Pitch to Pro
Ep. 9 - Uniting Under the Banner of Soccer in Arkansas
Embark on a captivating exploration of USL Arkansas's rise, as we're joined by Brett Parker from Stone Ward to unveil the heart and soul poured into creating a club that's quickly capturing the essence of Northwest Arkansas. Get ready to go behind the scenes and witness the meticulous process of molding an identity that genuinely reflects the community's voice. With over 2000 locals contributing their thoughts, we've crafted a soccer club that's not merely a team, but a living tribute to the people who stand behind it. This episode promises a rich tapestry of stories, insights, and the birth of a sports legacy that you won't want to miss.
As the discussion unfolds, we celebrate the threads that bind USL Arkansas to the local community - the natural beauty, the rich history, and the thriving soccer culture that's uniting fans from all walks of life. We delve into the club's mission, vision, and values, illuminating how they encapsulate our shared aspirations and love for the beautiful game. By embracing feedback from every corner of the region, we've ignited a beacon of excitement and unity through sport, setting the stage for a club that's set to create unforgettable moments and lasting memories.
In the spirit of inclusion, we unveil the Founding Fans program - a unique initiative drawing supporters into the very heart of USL Arkansas. Here, we discuss how the program, alongside broader community engagement, will shape the club’s future identity, including its name, colors, and crest. Your journey as a listener intersects with our own as we invite you to participate in the evolution of a club that embodies the diversity, dynamism, and passion of Northwest Arkansas. Tune in and be part of the extraordinary narrative we're writing together, one goal at a time.
Embark on a captivating exploration of USL Arkansas's rise, as we're joined by Brett Parker from Stone Ward to unveil the heart and soul poured into creating a club that's quickly capturing the essence of Northwest Arkansas. Get ready to go behind the scenes and witness the meticulous process of molding an identity that genuinely reflects the community's voice. With over 2000 locals contributing their thoughts, we've crafted a soccer club that's not merely a team, but a living tribute to the people who stand behind it. This episode promises a rich tapestry of stories, insights, and the birth of a sports legacy that you won't want to miss.
As the discussion unfolds, we celebrate the threads that bind USL Arkansas to the local community - the natural beauty, the rich history, and the thriving soccer culture that's uniting fans from all walks of life. We delve into the club's mission, vision, and values, illuminating how they encapsulate our shared aspirations and love for the beautiful game. By embracing feedback from every corner of the region, we've ignited a beacon of excitement and unity through sport, setting the stage for a club that's set to create unforgettable moments and lasting memories.
In the spirit of inclusion, we unveil the Founding Fans program - a unique initiative drawing supporters into the very heart of USL Arkansas. Here, we discuss how the program, alongside broader community engagement, will shape the club’s future identity, including its name, colors, and crest. Your journey as a listener intersects with our own as we invite you to participate in the evolution of a club that embodies the diversity, dynamism, and passion of Northwest Arkansas. Tune in and be part of the extraordinary narrative we're writing together, one goal at a time.
Pitch to Pro is the official podcast of USL Arkansas. This will be our platform to tell our story about the club and the special place that we call home, northwest Arkansas. This is a journey we want to bring you along for the ride. We'll share what's going on behind the curtain, help educate the community at large about soccer, our league, and give updates on the progress of the club along the way. Together, we'll explore and unpack our journey to professional soccer, the magic that is NWA, our community, and talk all things soccer from on the pitch to behind the scenes, telling the story of our club. Pitch to Pro Podcast is proudly sponsored by PodcastVideoscom. Podcastvideoscom is Northwest Arkansas's premier podcast recording studio, equipped with industry-leading equipment. The recording studio and services save you time, money and hassle. They are dedicated to helping you create, record and publish high-quality podcasts for your audience. Be sure to check them out today at PodcastVideoscom.
Speaker 1:Hello everybody and welcome back to the Pitch to Pro Podcast. I'm your host, wes Harris, managing director for USL Arkansas. Northwest Arkansas's professional soccer club played in the United Soccer League. Listen, we've got a really fun and cool episode today for you guys. I am super happy to welcome back to the show Mr Brett Parker from Stone Ward to help me with this one. Today we're talking mission, vision and values. Brett, welcome back to the show. I'm excited about our discussion today. Man, this is going to be a good one.
