Successfully rebranding their image is among the hardest tasks a sports organization will ever seek to accomplish

Fans, especially in football, are tribal, resistant change and lack a clear vision of what they want. But they will tell you, often straight in your face, what they DON’T want.

And anyway, the very concept of clubs as brands will jar against groups who have a deep emotional attachment based on the essence of their identity. When did you last see the logo of Starbucks, Coca-Cola or any other major brand tattooed on the arm a vociferous devotee who is happy to spend a hefty chunk of their time and money travelling around in support?

Many, many clubs have rebranded themselves in recent year but some have had to immediately backtrack in the face of supporters protest. However, Bristol City seemed to have made a success of theirs.

So I travelled down to Ashton Gate to speak to chairman Jon Lansdown about the reinvention of the Robins. Jon holds a similar role at Bristol Sport, the marketing group that supports their ownership of City, Bristol Bears Ruby and Bristol Flyers basketball team.

It was a very impressive setup, evolved organically and laying deep roots of local support. They are clearly doing things the right way and the rebrand was another indication of that

TOPICS

The Bristol Sports model that sits “behind the teams”

The efficiencies that this model brings Why rebrand Bristol City?

The ‘more extreme’ rebrand of Bristol Bears and what was learnt

The response from the fans after the club asked for their opinion

The importance of local knowledge

The sense checks and challengers needed in ‘the circle of trust’

Changing the formation date on the previous crest

Taking off key features - like the famous bridge in the city

Giving out information on the crest but still expecting fans to be shocked

The importance of presenting the crest in the city and ‘underground’ sites

What information was taken from the fan survey

Why they chose the design agency they did? “Where you can, keep it local”

Why they released all their pages in the design process

The reason for launching in March and the nature of the launch event

“You can’t learn this stuff, you have to live it”

Learning from mistakes by others

Avoid the 'cartoon feel'

Admiring the rebrand of Juventus

The importance of versatility in the badge

Determining the signal from the noise

Putting a hashtag on the badge

The social media strategy for launching the kit

The problem of keeping it under wraps

Taking something from US Sports and why the Colorado Rockies are his second baseball team because of their social media

Changing the way you talk to your fans

Measuring the success of the rebrand

What they would have done differently

LINKS

Jon Lansdown Twitter | LinkedIN

Bristol City Twitter

Bristol Sport website

Story on the redesign, including shots of the launch around Bristol