National Football League -
This brief was kindly set to me by Chris Stackhouse, the current Creative Director of the National Football League. The challenge set was to rebrand a team that would be based in London, there were a number of associated within this brief that ranged from how to engage the whole of the UK regardless that they were based in London, how would we avoid alienating US fans now that 'American' football was now being played in Britain and what would be the best means of advertising to introduce British non-fans to this brand new sport.
I decided on Dragoons as the team name as it is simplistic but retains a striking and powerful feeling, each country in the UK has a Dragoon regiment as well as London, making each country feel like a part of the team. A slogan was needed which united UK audiences rather than make them feel alienated by the team being based in London, #AKingdomUnited serves this purpose perfectly.
A logo and emblem that was congruent to the rest of the NFL’s teams branding, I developed a unique emblem that depicted a charging Dragoon on horseback reinforcing a powerful and striking tone to audiences. This is also present on the side of the team’s official helmets.
A set of uniforms for home, away and alternate games were produced. There are many references within these uniforms most of notable being British redcoat troops in the US during the American Revolution, striped socks like those seen on 19th century UK football teams and a golden facemask paying tribute London’s European American football team the London Monarchs. The London Dragoon's official hat badge was placed on the rightsize of the chest to give the team some heritage, as it has very little being a brand new franchise.
A campaign which introduced the team to UK audiences and again effectively united audiences from across the United Kingdom which worked hand in hand with the team’s slogan / motto #AKingdomUnited. This campaign shows giant players in situ of landmarks found across each of the UK’s countries, these large players are a metaphor for each of the fans that are spread all over the UK that are passionate and devoted fans that travel to London to watch their team play.
This advertisement would be produced with each of the giant players walking from across the UK to the London Stadium where they play, this would be delivered via a video. I also wrote a strong and evocative spoken word poem to be used as the voice over for this short advert.
This stills shown on the previous slide are stills that could be used for social media or large out of home advertisements such as billboards.
In today's world a social media platform is crucial to any business especially for a sports team, in which it is fundamental for a team to keep its fans' engaged and to like a part of the team itself, as well as delivering important information such as kick off times or score updates. For the Dragoon's page to be successful it had to seamlessly introduce fans to the new team via posts relating to the advertising campaign, visually enticing posts that exhibit the team's sleek uniforms and home stadium as well as introductory posts that give a brief story about the ethos and character of the team. All the content on the page interconnected via the #AKingdomUnited hashtag that is used across all team content, the importance of which is paramount to the share-ability and promotion of the overall brand by encouraging fans to use the tag in their own Dragoon related posts across all social media. The use of language in a more friendly and allied tone allow users to greater relate to the page, creating a more interpersonal relationship between brand and user.