Speaker 2:I'm excited to be back. I'm excited where we are. I know we're not to the name part yet, where a lot of people want to know that, but when we talked last time for those who didn't listen to it, go back in the archives listen to it we talked about the importance of identifying your brand core. We did it mission, vision, values. So excited to extrapolate that out with you today.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely so. Let's regroup for everybody Before we jump into it. Let's take a look quickly about. How did we get here, brett? What have we been up to over the last couple of months?
Speaker 2:It feels like we've been in this journey for five years. We look back in a timeline and it has been accelerated and, man, have we in you, usl, arkansas and the community have we done some great things. So we kind of looked it back where we've been since now, since the last podcast that you heard us talking about the importance of brand core and your brand identity, and we've done focus groups. We've done competitive audits of what others in USL are doing, what others in the MLS are doing, and even regional sports we have to really play with. The naturals are up here and the Razorbacks are up here. We also have to look at those surrounding us, with the FC Tulsa's of the world. So we're looking at those. We did a big audit. We've done listening sessions. We asked the community to tell us what they wanted our club to be, what we want to stand for. We took all that. We've done survey polls and really that's where we've been to kind of get to where we are now, and we'll jump to that in a minute. We're going to tell you guys what that feedback was. But why it's so important is we talked about this last time.
Speaker 2:Wes and you and Warren and Chris always say this from day one is USL Arkansas is going to represent more than a team. Anybody can do that. What it is it's a community shaped and supported by people who call this place home. We have a lot of transplants. We have people who've lived here their whole life and we need to recognize that. So that is why we've done all these steps. It isn't overkill. It's when you create a brand with purpose, you have to do those steps. So that's where we've been and that's kind of where we're going.
Speaker 1:Awesome, I love it and you kind of hit on it. But just again, we've said all along that this is not our club, this is the community's club, this is Northwest Arkansas's club. We are just the stewards and we want to do right and be true to the community and by the community for the community. So hopefully we've shown you guys that and we're now at a place where we've done all of these different initiatives, where we've listened to you guys. That's not going to stop, by the way, just to let you guys know we're going to continue to listen to everything that we do. But we are at a place now that where we kind of have collected all that feedback, we've synthesized, we've analyzed, we've talked what does it mean? But what does it mean Bezel, awesome power, shout out and showing my age, anyway.
Speaker 1:But we're at a place now where we can kind of take that move forward in our project together and jump into, kind of that next phase which is we've got, you know, in the marketing speak world. It's called your brand core or your mission, vision, values, I, we, I promise we're going to talk about that today. But before we jump into that, brett, I want to let people know hey, we listened to you, but also here's what we heard. So let's talk about that for a little bit.
Speaker 2:We heard a lot of great stuff. Some of it was not surprising because we live in this great area and we kind of know what it's about. Some of it was surprising, which was good. So over 2000 responses we've heard so far. As Wes said, this is not going to stop. We'll kind of tell you what that path looks forward. But before we get there, we just want to tell you why.
Speaker 2:Again, to double down on this community input, one of my favorite offers, simon Sinek. He did this book called Start With why, and this goes back to why we're asking the community His quote, not mine, but I like stealing it People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it and what you do proves what you believe. And 100 percent this goes back to audiences, I think, are more influenced by a brand's purpose than the actual products themselves. So if that's true, how do we identify a purpose? It's listening to fans. So what did we hear from the fans? We heard a bunch of stuff. If we had to really condense that one is what do you even call Northwest Arkansas? What does that mean to you?
Speaker 2:So, with over 2000 responses, home, yeah, northwest Arkansas's home, and that's not the case for every place, and I think that's special. Is it 100 percent unique? No, but that's a special thing to think about. This is our home, especially when you know 60 percent or so are transplants. Yeah, where you've lived here for a year, you've lived here for 20 years, it's home. That's that's important. Family, northwest Arkansas, equals family. I think there's a lot of ways you can express family, but that's that came out hot and heavy Opportunity. I think there's opportunity in your career. I think there's opportunity for your family. I think there's opportunity for USL Arkansas. So I think there's a lot of alignments there. And then community and nature. So those are the ones from a, from a first bullet point Stanley, yeah, and the opportunity.
