebrands to Bourbon Street Shots

The content is always the most important. But you also have to get people there to read it.


I guess im just thinking more of word of mouth and twitter.

It just doesn't have any flow to it. And the the whole Bourbon St thing is so cliche.

Im trying to imagine myself talking about it at a game or in a bar. "Hey did you read what was on Bourbon St Shots last night?!?!"... just does nothing. Has no "pop".

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why are there restraints with Pelicans but not Hornets?


ETA: i dont see the Hawk's angle.

The viewership is pretty regional I would say. Would be hard for someone in the gulf south to get anything confused with the Hawks

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There were issues with that. When the radio show was going, the team asked that the name of the show not include Hornets. This was after the Shinn era. Shinn didn't mind the intellectual property house.

Less than half of the True Hoop Network has the team's name in the name, and that's even including things like "Wolves" or "knickerblogger." It's less than 1/3 if you steer away from that, but I include it since BSS is far from the team name.

Around SBNation, it's even farther away.

The teams distinguish between a `fan site' and . . . something else. Hornets Talk never had someone ask for credentials to cover the game or had someone ask to talk to David Stern. Some organizations pay a good deal of money to use the team name and pay for that access. If they give it away for free, it either hurts the team or upsets sponsors, which can cause a stiff-arm in the best case and a cease-and-desist in the worst.

Best to side-step that if you fall into the something else category.

About readership: it's several thousand unique views per day in the offseason with equal parts in the region, in the US out of the region, and out of the US. Generic Avian stuff, like a reference to feathers, for instance, is ambiguous. We didn't want that. We wanted things to not be ambiguous. It takes another `hop' to get from Bourbon St. to New Orleans, but it is unambiguous.

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I was thinking more web, not social media. That actually makes a big difference now that I think about it. I can see people assuming that not only is it unrelated, but possibly something spammy/phishy with Bourbon Street being the lead on an article about the Pelicans. In the end the content is still much more important than the name, but they are putting themselves at a disadvantage if a more basketball/pelicans obvious name was on the table. If the name doesn't matter, why go for clever over obvious?

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A fair risk.

If something is retweeted, it's not really spam though, it it? If someone sent it out with an @whatever, then yeah.

As far as clever over obvious: What's is obviously Pelicans if you can't say Pelicans?

I don't think it's supposed to be clever, really. It's supposed to be memorable, flexible, and point to the city. Saying "New Orleans" points more clearly to the city, but makes the name sound more like many others. Costs, benefits, choices.

As far as the `pop' goes, I think you are right. It also doesn't upset people (other than their tastes). I gotta say, I don't get your flow comment. It is 4 syllables and I think it flows fine. People use those words in sentences together a good bit. It's quite memorable once you know what it's about, and most people get information about the content and the name around the same time or get the content first.

The `bar scenario' you lay out was specifically discussed. The hope was to get something that would have some nickname reference at least. In this case, maybe "shots" or "BS" (as noted). That can't be forced or it won't work.

In the end, it'll work if the work is done well.

If you ask yourself: what is the site bourbonstreetshots.com about, you would wait a little while before you came up with "New Orleans Pelicans." This, however, is not really how people get to sites.

Also, hornets247.com, pelicans247.com, and bourbonstshots.com all work if url length matters, but I think it doesn't in the world of bookmarks and search engines.

Again, just explaining, disclosing for those interested. Not `selling' the name or defending the name. I suppose I'm defending the process to some extent. I think it's an interesting problem.

LINK /

Here's an article with some info I gave Slam:

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Among the many consequences of the name change, the challenge facing Hornets247.com should interest any web-savvy branding types. Launched by Irishman Niall Doherty (currently residing in Thailand), the True Hoop-affiliated site is now under the direction of Ryan Schwan, Joe Gerrity, Chris Trew and Jason Calmes. Earlier today, I asked Calmes what it all means.

“A rebrand of the New Orleans Hornets was a near-given once someone bought the franchise from the NBA, so this has been on our radar for years,” he says. Once Benson made his intentions clear, the site consulted with NBA execs about rebranding strategies. “The name has to be good, but it cannot be so good that someone else has it and wants $50,000 for it. This is a real example. So you really have to break ground to get the URL with complimentary twitter, etc. to have a coherent, professional brand for the world to see.” They plan to unveil a new name once the team’s rebranding is complete, and continue to work through archiving issues. “It’s been an interesting problem to solve,” says Calmes, “but it’ll be nice once this franchise is interesting because of the players on the court and not the hundred reasons for interest over the past three years.” Here’s the site’s excellent take on the end of an era.

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What will become of 42's no-nonsense style once he starts writing on Bourbon? Is an alcoholic, drug-dealing turn imminent? Will he finally embrace the pool at the Party Perch? Will he end up at Larry Flynt's at 3 am, telling himself "I don't even give a frick about the ATM withdrawal charge" and indulging in NOLA's finest street city women? Time will tell.

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Michael McNamara

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for the record, until you tweet verification, i won't believe it's actually you

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Hey guys I finally gave in and joined hornets talk.

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I'm skeptical but

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Michael McNamara ?@McNamara247 8m
The McNamara on TigerDroppings is not me. I consider it a compliment, though, that someone has nothing better to do than pretend to be me!

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The fake got me.

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What will become of 42's no-nonsense style once he starts writing on Bourbon?

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Clearly you do not know where I write.

And I'm full of nonsense. Some sense, but lots of nonsense.

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Nolabasketball.com isn't taken. Even something that simple would be better. The cliche of it really bugs me a lot. A lot.

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It was considered and rejected.

I do appreciate you taking the time to sort through some names at least. I know it's not easy.

You think it's better, but it's not a great name right?

It has the same lack of `pop' that Lester Earl talked about. Would there be complaints for not covering Tulane? Rec leagues? Do people elsewhere know what NOLA is?

ETA: It is registered, by the way. We rejected going after it.