Earlier this year I was approached with my dream brief, to re-brand a football club. 1874 Northwich are a fan owned, community focused club that play in the premier division of the North West Counties Football League. Formed by disillusioned fans of Northwich Victoria they are run by a committed group of supporters and rely on this army of dedicated volunteers in order to survive.
The brief delivered was clear in the club’s aims, to position themselves as a modern football club without forgetting the spirit and beliefs of the original team formed back in 1874. They wanted to make supporting the club an attractive proposition to younger fans by developing assets they could use consistently across all outputs, especially social media platforms.
The biggest challenge for me throughout was to consider what happens to the work once I hand it back over to the club. I didn’t want to step on the toes of volunteers that have put hour upon hour of their time producing match-day posters and merchandise, the weekly programme, running social media accounts and alike. This is their club and it should remain that way. The aim was to hand over a ‘kit of parts’ and brand guidelines that would still give them a degree of creativity yet keep the consistency of the new branding. Time will tell how this pans out and there may be lessons to be learnt but keeping the club’s fan base involved and excluding no one is crucial.
Another challenge was the roll out of the finished brand. Currently the club are using the new badge across digital yet sticking to the old crest on physical media such as the program and shirts. Obviously this isn’t ideal for the launch of a new identity, again though concessions must be made for the type of client. Money is scarce at this level of football, existing kits and stock can’t just be ditched in favour of a new design. Waiting a season and launching in 2017 would risk a year of potential new sponsorships and exposure to the local community. Although it breaks plenty of branding rules I think the benefits of this soft launch outweigh the negatives.
This project is up there with the most enjoyable I’ve ever worked on. I can’t compliment the club enough on the clear, concise brief I received, they knew exactly what they wanted while giving me the creative freedom to solve the problem how I saw fit.
