IMC Hawks Blog

[Black & Yellow] VS. [Green & Yellow]

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Thanks to the infamous song “Black and Yellow” by notorious rap artist Wiz Khalifa, the Pittsburgh Steelers find themselves with a bit of a theme song going into their seventh super bowl appearance this weekend. Khalifa is a Pittsburgh native who wrote the song to represent the main colors of the sports teams of the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This interesting method of branding the city of Pittsburgh through the city’s athletic team’s main colors has brought a lot of attention to the Pittsburgh Steelers now that they are playing in the Super Bowl once more.

Branding has been a driving force within the confines of IMC since the mid 1980’s when competition among products began to drastically increase. Without branding, a car is just a car, a school is just a school, and a football team is just a football team. There is no room for differentiation and no reason for a consumer to choose one over the other.  Each individual brand demands the support of loyal customers, and in this case, fans. Placing such emphasis on the color of the teams creates a more recognizable brand. Just upon hearing the words “black and yellow” fans feel a sense of ownership and camaraderie.

Just to stimulate things even more, their opponent’s main colors are Green & Yellow. The Green Bay Packers are just as historic, prolific, and nationally recognized as the Steelers and naturally one could anticipate that it would only be a matter of time before imitations and remixes of the song “Black and Yellow” would be replaced with “Green and Yellow.” Sure enough, one of the most famous remixes has been done by two young men known as Pizzle and Prophetic titled “Green and Yellow” (See video below). The video already has garnered over 200,000 views on YouTube in just its second week. As this intense and historic competition between the two cities escalates, sides will be chosen with the question, “Black & Yellow or Green & Yellow?”

-Katie Eagle, Deji Adeleke, Anna Kate Babnik, Tiffany Evans, and Carissa Niederkorn

Comments

4 responses to “[Black & Yellow] VS. [Green & Yellow]”

  1. Ayesha McIntyre Avatar
    Ayesha McIntyre

    I definitely agree that branding through the teams colors has brought a lot of attention to the Pittsburgh Steelers. To me it seems as if the song “Black and Yellow” by Wiz Khalifa has even caused more people to jump on the band wagon and become Steelers fans or at least route for them in the upcoming Super Bowl, and who would have thought it could all be done by a simple song. I feel that it is actually a very strategic way of branding and advertising. Music is universal and something a large, diverse group of people can appreciate and relate to. It’s pretty clever way to increase fans if you ask me.

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  2. Caitlin Johns Avatar
    Caitlin Johns

    Black and yellow have become synonymous with Pittsburgh. From the “terrible towels” to the countless Roethlisberger jerseys you often see on game day, the Steelers have created an extremely recognizable brand just through their team colors, arguably better than any other NFL team. I think Wiz Khalifa’s song has only added to that. Because of the song’s increasing popularity, I think it would be safe to say that it could certainly influence people as they decide who to cheer for on Sunday.

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  3. Matt Easton Avatar
    Matt Easton

    I feel that branding is a crucial part in bringing attention to a specific product and especially a sports team. It gives fans a sense of pride and soemthing to root for. It also gives room for people who are neutal to pick sides more easily and jump on the bandwagon if necessary. I think music and especially Wiz Khalifas “Black and Yellow” has only proven this even more. People who were never Pittsburgh fans are now buying jerseys and other things to support a team that they never would have “branded” themselves with before. I feel like this is a good thing tho as it gives people a sense of unity that they may not have been a part of before.

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  4. Claire Dillard Avatar
    Claire Dillard

    I agree with both of the previous comments and believe that this song is a very creative and influential advertising technique. I personally have no interest in either team playing in the Super Bowl, but if Wiz Khalifa’s song is played, I will undoubtedly find myself singing along and will most likely be taken as a Steelers fan. It is one thing to have an annoyingly repetitive direct marketing jingle at the end of a commercial to promote your brand, but to have a continuously played popular rap song support your brand is a very effective way to advertise.

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