I remember when they were just a sporting goods store--got my tennis racquet there when I was in HS.....
1000% disagree. They did because they thought with new stadium and the awesome new team store they could sell a lot more merch if it had different logo than the one we have hanging in our closets. Funny thing is they were wayyy wrong. They did sell out of a lot of merch - but it was the beloved round logo.
Well then your source is flimsy at best. I'm telling you the corporate community did not say crest must go or we are not jumping on board. They did not say it reminded them of Precourt. Just didn't happen. Maybe some low level person joked about it or it was some poorly written question on a survey of corporate community but no corp big wig would get in the weeds that far. Plus it was clear people loved it when it was introduced, and it was something done in house by long time employees who actually started it before Twochins McTrustfund was even in picture. This was something the branding "expert" came up with. SHE had to justify her hire and came in guns ablazing without doing homework, understanding the history & culture and obviously not having an eye for good sports branding.
What seems odd to me is: what would a potential sponsor (who was given the cold shoulder by TwoChins McManboobs) now think about throwing their weight and money behind a "franchise" who had a "successful" rebranding (by most measures) back in 2014/15, but has just gone through another, this time terrible, rebranding panned by fans, neutrals, and critics alike? New stadium, sure, but the rebrand isn't doing anybody any favors. Do you want your brand associated with this bad rebranding?
I don't think the actual logo made any difference. That's just BS someone threw at you if you heard it somewhere.
I’d be shocked if any potential sponsors even knew the old logo was associated with Precourt in any way.
I don’t think Croci had anything to do with the logo design. UK-based Dilley Studio was the only designer referenced in the announcements about the brand. https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2021/05/17/crew-name-change-number-two.html Not saying she didn’t support the change, only that she didn’t create it. The club hired both Croci and Dilley Studio back in Sept. 2020, so she wasn’t in a position to have entered into a partnership with Dilley. The FO or ownership made that dumbass call. Dilley Studio no longer seems to have a functioning website, by the way.
Dilley Studios was only ever confirmed as kit designer/consultant. Everyone assumed they were also involved in logo. I haven't subscribed to that idea. Markus Diley has been spot on with his previous work - find it doubtful he would think that turd would fly with soccer fans. Also this project absolutely fell under Croci. Not saying she designed it but she approved it and pushed it forward. She needs to go back to retail cuz sports branding aint her thing.
This is fan engagement.... The design panel includes the likes of Marco Reus, Dedé, Frederick Lau, and many more! 👏Whether you're a professional designer or just a fan at home, everyone's voice will be heard— Borussia Dortmund (@BlackYellow) January 7, 2022
Allow me to split the difference, since I was the first voice of dissent to your comment that started this. I believe you when you say you were told what you were told. I don't think you're making this up out of thin air. I just have serious doubts about the logic of what you were told. I've said many times that it's not a 1:1 comparison when comparing MLS to the NFL, but I'm going to violate my own rule here and make a comparison. If an NFL franchise had a shitty owner, and the franchise changed hands, and the new ownership group was courting new sponsors. People who had washed their hands of the team because the old owner was an asshole. Would those potential sponsors/investors expect for a second that an NFL franchise would re-brand just to cleanse themselves of the old owner's association? If businesses in Texas had issues with Jerry Jones, and were left out of the club because of it, and Jones suddenly died or sold the team, is there anyone who would wait to get back involved until the Dallas Cowboys changed their name or their logo? We've been through all these arguments before. Sports fans bond with their teams in ways they don't bond with other businesses. The name, the colors, the logo. You can't mess with those just for giggles. Especially when the customers buy merchandise with the name, the colors and the logos on it. Kroger could change the colors on all their signs to pink and green, have a different font on all their signage, paint the walls inside a different color, and it wouldn't make a lick of difference, because people shop there for what's on the inside of the store. Changing that stuff with a sports team changes identity. People don't walk around with Kroger jerseys to show their pride in where they shop. Of course, sometimes a business (even a sports team) can be so in the toilet that a re-brand can help. Sometimes it's even necessary. But I would think that all the potential business partners for the Columbus Crew didn't just fall off trucks. If they rejected doing business with the team specifically because of Precourt, that would imply that they were actually somewhat interested in doing business with the team at some point along the line. It shouldn't take a re-brand to get people interested in doing business again. Especially with a brand new stadium and, there was one other thing... oh yeah: A TEAM THAT WON A CHAMPIONSHIP IN 2020.
I wear a 7 3/4 fitted cap and cannot keep a stocking cap on my head to save my life. I just hope the hoods on my sweatshirt and parka do the job when I go outside in the cold.
To your point, unless I’m mistaken, the Crew has never publicly referenced its deal with Dilley Studio. All we know about it comes from Marcus Dilley himself. Is it limited to consulting on jersey design? Hell if I know. But I tend to take seriously reporting by Columbus Business First. They don’t make shit up or just regurgitate old content. If they reported that DS was part of this design, I take that as being accurate, that they were told that by the Crew. Fwiw, Arace also noted that Dilley worked on the design. I certainly agree that Croci embraced it. I’m guessing she was the marketing genius behind the idea to swap out the letter ‘C’ in signs around downtown with the new logo. That was a master stroke. What’s interesting by its absence is how, after the fact, no one took credit for this flaming pile of dogshit. Normally, some designer somewhere gets the credit, often using the design as an example of produced work on their website. It’s a big deal for a designer to do a professional sports rebrand. Sorta related, check out this story about how NE approached its logo redesign: https://www.boston.com/sports/new-e...1/04/new-england-revolution-new-logo-rebrand/ Now, theirs was more akin to our first rebrand; a move away from a ‘so bad, it’s good’ MLS 1.0 logo. But what struck me in the article was how their VP of marketing - who’s been with the club for 16 years - assumed fans hated the club name and would want to change that to FC, SC or something similar as part of a rebrand. He was shocked, when he saw the data from fan surveys, that they connected with the name. If someone who worked for a club for 16 ********ing years could have been so mistaken (or just stupid enough) to think ‘Boston FC’ (or something similar) was what fans wanted, I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise that brand new owners, and a new FO ********ed up our rebrand so badly. It shouldn’t, but it always will. Because the true mistake wasn’t their ignorance or hubris. It was their laziness in not collecting feedback from fans about what we preferred. To me, that’s inexcusable.