The Royals yesterday announced their slogan for the '14 season will be "Be Royal," and it will "be seen throughout the season in advertisements, online banners and in social media," according to Blair Kerkhoff of the K.C. STAR. While the Royals are "coming off their best season in more than two decades, the team didn’t go bold," as it did in '12 with "Our Time." The '13 slogan was "Come to Play" (K.C. STAR, 2/4). In K.C., Sam Mellinger wrote under the header, "Here's Why The Royals' New Slogan Is Bland." The "Be Royal" slogan is "sort of ... meh ... which, actually and sadly, is the whole point." He noted "'royal' rhymes with loyal, and ties into that 'Royals' pop song the kids like," referring to Lorde's Grammy-winning number. Mellinger: "So, fine." The slogan is "mostly just empty calories for highway billboards," but "let's at least acknowledge how senseless it is that the Royals hire a bunch of suits in cubicles to come up with marketing slogans that follow the first rule of medicine: Do no harm" (K.C. STAR, 2/4). Also in K.C., Pete Grathoff noted the billboard depicts Royals LF Alex Gordon "sliding head first into a base and ripping apart the billboard behind him." Royals VP/Community Affairs & Publicity Toby Cook said that the billboard "can be seen heading north on I-35 not far from downtown." Cook said, "We picked Alex because we just feel like he epitomizes the way the team plays: gritty, play hard every day" (K.C. STAR, 2/5).
