The Blue Jackets are unveiling their latest marketing campaign, which includes a new slogan, "March With Us," along with ads that "incorporate not only the team but the city and the fans," according to Tim Feran of the COLUMBUS DISPATCH. Familiar team slogans "Carry the Flag" and "Join the Battle" are now "things of the past." Blue Jackets VP/Marketing J.D. Kershaw said of the new campaign, "The primary focus is about the team, but not just about the team. We’ve integrated it with the city." Kershaw added that most ad campaigns "run for two or three years," and the most recent -- "Join the Battle" -- was "at the high end, at three years." He said, "About eight months ago, we started to wonder where we would go from there. Most of us felt that the team is turning the corner in a positive direction, and we felt the city is on a positive trajectory as well." Feran noted the new video ads "superimpose footage from Blue Jackets games onto familiar Columbus landmarks, and vice versa." ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit, a former Ohio State Univ. QB, "narrates the video." Kershaw: "We’re hoping that after three or four times seeing the spot, people will say, 'Hey, that’s Kirk Herbstreit'" (COLUMBUS DISPATCH, 8/15). Kershaw said of Herbstreit, "Kirk has been a big fan of ours since day one." In Columbus, Evan Weese noted the new TV spot will debut today. Kershaw said that the leaned-forward lettering used for the "March With Us" slogan was "designed by local graphic designer Kris Bazen and the blue star above 'Us' is a feature borrowed from local tourism bureau Experience Columbus." Weese noted the team "hired Columbus-based Post House LLC for the commercial but formed the 'March With Us' campaign in house." The team "did not identify costs." Kershaw said that there is "no set number of years for the new campaign, but added it could go longer than three" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 8/14).
