While Don Cherryâs firing might have been couched in moral terms, it was likely more of a cold, hard business decision based on dollars and cents.Simply put, say marketing experts, the long-time Coachâs Corner commentatorâs angry on-air shtick was no longer worth the risk for sponsors such as Labatt, which shells out millions of dollars a year to have Budweiser front and centre on the broadcasts. And with Sportsnet already on a cost-cutting binge partly because of the price of its $5.2 billion broadcast contract with the NHL, the network could ill afford to upset a major sponsor.âThere comes a point when it pisses off substantial numbers of viewers. And it also pisses off the sponsors. They worry that consumers may associate them with whateverâs been said,â said Alan Middleton, a marketing professor at York Universityâs Schulich School of Business.Younger consumers, particularly the ones beer companies are increasingly struggling to hold onto, are more likely to make purchasing decisions based on what they see as a brandâs values, Middleton said.âEspecially for the beer companies, theyâre concerned with the younger group. This generation is far more sensitive to brand associations and values,â said Middleton.Cherryâs Saturday night rant about âyou peopleâ not wearing poppies to honour Canadian veterans was likely the âlast strawâ for both Sportsnet and title sponsor Labatt, said David Kincaid, CEO of Level5 brand marketing. Kincaid, a former senior marketing executive with Labatt who negotiated the breweryâs first sponsorship deal with âHockey Night in Canadaâ in the mid-90s when it was still on CBC, said the brewery likely wouldnât have had the authority to fire Cherry. But, Kincaid said, they may have put pressure on the broadcaster for disciplinary action.âThe sponsor really wouldnât be able to directly say âget rid of him, ...
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