Speaker 1:One I think is one of the things that stuck out probably the most to me during a lot of the feedback and as in our discussions and one-on-one conversations is people love Northwest Arkansas because of what it represents, both from you know you talked about your career opportunity to raise a family but also an opportunity to be a part of something as a community that's building something together, and they're excited about what that potential is for this area and to be a part of it and hear and live it and feel connected to it, have a voice in it, and I think that there's so many parallels that you can draw with that, especially with what we're doing right now. We're building something together with this club and I think that that resonates with people and it resonates with what this community is about.
Speaker 2:It resonated with us on our last podcast. You asked us what got us me so excited? A brand can only be born one time. Yeah, people understand that. First professional sports team up here, you're going to build something that lasts and it's not just asking for community input where it's not going to go anywhere. It is shaping and crafting what this brand is going to be. So, yes, that was one big one.
Speaker 2:What I really gravitated to is we asked what do you want from this club? That is what gets us excited, because that is going to 100% shape what this brand core, or, as Wes talked about, this mission, vision and values. They want USL Arkansas, first and foremost, to be, as Wes just talked about, connected to the community. They don't want you to be a part of the community. They want us to be deeply ingrained into the community from all aspects, and that was expressed in more words than one, so that really came out. They want USL Arkansas, they want this club to be a pathway for youth development.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a great thing, and we see that with other USL teams, so it was great to see that with our fans and our supporters here. They want USL Arkansas to have a winning spirit. We're going to see that expressed in a minute. Winning spirit goes beyond the pitch. It goes beyond just winning. A winning spirit can go beyond that in multiple ways. So we saw that expressed. And then the last is the no-brainer. It's what gets me excited about Northwest Arkansas is the outdoors. Yeah, so that's the second bullet point of when they ask for what they want USL Arkansas to be. Those are the top responses yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that is definitely all.
Speaker 1:Those things came through loud and clear and over and over again.
Speaker 1:And that's when you know, when you have the consistency and the repetition and the feedback, it's when you know you kind of are keying in on something and, as you're looking to build something and looking for feedback, you're looking for that repetition from different sources to try to find themes as you pull those out, which I know, you know, but those were absolutely some of the most common ones, and especially the last one that you talked about, which I think also adds to this place's magic, is a word that we heard quite a bit throughout our feedback, which is the connection to the outdoors, the incredible, incredible like globally incredible and in talk 10 and a lot of play in a lot of people's minds places of just incredible natural beauty.
Speaker 1:People don't really, they don't think about it. It kind of plays into the motif of Northwest Arkansas in general that it's just this hidden gem and if you've not been here you don't understand, until you have now come and, kind of, your eyes are open and say, wow, but that especially happens, I think, with this, what we have right out of our back door in nature, here in the Ozarks.
Speaker 2:There was a lot of parallelism in all these responses. Yeah, that quote.
Speaker 2:I think the quote was from one of these responses. When I walk outside I can't explain what it is, but there's magic in the air and I think that really encapsulates exactly what this project is. Is there one thread of commonality of that we were looking for, that aha moment, but I think that's the best way you could express it is we don't really know what's magical, but it's magical, right, as all these elements of opportunity and nature and growth and heritage and upward trajectory. But it's magic and I think there is something around that that stood out and that kind of dovetailed into the transplants of the insights is lots of supporters talked about Northwest Arkansas and where we're going. Yeah, and that was great.
Speaker 2:Northwest Arkansas, we all know, one of the fastest growing regions in the United States Great. But we also have others who've been here for a long time and want us to preserve where we started. We have a lot of great history in Northwest Arkansas and we have a lot of good foundational support that we should think about and pull from as it expresses out to our mission, vision and value. So overall, that was good. What was I was also happy to see is two thirds of the respondents identified as general or avid soccer fans. That was great to see that's going to be. It pays One of the quotes I always use. It pays to be born well, and we are born well in a community that is ready to support what we're going to do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think we knew we had a great soccer community here in Northwest Arkansas, but it's great to kind of see it played back and validated in numbers and so to see that kind of come through. We knew it was here, we knew it was vibrant, we knew it was growing, we knew it was ready like right on the precipice and all these things great things happening in the youth space, with the rec organizations, with the club teams and the adult leagues and pickup and everything that Caesar was doing and Rogers rec and all those things. So we knew it was there, but to see it come through like that in the way that it did was really really encouraging and just validated everything that we knew. But it was more than what we could have anticipated, which I feel like is also a theme, as you know, that we you know Chris Warren and I talk about a lot about this region.
