Pemco in the Northwest

So...apparently not a soul did this chant. During the designated time all I heard was the "Seattle...Sounders" chant followed by the normal supporters' groups' songs.

I think that got the point across better than any angry post here could.

I think some of these folks who call themselves "supporters" should just chill a bit. An insurance company held a contest. Big deal. It may come as a shock to you, but anyone who damn well pleases can chant. If you don't like it, then ignore it, nobody is putting a gun to your head.

The FO let you carry the US Open Cup to the match yesterday. They formed a GA section for you in the stadium (that has corporate naming all over it). It seems to me they appreciate you.

As for MLS Rumors, yeah, they should carry a story on how everbody is trying to climb on board the Sounders in some form or another around here. Maybe someday TFC will be so lucky...

so where is MLS Rumors now? This is the kind of story worth running.

Dear PEMCO,
I think it's time we had a little talk. You guys seem to dig the Sounders scene, and I think that's great. But the way you have been going about things has been rubbing some folks the wrong way.

I like that passionate Sounders fan has joined the supercharged Seahawks fan in your Northwest Profiles ad campaign. I like your Northwest Profiles ad campaign, because I know, have met, or at least have come across people who fit those profiles. Socks-and-sandals guy, 50-degrees-shirts-off guy, the obsessive-compulsive recycler are all great examples of the unique characters who make the Northwest such an interesting place to live. I like the idea of the passionate Sounders fan being acknowledged as a part of the unique Northwest culture.

Where you run into problems, PEMCO, is when you start overstepping the bounds of acknowledging a Northwest Profile and attempt to shape it by attempting to participate in it, or even worse, direct it. You do a NW Profile for Green Lake Powerwalkers, but you don't post advertisements all over Green Lake saying "Are YOU ready to powerwalk?" You do a NW Profile for the Super-long Coffee Orderer, but you don't post advertisements in coffee shops saying "Are YOU ready to place a really long and complicated coffee order?" And yet, for the passionate Sounders fan profile, you break with that pattern.

Passion is a tricky thing. It's very volatile. It is commonly expressed as love, but if mishandled, it can quickly change into hate. When passionate feelings are involved, when things are going good they can go very well, but when things are going bad they can go very bad.

When you can't even get the name of trophy the Sounders just won right (it's the US Open CUP trophy), that rubs some of the most passionate Sounders fans the wrong way. When you co-opt a special chant, that rubs some of the most passionate Sounders fans the wrong way. When you sponsor a contest that encourages fans to take their attention away from the match to compete against each other, that rubs some of the most passionate Sounders fans the wrong way. Rub something the wrong way too much, it starts chaffing. And let me tell you, there are some very passionate Sounders fans who are quite chaffed at you right now, PEMCO.

I like you, PEMCO. I like that you are a local company, and proud of it. So I'd like to offer you a few pointers. First of all, Google is your friend. I'm willing to cut you a little slack on getting the name of the US Open Cup wrong, given that a tennis tournament with a very similar name and a much higher mainstream sports profile just concluded. But gaffes like that really hurt your credibility, and you could have easily avoided the error by Googling "Seattle Sounders US Open." Second, drop the whole "Are YOU ready to chant?" schtick. Just do the "Northwest Profile #26" and show a shot of Sounders fans singing and raising their scarves. Less is more. Lastly, if you're going to run a contest where fans compete against each other, do it at halftime.

PS About "Northwest Profile #26"...
Why #26? I presume because the first season of this incarnation of the Sounders came 26 years after the last season of the first incarnation of the Sounders? Problem with that is it ignores the 1994-2008 incarnation of the Sounders. While the Sounders may not have done as well in attendance and may not have been in the top division during these years, this period is still an important part of the rich history of the Sounders. So to most Sounders fans, 26 is not a very significant number. There is no Profile #74 on your website, and 74 is a very significant number to Sounders fans. Also, any Sounders fan passionate enough to fit the profile of your Northwest Profile is going to know that the proper way to hold your scarf is raised high above your head, and held taunt so the words on the scarf can be easily read.

First off, I'd like to thank PEMCO for supporting the Sounders--Kudos for recognizing so early what a success they'd be! Corporate support is absolutely necessary and the Sounders have been lucky to have such good sponsors.

However, it's true that this promo reflects poorly on the Sounders and their supporters to those who have the misguided idea that Sounders support is manufactured. What they fail to understand is that while every other team in MLS did have to invent its supporters culture from scratch, the Sounders had a contingent of USL fans as well as NASL history to draw upon. Just because Sounders support is vigorous for an "expansion team" doesn't mean it was manufactured. On the contrary--as we all know the support was built on the foundation of the original Sounders and carried through the USL.

Unfortunately, though, I don't think this promotion helps the cause of establishing the legitimacy of Sounders fan support across the league. Rather, it undercuts the argument. This is unfortunate, because PEMCO was clearly well-meaning (as well as self-serving, of course, that's what business in general and advertising in particular is about) and the fans falsely accused.

Perhaps we'd best just let this blow over and in the future leave the cheering to the fans and the advertising to the (again, much-appreciated) sponsors.

Okay so this isn't a club chant. So what? I don't think it was intended to replace or unseat anything. Seems fun to me, good job by these guys, or whoever wrote the chant. Moving on and will be in our seats tomorrow chanting whatever we like.

Sheesh what a bunch of hoo-hah from all the "supporter hooligoons." Seems they think there's only way to celebrate and it better be their way. Our family of 6 regularly attend the matches and we'll cheer the club on in whatever manner we see fit.

