We've finally approached the NBA All-Star break, so there is no non All-Star game related activity for this next week. However, the Bulls have actually found themselves looking pretty good heading into the mid-season hiatus, sitting at 4th in the East and riding a three game winning streak. All three of our Twitter campaigns were once again very busy this week, but each of them had a specific tweet that was consistent with a particular rhetorical appeal. Let's start with @ChicagoBulls.
We've seen a lot of marketing coming from the official Twitter account of the Chicago Bulls in the past few weeks. This week however, I stumbled upon a tweet that I found to be interesting because it was one of the first that I've seen the team not promote their own organization.
Sending luck to Chicago's @ShaniDavis, hitting the track today in Sochi. #GoTeamUSA pic.twitter.com/CtMPGTmoj3
It was very cool to see the Chicago Bulls send out a tweet wishing luck to a Chicago native currently participating in the Winter Olympics. Speed skaters aren't nearly as famous as NBA players and I think it was awesome of the team to let everyone in the city know that we have one of our own representing our nation in Sochi. To me, this tweet just makes you feel kinda good that the Bulls took the time to let their 1.5 Million followers get the opportunity to know this hometown face as he takes part in an incredible event. Even though the tweet is technically still sports related, it's nice to see the Bulls venture away from their own matters from time to time. This tweet most definitely appeals to pathos, as opposed to their many other bland statistical or marketing related ones.
Aside from his usual in game analysis, @NickFriedell also ventured away from his usual self on Twitter. During a game against the Atlanta Hawks, Friedell noticed something that might not matter much to the fans who follow him, but certainly to the front office of the organization.
There are a whole lot of empty seats in the United Center. A lot more than usual. Seems like some people are eating their tickets.
For the past couple years, the Chicago Bulls have led the league in attendance, even though they haven't been that remarkable of a team. This year, the team sold almost all of its' tickets prior to the start of the season, but once thier star player Derrick Rose (the one most fans come to watch) went down with an injury, the value of a Chicago Bulls ticket dropped significantly. This is an issue that is likely troublesome to the organization. In the NBA you can be a bad team, but as long as your making money things will be fine. Once the flow of capital doesn't come as quickly, teams start to worry. See, what's unique about this particular tweet from Friedell is that he is not only tweeting at the fans, he's directing it an the front office too. Though the fans aren't to preoccupied with the attendance at games, the organization definitely is, and Friedell appeals to pathos by making the people in charge a little anxious. The NBA is a business and loss of revenue is always what ends up killing a team. The Bulls are luckily enough to be in a major market, but that means the have to meet major expectations both on a basketball and financial standpoint. I'm sure they weren't too pleased at the truth behind Friedell's latest observation.
Lastly and since we are on the subject of basketball economics, I want to elaborate on a tweet sent out by @Bulls_Jay during the same Bulls-Hawks game.
Dorf is just watching this game and rubbing his hands mischievously hoping for a Bulls/Hawks 1st round series.
This tweet appeals to Pathos for the fans because it evokes a comical imagination of a sinister Jerry Reinsdorf (Bulls owner) watching over the game as if he is some sort of cartoon villain only concerned with money and power. See, if the Bulls make it past the first round of the playoffs the earn prized bonuses from the league and its endorsers. It's no secret that Jerry Reinsdorf is one of the most acquisitive owners in the league and it was funny how Jason Patt was able to create this image of him in the minds of his fellow Bulls fan followers. It was an amusing method of calling out the Bulls owner, and I believe it worked. Sometimes serious notions can be realized through comical means.
All in all, we saw each one of our Twitter campaigns excellently use pathos this week. I sure next week is as interesting.
Till the next,
Matt
I really liked your post this week. Since I don't watch sports that much, you provided enough context for me to still get what was going on. I think you should try to talk about more then just one or two big ideas. Sometimes I like to use more then one quote to show trends or patterns from the week so I have more to talk about.
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