Name That Arena: Izod or Rocawear

The Continental Airlines Arena will not be the new home for the Rocawear “Roc” symbol. Rap mogul Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, part-owner of the NBA's New Jersey Nets, who also plays at the arena, will have to find another venue to name after his clothing company. The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority have decided to award naming rights to competing clothing maker Izod. The former Continental Airlines Arena will now be called the Izod Center. According to the Associated Press, Authority officials said Izod's marketing skills were a major factor in their decision to award the company the naming rights, noting that Izod would save the authority money by providing its own marketing and advertising for arena events.

Although the Expostion Authority gave logical marketing reasons for their decision, it is still noticeable that black-owned businesses are still battling image issues no matter how much money is in the bank. According to the official Rocawear website, Rocawear is a dominant lifestyle apparel brand with annual retail sales over $700 million. The brand has also expanded its appeal beyond the national borders, becoming a brand of international significance. Rocawear effectively markets to consumers of an entire lifestyle while using substantial amount of non-traditional methodology within their marketing mix. However this mix was not good enough for the Authority.

Here are some more “possible” reasons why Rocawear failed in the bid:

• The clothing line has only been around for 12 years compared to Izod who’s been around since the 1900s.
  


• Rocawear is marketed to many demographics; however, it was birthed by Hip-Hop culture while Izod has more of a universal, save, All-American “cookie cutter” image.
  


• Jay-Z sold the rights to the Rocawear brand to Iconix Brand Group. The Exposition Authority would then have to deal with several parties, which means more money.
  


• The Exposition Authority could possibly be concerned that the general public will be turned off by the hip-hop connection.
  
  Source: http://www.eurweb.com/story/eur37379.cfm?pid=baw