Also in this report:
– Minor leagues score big with fans, advertisers p.28
– Molson revs up sports marketing subsidiary: Molstar Sports and Entertainment combines TV production of TV sports programming with event management p.29
– BoarderCross tapes ‘extreme’ sponsor interest: Snowboarding and motocross hybrid has image that attracts young men a prime target for beer makers and sportswear marketers p.31
– Film festivals’ success feeds on itself p.32
When graphic artist Brent Lynch was called in to help redesign the logo of the nhl’s Vancouver Canucks, he offered a nice, tidy solution that would have simplified the process no end: Just change the name of the team.
Ducks, Sharks, Panthers with names like that, the logo practically designs itself. But Canucks? What’s a Canuck supposed to look like, exactly? Who even uses the term anymore?
Not surprisingly, he had a hard time selling the idea. After a quarter-century in the league, the team wasn’t prepared to forsake its heritage.
Forsaking the old logo, though that wasn’t a problem at all. Hockey fans don’t agree on much, but about that design a sort of stylized skate-thing with the word ‘Canucks’ in an unreadable typeface there has long been consensus: Yuck.
About the kindest thing one could say about the team’s previous look is that it wasn’t the worst in its history. (Anyone remember those eye-frying yellow, orange and black concoctions they wore in the late ’70s?)
And so, on June 3, the Canucks unveiled a brand new logo and uniform. The relative simplicity of the new image a killer whale bursting from a ‘C’-shaped body of water (or is that ice?) belies the difficulty of the process that led to it.
‘The team had an identity problem that needed to be rectified,’ says Lynch, whose Vancouver-based design firm, Brent Lynch Graphics, has done a wide range of work for the event industry. ‘They wanted something they could be proud of a logo that would stand the test of time.’
‘We took it very seriously,’ agrees David Youngson, creative director of Orca Bay Sports & Entertainment, parent company to the Canucks and the nba’s Vancouver Grizzlies. ‘We wanted the players to walk into the dressing room and be inspired by it.’
The project had already been in the works for some time before Youngson took charge of it in April 1996. The one direction he received: Be democratic. In all, more than 100 people associated with the organization were consulted, from receptionists to players to senior executives.
There’s no denying that the name of the team posed a certain challenge. After all, the word ‘Canuck’ originally a 19th-century term for Canadian immigrants to the u.s. isn’t really common currency anymore. And it d’esn’t call up a whole lot of clear, concrete images that would look good on a sports jersey.
Eventually, says Lynch, the team realized that this worked in its favor. ‘Since no one else in Canada is using ‘Canuck’ at a public level, it’s a term they could take ownership of, and attach their own image to.’
The consensus that gradually emerged was that the logo should evoke something of the spirit of the team’s West Coast home.
‘Vancouver is a dynamic city,’ Lynch says, ‘and yet the old logo said nothing about where the team comes from. It was as if they were ashamed to be on the West Coast.’
An image that appeared in some early sketches, and won growing support over time, was that of a killer whale. As Lynch explains, it’s something unique to the West Coast, and evokes a fitting combination of power, grace and integrity.
A touch of Haida influence in the design further reinforces the West-Coast feel, as d’es the choice of deep blue almost black for the jersey. (The original shade of blue chosen was later rejected because it was too close to the Edmonton Oilers’ blue.)
The Canucks are just one of several nhl teams to have introduced a new look within the last two seasons. (In a couple of cases the Ph’enix Coyotes, the Colorado Avalanche the change was prompted by a franchise’s move to a new market.)
The results have varied from impressive (the Buffalo Sabres) to indifferent (the Boston Bruins) to what-the-hell-is-that? (the Coyotes and God help us the New York Islanders) A number of the new logos have a cartoonish quality that reflects the league’s youth-oriented marketing agenda.
Youngson says the Canucks considered their fair share of such designs in the early stages of the process. (‘There were some pretty aggressive-looking beavers and moose,’ he recalls.) In the end, however, the balance of opinion clearly favored a more elegant and traditional design a look that would reflect the seriousness with which Canadians regard the game of hockey.
‘One of the highest pieces of praise I heard,’ says Youngson, ‘was that it feels like the logo of one of the Original Six nhl teams.’
‘I hate that whole movement toward cartoony images,’ Lynch says bluntly. ‘I think it’s going to be very short-lived. I wanted something with a classic feel a purity and eloquence that would recall the traditions of the game. Some of the logos out there now are trying to say a lot with a lot. We’re trying to say a lot with a little.’
The attitude of the players also had to be taken into consideration, he adds. ‘For an athlete, frankly, it’s difficult to put on a pink jersey with some crazed image you can’t stand, and then go out and play good hockey.’
The job of introducing the new logo to the public fell to the Canucks’ agency, Glennie Stamnes Strategy. The campaign incorporated television, newspaper, out-of-home and direct mail to season-ticket holders, along with collateral such as bottle-neck ringers and posters. (The agency’s original plan for an elaborate teaser campaign ‘Vancouver Moves to New Jersey’ had to be dumped when the new logo design was leaked on the Internet a month before the launch.)
The campaign creative played up the team’s heritage, employing images of stars from its past Orland Kurtenbach, Stan Smyl, Harold Snepsts along with current captain Trevor Linden. Ad copy emphasized values such as character and commitment.
‘We tried to draw on the equity the team has in this marketplace,’ says Bob Stamnes, president of Glennie Stamnes. ‘People here are passionate about hockey. We didn’t want to insult their intelligence by trying to launch this thing in real rock ‘n’ roll fashion.’
One reason, of course, that so many pro sports teams have revamped their uniforms in recent years is that there are big bucks to be made in licenced product sales, and a new look will move merchandise. The more commonplace these makeovers become, however, the greater the risk of backlash from a cynical public.
The Canucks, in fact, acknowledge the point in some of their advertising. ‘It’s not aboutŠselling more merchandise,’ their newspaper ad insists. To reinforce the point, Orca Bay employees hit the streets of Vancouver on June 3, handing out free caps and T-shirts bearing the new logo.
‘It was important for us to demonstrate that we weren’t doing this to gouge fans, that it was a change we felt was necessary for the team,’ Youngson says.
‘People in Vancouver did not like the old logo,’ adds Stamnes. ‘It was designed back in the early ’80s. This is entertainment times change and you need to update the merchandise.’
Initial fan response would appear to be generally favorable, but the jury is still out. Much, says Youngson, will naturally depend on what the team d’es while wearing the new uniform.
‘If fans see it on tv in June, during the Stanley Cup finals, they’ll love it,’ he says.
