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| The new "Diamond C" |
The Cleveland Indians will change their name and brand identity after the 2021 season, after which they will be known as the Cleveland Guardians.
The team says that the new name was reached after sifting through 1,198 name options and over 140 hours of interviews with fans, community leaders and front office personnel. Over 40,000 fans were surveyed.
It also engaged a number of representatives of the Native American community, "including local and national organizations, leading researchers, and individuals willing to share their personal stories."
In addition to the new name and team logo, the team will also replace the "Block C" on its caps and uniforms with what it calls a "Diamond C," an evolution that "respects the tradition and heritage of Cleveland Baseball."
"Cleveland has and always will be the most important part of our identity," said team owner and chairman Paul Dolan. “While ‘Indians’ will always be a part of our history, our new name will help unify our fans and city as we are all Cleveland Guardians.”
Business leaders will face challenges in the upcoming year, some of which will come as a complete surprise, or beyond anyone's imagination.
Teneo has hired Philipp Grontzki, who is a 20-year veteran of corporate communications and financial journalism, as a managing director in its strategy and communications group.
Rowan Benecke, who co-founded Zeno Group and helmed Burson-Marsteller's tech practice, has joined McKinsey & Co as director of communications for North America.
BCW has named Golin's Matt Coldagelli EVP and leader of its corporate affairs practice in Chicago.
Abby Bailey, who headed corporate communications for Fedex in its Middle East, India and Africa region, has joined Teneo as managing director in Dubai.
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Jul. 26, 2021, by Joe Honick
No question there will be a lot of heat over this as it was with the Washington Redskins now called something else. But the almost humorous new protest is over the name of the Chicago White Sox, as if the very word "white" is automatically objectionable. It is that kind of extremism that dilutes more realistic claims as they may exist. How this will be handled by PR professionals will be interesting. Still to be reviewed at some point is whether it's still acceptable to refer to Notre Dame as "the fighting Irish".