Speaker 1:Okay, we've talked about where we've been, we've talked about what we did. We talked about what we then learned and what you guys said as a community. Now, brett, let's get into it and let's talk about our mission, vision and values. So I will read our kind of key things that I want the marketer in the room to kind of go through, and what does that really mean? What does it mean, basil? What does it mean? Okay, so our mission, which is our why, why do we exist? Why do we get up every day? Our mission as USL Arkansas is to challenge the ordinary and cultivate the extraordinary, using the beautiful game to unify, uplift and propel the Northwest Arkansas community. So, brett, what do we think about our mission?
Speaker 2:Pretty special mission. We talked about this on the last podcast. We don't and we didn't want a mission that you just put on a wall Right, and we want this to be planned and be cared for and us to really think about it. And so when you really express that out, as Wes just talked about, there's a word that stands out to me. I'm sure there's different words that stand out to you, but in that, challenge the ordinary and cultivate the extraordinary. I could put that on a shirt and I could go out and beat my chest to that.
Speaker 2:The reason I love it is the word cultivate, from a literal I'm a kind of a word geek from the literal meaning that was based on preparing or the use of land for crops. That's planting, that's watering, that's caring for plants. In a metaphor standpoint, it's that word means to develop a skill, a feeling, a relationship through careful attention and planning. I do think there's a lot of similarities of USL Arkansas. Our mission is a plant and we have to care for it, we have to nurture it. A mission is never done. Your crop is never done. And when we cultivate this, we don't wanna cultivate average, we wanna cultivate the extraordinary.
Speaker 1:That is what it stands out to me from a marketer, and I think there's a lot of parallels in terms of what we just talked about too, in terms of why do people love Northwest Arkansas? I don't know, it's just different, it's just magic. Okay, so we're not gonna be just another soccer club. We're here to build something extraordinary, which is what we have all said is part of what we love about the area and what we love about Northwest Arkansas. We're gonna continue to do that in our professional soccer club and how we engage and create moments on and off the pitch with our community.
Speaker 1:And so that first bit, I just loved it. And then we use our vehicle to do so. It's through the beautiful game, but it's about so much more than that, as we have always talked about. And so when we kinda there was a lot, by the way, of iterating and iterating and iterating and going back and forth and back and forth on choosing the right words, because words matter to Brad's point, and so I think we've landed on just an outstanding mission that I can certainly get behind and have be my reason why I get up in the morning. So there's your mission, our vision, which again is kind of our long-term, kind of our aspirational future. What do we wanna be when we grow up? Kind of a statement, more than a club. We will be the premier creator of unforgettable moments and enduring memories impacting our community both on and off the pitch. So I'll let Brad kinda take you guys through that a little bit first.
Speaker 2:Great vision to have. I still remember the day and time it happened and I don't know if Wes knows this, but we were kinda listening in multiple iterations of this and Wes just casually dropped something about creating. He wants this club to do memories and moments and he wants the club to have these be that, but also on and off the pitch. And so we started really thinking about that and since then I really gravitate to that sentence unforgettable moments and enduring memories on and off the pitch. And if you kind of bite-size that on the pitch to create memories and moments, it could be someone's first game, someone's first introduction to soccer at any capacity. That's a moment, that's a memory. It could be for myself and Wes. I know we have some young kids. It could be one of our kids' first sports memories and we always remember that smell there's. You always align a smell with a memory.
Speaker 2:Same with sports, and I think we can all right now, as you're listening, go back to that sports moment with your mom or your dad and you can remember where you were. We get to do that for USL Arkansas and Northwest Arkansas. It could even be excitement of a goal in the last two minutes of stoppage time. That could be a moment. That's great, but what I really love is off the pitch. That could mean youth development. Wes talked about that. That could mean creating a memory or a moment where we fundraise for a single mother of eight who needs help in her community. That's a moment that is not sports related, but it's sports dictated in our community.
