A Billion Dollar Business is in Trouble Because It Didn’t Use Google

Let’s talk about big, important things, shall we? To make things more exciting, we will include a billion dollar franchise, fame, and the media to boot. It would be nice, after all, to be on the world’s stage, making big decisions, wouldn’t it? 

That’s exactly where the front office of the Cleveland Indians found itself recently. You may have heard that the organization which was reported in 2020 to be worth $1.1 billion has been at the center of a scandal about their out-of-touch name. Recently, the organization announced it would rebrand under a new moniker and logo: the Cleveland Guardians. 

This, of course, meant the hiring of PR and design agencies, massive board meetings, community outreach, and, you know, “important,” adult stuff.  After a successful publicity effort to announce the name change in the media, the Guardians would learn that they had a big problem on their hands. 

As it turns out, there is a men’s roller derby team in town by the same name. In fact, they own clevelandguardians.com. To make matters worse, the roller derby team isn’t backing down. While this will likely get resolved, it will cost the organization a minimum of six figures and quite the public embarrassment.

The reason, of course, why I’m sharing this story is that I think we can use every reminder possible that big things get done on the backs of a billion tiny, “meaningless” efforts and this case is no different. Lots of high powered people in suits exchanged a ton of money for this profound business deal and it’s now hanging in the balance because of a routine check that could have been solved with a google search. 

Attention to detail wins.