Strategy August 08, 2019
Cleveland Company’s T-Shirts Clown Colin Cowherd Over Baker Mayfield Criticism
Fresh Brewed Tees’ screen-printed T-shirts are among the first great examples of ‘moment merch’ from the dawning NFL season.
The National Football League’s preseason kicks off in earnest today (Aug. 8), and already we have the new year’s first fun example of cheeky “moment merch.”
Moment merch is apparel and other imprinted products that take their graphical and messaging themes from hot topics in sports, politics and pop culture, as the phenomena are happening. Such merch is increasingly being used as a weapon in political campaigns and America’s raging culture wars, but today’s example from the NFL is more frat house tomfoolery than biting social commentary. Check it out:
The shirts come courtesy of Cleveland, OH-based apparel company Fresh Brewed Tees. They tap into an ongoing feud between Fox Sports show host Colin Cowherd and Cleveland Browns Quarterback Baker Mayfield. The dispute between the two outspoken personalities reignited this week when Cowherd criticized Mayfield for shotgunning a beer at a Cleveland Indians game (see vid below) – an incident that contributed to Cowherd formulating the opinion that the Browns are the “NFL’s best frat house.” Cowherd continued: “O Delta Baker is a hell of a frat house here in rush week…I thought Baker looked a little too good at that beer chugging, a little too good for my franchise quarterback who is 1-5 against winning teams.”
Attuned to the merchandising potential of the feud and Mayfield’s can-crushing display, the pro-Baker Fresh Brewed Tees acted fast, releasing the two T-shirts, which retail for $30. “The Nerd” shirt disses Cowherd, showing his visage in “Revenge of the Nerds” style and playing off his show’s name – “The Herd with Colin Cowherd.” The theme of the frat shirt is an obvious embrace of what Cowherd intended as an insult.
With its many outsized personas and the season just wakening to life, the NFL figures to give us a plethora of opportunities for more entertaining moment merch over the next six months.