Speaker 1:We wanna be there when our community needs us. Yeah, I think I even said this on LinkedIn and you brought up the Miss Katrina King hi, katrina and her beautiful kids and what this community was able to do for her and her family over the holiday season. And when somebody asked me in the future, what I'm so proud of, what are you most proud of? What are you gonna remember about this project God willing, I'm able to still be here in a few years and they asked me that question. It's gonna be moments like that. I'm like the people that know me and hopefully has come through. I am the biggest soccer nerd you will ever meet in your entire life. Yes, and I am so, so excited and I cannot wait to do what we're doing and be at a game and a match and enjoy in that experience with you guys. But it's it's the power of sport and soccer that can rally a community together behind a common goal and do good. That is what I am so excited to continue to do and allow. That's what this platform allows us to do, and that's what I'm so proud of and can't wait to continue to do. So it's moments like that that I think will stand out to me in terms of what are you most proud of? What are you excited about what? What do you think you know the impact of what you guys have done will be, and it's moments like that, and so that was so very important for us to include yes, let's create those moments and on the pitch, and they will be many and beautiful and incredible, and I can't wait for them. But it was so important for us to call out that it is just as important for us to have a positive impact off the field, off the pitch, in our communities, day in, day out, even more so, potentially. So that was so critical for us to have a part of. Who do we want to be when we grew up? And so thank you guys for helping us get there, absolutely.
Speaker 1:So now we get into the last bit, which is also just super fun, because there's so many that you can have and, as we, you know, know and spend hours and hours going through all the different words and what do they mean and what do we want to be. So what are our values? And our values? These are your pillars, these are your core beliefs that define your character and culture. They are supposed to center you and all the things that you are doing it before you take an action. Is it centered in your core values? Does it support and ladder up to your North Star and your mission and your, your long-term goal and vision? But your values are how do you act, how do you behave, how do you, how do you make decisions together as an organization, in a community? And so we'll jump right into it here. So first up is authentic upholding the courage to be unique and delivering unwavering truth. So talk to me about authentic breath.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love mission, I love vision. I have a soft spot for values, because mission is is usually a sentence statement. Values is these bite-sized chunks it is. I love the word. You know your North Star, if I have a question about business or community, I should go back to my values, and I love it. So with authentic West you talked about it Words matter. We all know what courage. So, upholding the courage to be unique, we know what courage is. But when you really dive into it, what that actual definition is is to withstand fear. And then you take out unique. That actual definition is without equal and unwavering. That definition means steady. So really, what we're trying to say is it takes courage to be unique. Being unique is not easy, no, and you have to be steady, you have to be steadfast, you have to be committed, you have to do it without equal and you have to stand without fear. So it sounds when you first read it like, oh great, we're gonna be authentic.
Speaker 1:It's way more than that words matter. They do, yeah, and I love the way that we've defined it for ourselves and the words that we've chosen to be in there and included, and I think it supports everything that we wanna do, and it's so special in that way. And probably my favorite one is up next. So belonging Everyone and everyone is in all caps, everyone is welcome and we are all united by a common goal. Soccer is the world's game. It belongs to the people and it belongs to everyone Period, full stop, and that is what we are going to be about. And everyone is welcome within our walls and in our initiatives in our community, and I think that that is a real special one for me.
Speaker 2:So I knew it was gonna be your favorite when you were saying this is my favorite, authentic's not his favorite, it has to be belonging. And then you went into it like, yep, that makes sense From a marketing perspective. I don't really have anything more to add because what Wes just said is exactly it Full stop period. That's exactly what we want this to be. You've probably heard word bingo, community mentioned one million times, and there's a reason for that. And you cannot have community without belong. And what I really like about this, for those listening as Wes talked about, we made a dedicated effort to capitalize those words, every one, those letters, because we want it to stand out.
Speaker 1:So, yes, perfectly said, absolutely, doesn't need any more explanation, but I love it. Next up, commitment to excellence, and this one we also took a little bit of a different take in terms of what it means, because I feel like a lot of people can say well, we want to be great at what we do and we want to commit to winning and all those things, what our definition of it is ensuring every action is intentional and heartfelt and every thing that we do will be centered in that, and so take us a little bit more into that, brett.
Speaker 2:You're right, wes. There's a lot of people who have, probably on their values, commitment to excellence. So we looked at it and we talked about it as a team, we going back to us, trying to be unique and being unwavering on that. We really wanted to talk about what that was. And, as Wes talked about, I think the word that stands out to me in there is intentional. You can have a commitment to excellence after the fact. Sometimes To do it right, you really have to be intentional, which really means planned. That goes back right into our mission of cultivating is planning for something. So that really stands out.
