Still Not Getting It

One of my earliest impressions of current Chicago Fire CEO and President John Guppy was some situation where he referred to Fire fans as "customers" instead of fans. This was early in his Chicago tenure, and maybe he didn't have much experience in talking to the press. With a history in marketing, you could cut him some slack as a newbie.

Several years later, though, not so much. This week in USA Today, the Fire boss says of Cuauhtemoc Blanco's effect:

"I've been … in New York, Dallas, Los Angeles, Kansas City and Salt Lake. You sit and watch people's reaction to Blanco, and all they are doing is watching every move that guy makes. It's been incredible. We've been the home team in every one of those markets."

Maybe I'm overreacting to this, except that it fits too neatly in a pattern of Guppy saying things in the public sphere about customers in your target demographic consuming your product in this or that market, and then wondering why no one believes that he's a soccer guy and not a business guy. At some point, you have to realize that you need to change your tone, or at least let someone else speak for the club.

I say "have to realize," but empirically, it would seem you don't actually have to. And again, maybe the only customer that Guppy might lose because of how he speaks to the press is me.