When you look at the Milwaukee Bucks' website and go to the front office section, the top dozen names are pretty much people who are relatively new to Milwaukee and Wisconsin.

These new folks, headed of course by the new ownership triad of Wes Edens, Marc Lasry and Jamie Dinan, are bound and determined to do things a new way. The old Milwaukee Bucks’ ways are gone for good. Some people think that’s just fine and welcome the new approach with open arms.

I think most of what this group has done is good for the city and good for the franchise. Last year was a tremendous surprise and success, and the team is trying to keep this train rolling down the tracks.

But I want to offer just a word of caution.

One of the things you hear Bucks’ executives talk about a lot is maximizing the "fan experience" currently at the BMO Harris Bradley Center and eventually in the new arena, whatever it’s going to be called.

While I watched the opening game at the BC on television, people who were there described the pre-game entertainment as somewhere between Cirque du Soleil and the Midway at State Fair. Flashing lights, music, big television screens and all manner of manufactured stimulation poured down on the fans.

They’ve got new clubs, a lot of new foods and new retail spaces for people to spend their money. The have a drumline and dancers and a hoop troop and the Rim Rockers – all part of the "enhanced fan experience."

Well, my word of caution is a simple one.

Milwaukee has never been, and is not now, a city that goes with gimmicks. We want the real thing.

For decades, Milwaukee has been a test market for a lot of products. Milwaukee and Cincinnati and Kansas City have been known as places where people can run tests to see if what they are selling will actually sell. The saying has been that if it sells in Milwaukee, it’ll sell anywhere.

The Dieringer Research Group has conducted product research for many companies – and on its website points out that Milwaukee as a perfect test market.

"In addition to being a cost-effective market, Milwaukee offers a diverse population to give you the reliable feedback you need," the company wrote. "In fact, the city’s tagline, ‘Genuine American,’ even references the population’s ‘genuine’ nature, with the region’s population closely mirroring national demographics."

Milwaukee doesn’t go for fads. We are trying, of course, to become more of a world-class city and become more contemporary. But that doesn’t mean we are going to sell our soul.

The thing that will be most important in our "fan experience" is not fancy food or loud music or comfortable seats or cheerleaders or bands in a lobby.

The thing that matters most to Milwaukee is winning.

Put a winning team on the floor, and we’ll beat a path to your door. This is especially true of basketball where we have been disenchanted for quite a few years. A winning team is the only way win this city back.

Under the ownership of Herb Kohl, the Bucks had a marketing strategy that they followed, year after year after year. They tried to manage expectations. Sure, they wanted to see tickets, but that administration believed that limited expectation would help avoid possible deep disappointment. If they won, it would be a surprise. If they lost, it wouldn’t be a such a shock.

That is diametrically opposed to the "Own the Future" slogan that the Bucks are marketing now. There is a promise implicit in their marketing that this is going to be a winning, exciting season. It’s not Jason Kidd saying this. He’s about as nonplussed as you can get.

This is the marketing and sales people who are behind all of this. I get it, but one of the most dangerous things in marketing is to make promises that you can’t fulfill. Don’t tell a kid he’s getting two scoops of mint chocolate chip ice cream and then give him a single scoop of vanilla.

I think Milwaukee is hungry for a winning Bucks team. I think that if they win, this town will turn out in droves. But what we want is genuine. I hope all these new people understand that the concept of "genuine" is part of our DNA.