The video these guys posted is great! Full of enthusiasm, pride and just plain fun. Wondering if many of these so-called supporters have ever been on a real terrace and seen the real action. Doesn't matter, this is the way we do it here. Cheer the way you want, we'll cheer the way we want. Wah-wah-wah.

And good on PEMCO for supporting the family fun!

PEMCO, although what you are trying may be in "good spirit" I would first ask of you to educate yourself on supporter culture. Although everyone is a fan, not everyone is a supporter. There is and must be a differentiation between those that only yell once and a while, to those that give 100% every single game day screaming, yelling, and singing chants.

These chants that supporters sing aren't part of some "competition" but rather done out of the love for the club that is Seattle Sounders. Baiting fans with some sort of competition and telling them there is a prize for being the loudest is utterly comical. It's sort of analogus to sporting events when it is loudes when staff throw t-shirts out to sections. Sounders fans have never been anything like this, and I would bid of you to not go through with such an awkward promotion. Let the chants stay to the fans, and let PEMCO continue to sell insurance. You may claim to be "a little like you" but to be honest this action represents nothing of that statement. Please reconsider this.

Wow, I can't believe the number of comments I hear all over the place by Sounder supporters' concern over other teams supporters "making fun of them".

Are you people still in middle school?? LOL

Berg-- as embarrassing as this promotion is for the Sounders supporters, you embarrass yourself even worse when out of nowhere you dump on Toronto FC's supporters. They may only draw half our attendance, but they all go crazy!

If you call "supporters" people who buy tickets to sit in their seats like a baseball game and MAYBE yell "SOUNDERS" a few times each half, well... Enjoy your new chant!

Biiiiily -

I think the reason your comment was zapped was it advocated violence and used the F-bomb. Nothing wrong with a little civility, m'man!

Fred

Lot's of mean spirited comments here. Come on people, get over yourself.

WOW that's a lot of venom. You take things too seriously. Maybe find a worthy cause to channel your group energy.

Never thought my comment would be censored but that's what happened earlier today. Shows what an utter sham this all is.

Supporters - never let them hold you down!!! This corporate bullsh*t will pass! Revolutionize soccer in America!!! Let us, those of us who truly believe in the sanctity of soccer, rejoice in its' gifts and sucker-punches, for it is you, the supporter, who knows these lumps and joys better than any typical 'fanboy."

Stay true, supporters.

It's respectable PEMCO let all of us comment freely, within reason.

The chant is a fair effort to be relevant, to pay respect for and build more tradition; granted, fans can see through their newbieness with wording like "our U.S. Open Trophy champs" ... not quite called that, but at least they've made an attempt. It's not unlike when my wife seems to take slight interest, or is that only when Ljungberg is on screen :|

Chillax. Anyone is worried Toronto might read this? Ridiculous: a city more than twice our size, with half our support, case closed. Seattle has no North American rival in support; heck we're 50th in the entire world for club attendance:

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=6381

If Toronto wants to fight a culture war against new fans and new sponsorships, let them. We have a bigger tent and we should like it that way.

yea.. that will catch on...

not.

this has got to stop.

please and thank you

How exactly, do you live a color?

Please not on the big screen! What a joke. Start a chant in the stands if you must, but NOT a manufactured chant on the big screen.
PEMCO I beg you! This will embarass us all.

this is really embarrassing. pemco- stop. please. we are begging you. everyone in seattle and through out the league is laughing about this right now, and since you only care about profits i can assure you this is not helping you get any new customers

Everyone in ECS should do the chest bump at the end.

nice try, but this chant will get as much playtime as Vini Oliviera.

While I appreciate that PEMCO is a company looking to encourage and enhance the supporters' culture, this is most certainly not the way to do it. I can't really blame the guys for coming up with and video taping a chant (although I don't really like the song and the fake arm sleeve is weak), but PEMCO needs to understand that you can't whore out that which true supporters hold near and dear. The supporters culture and the anthems that are sung are organic. You can't force a song upon supporters, and posting it on "Sounder Vision" expecting us to follow along is just insulting. I'm disappointed in the Sounders FO for allowing this charade to occur. There are several examples across MLS where FO's have alienated their supporters groups and the effects have been devastating for both attendence and match atmosphere.

Hey, though it may be part of a corporate marketing scheme, it's still Sounders fans coming up with the stuff.

Though it seems staged, superficial, etc (and yes, a bit embarrassing), give credit to the guys who did it as they had the cahones to get in front of a camera by themselves and shout it out.

I'll trade some embarrassment for the support of our local businesses; in the long run, it's that support that will help make this club relevent to the world football scene.

This is a joke... right??

We are loving this in Toronto.

This is the best example of manufactured fan support I have ever seen.

Only in America can you buy and sell your soul.

the comment by 'K' rings so true - stuff like this is embarrassing. I'm embarrassed for you and I'm not even a sounders supporter. In the future, maybe it would be cool if sponsors learned a bit about what makes the sport unique, and treated it with respect. This kind of thing looks more like a cheerleading.

please no more, I am embarrassed when this stuff comes up. We are raked over the coals by all the other teams for our "corporate, soulless consumers (not fans)"

please, I beg of you, make this the last bit of puff, fake, 'corporate grassroots', sponsored fandom.

You guys are my heroes... Seriously. Well done.

great video -- love the end w/ peter and steven! good job pbas!