Over the past few weeks, the Arizona State Sun Devils athletic department has been releasing videos and teasers about a big announcement they had planned for April 12, 2011. Before we actually review what happened, we should start by taking a look at what they did to create anticipation and excitement among their fans and alumni:
Clearly, something big was coming, but no official announcements were made until April 12, so fans had to wait. I love how the videos covered the full history of their athletic program, successfully mixing nostalgia and historic moments to more recent highlights and successes. This allowed the videos to resonate with a wide age range of fans, which is very important when you have alumni from age 22 to 102.
When the time came, we finally learned that the Sun Devils were undergoing a complete rebranding, transitioning away from the traditional “Sparky” logo to a new pitchfork-based logo and updating their official colors and fonts. Here is the official “Time to Fear the Fork” video that went along with the announcement:
Behind the scenes, Nike was working with Arizona State for over a year on the rebranding process, which involved changes to all the colors and marks across all sports at the school. The logo itself was the most significant change, but the introduction of black as an important color for the school’s brand was also very important. For more on Nike’s role in the process, check out this video:
Here is an official statement on the new brand from the school’s weekly “Devil’s Insider” email newsletter:
“The rebranding of Sun Devil Athletics includes adding two colors to the athletics color palette: copper, for its prominence in Arizona history, and black, a long-anticipated return to the Sun Devil attitude. This fall will not be the first time our Arizona State football squads have worn black helmets, as we previously wore black helmets in the 1950s. We now have a custom athletic font exclusive to Sun Devil Athletics. The font, called Sun Devil Bold, incorporates unique characteristics intended to represent my horns or my pitchfork. Speaking of pitchforks, the official logo of Sun Devil Athletics is now the pitchfork… This exclusive and contemporary mark will be used consistently across all of our Sun Devil teams. Anytime someone sees this logo, they will instantly recognize it as Sun Devil Athletics.”
Putting aside that I’m a bit biased when it comes to Arizona State (I went there for my MBA and worked in the athletic department), I think this is a great move for them. While Sparky has a long history at the school, it wasn’t the greatest logo to build the brand around. They wanted to have a strong, intense brand, but at the same time, Sparky was also their mascot and was very family friendly, which created a conflicting message in their brand. Now, they can continue to use Sparky in the mascot role, where he’s always been a great fit, but their athletic program can be better marketed under the new colors and pitchfork logo. This change should contribute to improvements in merchandise sales, brand awareness, ticket sales and hopefully alumni contributions.
The decision to rebrand any sports organization is very complicated, as the decision makers need to balance the affinity that their fans have to the current brand against the long-term value of what the new brand could represent. It seems like the Sun Devils really used their time productively not only to decide on what the new brand will be, but in how to create excitement about it and communicate the changes to their fans.
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4 users responded in this post
I think the standardization of the logo, font, and colors across sports is a great thing. Where I formally worked, each sport had their own unique logo and font and there wasn’t any consistency. That has led to confusion about what is the actual official logo. I believe creating that standardization will give the sports and all of the student athletes a common source of identification and hopefully it will increase alum loyalty moving forward.
In ASU’s case, I’m curious as to your thoughts of them keeping the interlocking script AS specifically for baseball. Obviously baseball has been of the most, if not the most successful programs at Arizona State and that logo is highly identifiable with the baseball. I just found it interesting that the administration has decided to update all of the sports, but singled out that tiny piece to stay constant.
I just wanted to give a pat on the back to ASU for their continually brilliant marketing efforts. Whether that be by way of their virtual interactive marketing campaigns where they take fans through the locker rooms of their sporting facilities or via changing their logo. As an Arizona Wildcats fan its difficult to see our in-state rivals put forth so much effort to improve not just their sports program but the entire university. Well done ASU. I hope U of A follows your lead!
I really like this new look. I am just hoping they don’t go crazy the way the University of Oregon have. Coming from my alma mater Penn State, we really take pride in the group over the individual and simplicity. I like this look for Arizona State more because it has a more simple feel and is easier to drive a marketing effort behind. You take pride in a few small things when it comes to your image and I believe this is something Arizona State can be proud of.
In going through my old emails, I received this from an ASU alumni shortly after this post went up:
Just want you to know that NOT ALL alumni and current students are in favor of Sparky taking a “back seat” to the new fork
Our main concern is that there was no real vote by all past and present sun devils. – as has been done in the DISTANT past (Owls to Bulldogs to Sparky) Instead this decision appears to have been made solely by the athletic department.
To tamper with a beloved LONG TIME logo/mascot without “buy in” from alumni and students is a slap in our face We are not against some change. Just respect “our” history and allow us to give our opinion. Many of us are feeling quite betrayed.
The fork is obviously a “done deal” BUT at least put Sparky back on the uniforms (and the microscopic little Sparky on the back of the football helmets at the bottom does not count)
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak from my heart.
(Writer was from the Class of 1960 – name withheld for anonymity)
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