Speaker 2:And then heartfelt that's another word that stands out to me ensuring every action is intentional and heartfelt. Heartfelt, if you go into the definition of that, is genuine. It's a true feeling. It adds depth. It goes beyond some other words that can say the same thing, but it lacks depth, and what we don't want this club to do in the community when we commit to excellence is lack depth. So I think that word really articulates what we're trying to do. When we say commitment to excellence. You could play off that on and off the pitch if you want to. That goes back into our vision. That's it's one of my favorites.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, it's. They're all great, which is why we chose them, but yes, it's, it's. I don't need to add anything to that. Brett explained it greatly, but it's a little bit of a different twist to it and it's intentional and has meaning Surprise, surprise. All right, so my last, not mine, our last two here passion. This is something that came up consistently in terms of well, how are you guys feeling? Like what's going on, you know, and one of the words that we consistently either saw from community feedback, but also a word that we used to describe what we were seeing and feeling from the community, was passion, and so we wanted to incorporate that into our values and continue that in in what we're doing and representative and staying true to the community. So, passion, a fervent dedication to Northwest Arkansas, the club and our community. So I'll let Brett dive into that one and dissect it as a marketer does. Go ahead.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I know some listening might say what is fervent? What does that mean? And again, it was picked for a reason. Everyone knows passion, but we want it to go a little bit beyond that. How can we heighten, how can we really elevate the word passion? What word can we show when we build community and community builds this club? It has to even go beyond passion. So that's why we use this word fervent, which is a Latin word. From the Latin origination means to boil or glow, said another way, glowing with commitment. Yeah, I would put that on a shirt. I want USL Arkansas to glow with committed passion. Yep. So that word to me really stands out a fervent dedication to Northwest Arkansas. Or, said another way, a glowing commitment to Northwest Arkansas, the club and our community. That's how we can get beyond passion Amazing, I love it.
Speaker 1:And our last one here Compassion.
Speaker 1:So I love this one and I love that we separate it as well from passion, because it needs to be and stands alone and is just as important, which is living with empathy and a kind heart going beyond ourselves.
Speaker 1:One of the this came stemmed from feedback, and I remember the moment that we were in a listening session it was one of our first ones and we were asking people to describe what they thought or think about when they think about Northwest Arkansas, and somebody said kind heart and that stuck with us and people in the room were like, yeah, yeah, you know, they really got behind that and was like that's so well put, you know, and just this welcoming feeling that they get in the community, especially with a lot of us being transplants and coming here, just being welcomed with open arms, everybody's so kind and so the more we thought about it. It also came up in other ways throughout the feedback, but I remember the moment that it first stemmed and I'm so glad that we were able to include it as part of our values here, but I'll let Brett talk further about it.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I think kind heart is one that you don't hear often. You can have a bunch of different heart. You can have a dedicated heart, a passionate heart, a stubborn heart. You can have a heart.
Speaker 2:So to put kind before that really makes it stand out. The the word empathy stands out to me because most of our listeners or viewers understand what empathy is, but it's it's more than understanding someone's feelings. It's really about projecting on yourself into their experience or, said another way, providing deeper connections between people. Let's go back to where we started this podcast. We want a deep, genuine, authentic connection with our community. I don't believe we can do that without empathy, and that was one of the key words that when y'all were fined and put out there. That stands out to me because it goes back to community. And when we look at going beyond ourselves, beyond means, to exceed a limit boundary, whether we do it intentionally or not, we do set boundaries on ourselves. So what this says to me is we are going to exceed that limit boundary and we are going to provide a deeper connection with our community to make this club what it should be and what these supporters want it to be and again, I think, further speaks to on and off the pitch.
Speaker 1:Everybody thinks about a club and a soccer team and a pro sports organization and it's about the wins and losses, providing a good atmosphere and sell us the season tickets and merch and all that fun stuff. But it again and I know we keep hitting on it it's so much more than that. It's so much more than that and that's the true power of it and why it's so special and why we get so excited about it. And so throughout our mission, vision, values we continue to hit on. It's about so much more than that. It's on and off the pitch, it's beyond ourselves, it's beyond the club, it's with and for everybody. And so hopefully this you know you guys get as excited about this as we do and hopefully this is representative of what you guys have thought about, shared with us and you know is true to our community. So again, I'll just recap it one time and then we'll kind of get into the next bit.
