Go to Google…. type in Washington Capitals and what do you see?
A nice batch of editorial listings all on the left hand side. All driving traffic to media sites. Those media sites then turn around and resell that traffic as advertising.
And then 8 paid listings on the right rail. All bid up by third parties, all using our trademark. In fact the bidding gets so high that we at the Washington Capitals CAN’T afford to buy the space.
Google sells the ads and makes money all using our trademark.
So we build the brand, we generate the interest from fans and everyone makes some dollars but us 
.Worse thing is many or most people think the ads on the right are generated by us. And they are not.
Is this “doing no evil?” by Google just saying…. this isn’t feeling good to me.
clarification of my last post, paragraph 4, sentence 3. Please insert “indirectly” between “Re-sellers” and “provide.”
I mean to convey the idea that the success of Re-sellers makes purchasing season tickets more attractive to fans (and to be honest, entrepreneurs, as well.)
IMHO, the Capitals organization should feel great about these sponsored links. This isn’t “ambush marketing.” It is promoting the product the Capitals sell: ice hockey.
I did the Google search three times. All sponsored links were for third party ticket re-sellers. IMHO, these companies are of long term help to the Capitals organization.
Third party ticket sellers, operating in competition with each other, benefit the fans and the Capitals. Non-season ticket holding fans benefit by having many trust worthy places to buy tickets to up-coming games without having to plan months in advance.
Season ticket holders benefit two ways. Wealthier ticket holders are not stuck with game tickets they cannot use. Less wealthy ones re-sell some of their game tickets, making the entire package affordable.
The Capitals benefit most of all! The third party re-sell market, and the use of it by fans, helps to ensure actual butts-in-seats (and usually, arena vendor sales.) Re-Sellers provides revenue certainty for the Capitals. Re-sellers provide the best market data for the Capitals for the value of hockey tickets.
In summary, Google and their advertisers make money with the Capitals name, but ultimately the Capitals gain the most under the present arrangement.
does their use of the trademark violate your legal rights that the law gives you? if so, then google trademark policy should enable you to prevent them from being used (if that’s your desire).
I use adblock (firefox). Sorry Ted.
Took me a minute, then I realized that I wasn’t seeing those annoying paid listings on the right side any more, thanks to “Adblock Plus”. Give it a try! -JW
It still amazes me that this business model actually works. I never click on those things, but someone has to??? The google brand seems like it should be weak, yet it cleans up. At least you’re not alone, I’m sure every company out there suffers from this. I personally think eventually their business model will fail as people realize these links really make no sense half the time, maybe I should put that on buzz!
I understand the issue. I understand the feeling. I guess I don’t understand the next step Are you suggesting that Google and all other search engines that follow this business model share search revenue with the trademark holder? Are you suggesting that the companies on the right pay you for the using your trademark in their business model?
Is not Google an “extension” of your marketing? Does not Google also help to build your business brand as well? I note that the Capitals Website came out on the top of the Google search. A good thing?
As a season ticket holder, I want you as profitable and successful as possible, making money from non-ticket revenue. That said, though, as a company owner as well, I think I am light years away from understanding the internet search business implications. All I want is traffic to my site. Too simplistic?
Let’s see – you wanted coverage when you were pathetic. Then, the team has been getting better and the coverage is coveted by paying companies – what do you do? you complain! Ted – you can’t have the cake and eat it too! What did you guys do at AOL??? Didn’t you try making money through advertising? Wouldn’t you love to be doing what Google is doing? There is enough on the plate to share with everyone – so, enjoy!
I love CAPS and will root for them and do appreciate what you did for the team. Now, accept the market realities and stop complaining. Stop the greed and enjoy what is coming your way – Stanley Cup? May be! Be +ve…
Sounds like real estate agents vs the interlopers who gain users by using mls data and sell back to agents and brokers.
Google takes the “let the advertisers do what they want until the trademark owner complains” approach. Kinda convenient when the advertiser is making Google money and the trademark owner isn’t. But they will ban those keywords if you want: http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=6118
I had to open outside of Firefox to see what you meant. I guess it’s probably the Adblock Plus software. All this time I thought Google’s ads were pretty minimal, I guess I was wrong.
So, you making money off other people’s back is good.
The other way around doesn’t feel so go, though?
Interesting.
Sounds like you need a good trademark law firm to sue the living daylights out of Google
. Are you ready to drop the gloves?
What bugs me about that is all the MSM sites complaining that the Google News site is ripping them off and that they are going to start blocking google indexing. Yeah right.
Sounds like you need a good trademark attorney to start sending cease and desist letters
True. But kind of a circular argument. You want to generate more pixels in the media to increase tickets sales and the Capitals’ brand. So on your way up you want to be part of media / aggregators (espn, google) because it brings more eyeballs that you wouldn’t get directly. But when your brand is super hot you see the media/aggregators as leaches of some of the brand’s value. Pulling your brand out of the mix (if that was even possible) may cause others to not make as much money, but it probably hurts the brand more.
Frankly, I would be more concerned about Comcast’s broadcast last night. During play they have an advertisement for some beer company drop down from the graphic that shows the score/time left. It looks like the kind of ad that drops down from websites these days. While annoying, it’s tolerable on website because there is no live action. But when an ad drops down during live game play and covers the ice, it is annoying, disturbing, distracting, and tacky. Caps hockey is a great product and is super hot right now. But that doesn’t mean that every last dollar needs to be squeezed from the brand such that it cheapens the brand and ruins the experience. The drop down advertisements during game play need to stop.
Go Caps!
Thoughts:
* Wow! Just realized I never (well, almost never — I did just now) look at the righthand side of a Google search results page because I know that’s advertising. And could it possibly be presented in a less interesting way?
* As for those media sites on the lefthand side profiting from interest in the Caps, aren’t they also helping you build your brand?