In a league of their own — a new home for the English game
After a weekend of FA Cup heroics and shockers, it allowed me to recover and think about our domestic league and the fact it has been recently rebranded. I’ve just refilled the Crystal Palace’s bus with petrol and will be hoping to park it again in the next round of the cup, but our Wembley destiny is for another blog.
Before I crack on with the nerdy design side of this, the news landed a couple of weeks ago that the now known Barclays Premier League has been rebranded. It was published in most publications, print and digital; but interestingly it mentions both of the important agencies that were part of the build. DesignStudio — the genius designers behind this, and Robin Brand Consultants who have strategically positioned the new brand. Interestingly this doesn’t always happen with a rebrand and the credit often is left to the designers and creative nerds. But these articles for me, in my opinion, shows the value the strategy and consultancy work put in behind this major, global rebrand. Credit to the reporting and news outlets (yes, probably thanks to the countless press releases peppered at them) for recognising the agency that are the thinkers and strategists behind this colossal change. I thought this was value for us as a team here at WE as we’re often in charge for the thinking and strategy side for our clients. There’s huge value in the strategic work here, its not just a visual rebrand but the over arching message is as ever important behind its success — a bit like what WE do!
*Design chat coming up*
I really like the new brand. I think its super clean and brings the brand up to date for a more modern audience.
In my humble opinion, I don’t like the typeface though. The Premier League is the biggest domestic asset to the sport worldwide; it’s up there with the World Cup. It demands authority and should hold confidence, power and tradition. This typeface is more “hey pal, fancy a friendly kick about in the park with me and my buddies then we’ll all have a Capri-Sun at half time”. I want the Terry Butcher ethos with the heroic bleeding head and bandage wrapped round his half off face! Considering the league have trouble in justifying ticket costs, is it that they are trying to attract a more family orientated audience and offer the league as an ‘affordable’ day out? But in doing so the branding should reflect this — hence the personal, friendly and curvy type face perhaps?
Now I have my one minor gripe out the way, I can now wax lyrical about how refreshing it is. I’m a design nerd and a football fan; this has come to me with great interest. It’s not just a logo; it’s not just a typeface but importantly how this has all come together under one coherent roof. A mark of a real, comprehensive rebrand is in simple terms split into two. One is the visual and two is determining the organisation’s principles (the who, what, how, why). We have recently been part of this at WE at a global level, when I spent some time in San Francisco I had the pleasure of being part of this process.
The Premier League is a precious asset to the English game. The thinkers behind this project would have considered the language, how it comes across and how it shows up on a global stage. The world’s biggest managers, players and sponsors are attracted to this league and we need a visual identity to match. The original visual has remained. The lion. The emblem of power, strength and dominance. The teams at DesignStudio have adopted and nailed the modern trend and have brought the heavily detailed old logo to the main stream by cleaning it up and reducing its complexity.
The surrounding collateral is vibrant with striking patterns, very Nike indeed. An interesting observation seeing as the two organisations stand hand in hand developing the English game. The artwork wouldn’t look out of place alongside the latest boot launch at Nike’s London flagship store, but perhaps I’m looking into it a bit too much. The patterns will play a big role and act as visual language, a mechanic that we’ll see throughout. They’re dynamic and bold and immensely vibrant in colour. You only have to look at the trend of football boots these days to see how colour and flare has become a part of the game. I can imagine them lending themselves fantastically well to digital and the moving image. I can’t wait to see the slow motion montages; our best talent hitting top bins, triple step overs and the occasional flip flap is going to look superb alongside this new branding.
A big change for the first time in a few years is that the league has departed ways to its naming rights too. No more will sponsors feature in the official name, instead, seven sponsors will be associated with the league and it will simply be known as Premier League. I like the purity in the name and think it brings independence and established importance it deserves.
I’m looking forward to seeing this been rolled out in England, my dream of lifting the Premier League trophy has now been updated with the new branding.
Paul Taylor, WE Communications