Speaker 1:Here is, our mission is challenge the extraordinary and cultivate the extraordinary, using the beautiful game to unify, uplift and propel the Northwest Arkansas community.
Speaker 1:Our vision is to be more than a club and we will be the premier creator of unforgettable moments and enduring memories impacting our community both on and off the pitch.
Speaker 1:And again, our values are authentic, upholding the courage to be unique and delivering unwavering truth, belonging. Everyone is welcome and we are all united by a common goal commitment to excellence, ensuring every action is intentional and heartfelt, passion, a fervent dedication to Northwest Arkansas, the club in our community, and compassion, living with empathy and a kind heart going beyond ourselves. So there you guys have it. That's our brand core, as they say in the marketing world, but it's a springboard that now springs us forward into everything that we do, literally from this point on. This is about who we are, who we want to be, and it also helps us get into the fun part, which is what's next, which I'll let Brett kind of talk about, which is the fun bit, and the meaty part, which is what's the name gonna be, guys, yes, this helps serve that platter, and so I'll let Brett kind of talk about what we're getting into next.
Speaker 2:Go ahead yeah, exactly right. So we have. We've been working in parallel paths on what the name could be. We've been narrowing that down with supporter feedback from hearing from the community, but we're holding until we got to this part. So now, as Wes talked about, we can really tie in names, designs, launch everything into mission vision values, because if you're not doing that, what was the whole point of taking this time to really think about words and their meaning? So we've completed it. We've done our mission vision values. We are now moving into what we call in marketing world brand identity. That is everything from naming to colors, to crests, to elements, your merch, all of that fun stuff. So to continue this Wes said it from the very top we're not stopping listening to the community shocker. We might even accelerate that even a little bit more because now we're getting to the, the fun design part. So because of that, to really do it in two-fold, we've created a thing called founding fans. So that's been launched.
Speaker 2:It's gonna be a special group of 36 passionate individuals who will basically shape the future of this club of USO Arkansas. The reason we want that is we want it to resonate with the spirit, the values that we've created together. We're gonna do that through a selection process and that's gonna make sure we have equal representation from all cities. That make this area great. That we have a passionate community fans not just soccer we yes, that's great we also want to be inclusive of those who are community fans as well.
Speaker 2:We want to make sure we have diverse ethnic backgrounds. We want to make sure we have a good ratio of transplants and those that have been here for a long time. All of that's gonna come together to really help us shape this from multiple perspectives going back to the empathy, going back to the belonging, going back to the commitment to excellence. But we're also, if you don't have the time to dedicate focus group hours and time, we're also gonna be putting this on social media and emails and we're gonna do questions and we want to hear from you in a dedicated format. So if you're not following USL Arkansas on Facebook, on Instagram, on email, I would highly encourage you to do that now, because not only do words matter, your voice matters and I'm telling you, you will be shaping the direction of this club and it's a pretty exciting statement to say.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Yeah, I can't. That's it. That's the episode. No, but thank you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're so excited to kind of jump into this next phase and, with the stewardship here of Stone Ward and their guidance guiding us along the path, it's just been an incredible journey and we're just getting started. But this is the next phase. This is the next step kind of phase. One is put a check mark and I'm so proud of it and happy with what we've kind of come up with and thank you, a big thank you to everybody in the Northwest Arkansas community and abroad that has given us all of your feedback, your time, your thoughts and your heartfelt comments. They matter, as we've said over and over, but hopefully now have you know, shown in action and work product here. So we're gonna ask for that again.
Speaker 1:And this kind of founding fans and in this next phase we need to it's so critical to involve you guys and we will continue to do that. So the founding fans is gonna be an incredible opportunity. There will be a little bit of incentive sprinkled in there for you guys to participate, to thank you for your time and your efforts. But yeah, as Brett said, this isn't just gonna be those 36, it'll also be sprinkled throughout, constantly asking for feedback via our newsletter, our email list, our social media channels. So please, please, go follow us at USL Arkansas on all platforms, sign up for our newsletter on our website, make sure that you're in the best case possible of making sure that you're getting all the news and the updates as they come out. I wanna thank Brett for coming on and Stone Ward for helping us get here, and thank you, guys for listening. Again, follow us at Pitch2Pro on all platforms and listen wherever you get your podcasts. So until next time, guys. Thanks for listening and cheers. North Arkansas.