IceHL Rebranding This Summer?
Got a question for all my IceHL fans out there. I've been talking about putting a handful of teams up for rebranding or relocation this summer. But my question is this: should we do it now or wait?
If you don't mind, please take a moment to read through this before you vote.
We just finished designing jerseys for all of our original 30 teams. They're all now fully branded. Does it really make sense to start rebranding teams before we've even gone through a full season?
Truthfully, none of the existing teams are that bad that they require an immediate overhaul. So I'm suggesting that we wait until next summer when the IceHL Project will have a lighter load. However, I'm still open to hearing your suggestions.
Please vote in the poll above. And if you'd like to elaborate, please leave a comment.
I won't deny that part of this is me wanting to take a breather. The jersey design contests have kept me extremely busy over the past several months and I wouldn't mind a break. But that's just a small part.
My main concern is that we'll be making a number of jerseys that were just designed obsolete. Seems like a waste. I say once we finish with the expansion teams' jerseys, we take a break from the IceHL branding process and pick it up again in 2013.
I also have some other big plans for 2013 which involve creating a new secondary league called IceHL WORLD which would feature teams in cities outside North America. More on that later this year but I always welcome suggestions. Thanks for reading!
Chris
Hi all. The lack of updates since this post should probably indicate that we are not moving forward with any rebranding projects this summer. They will be pushed to next summer instead. Also, in the next day or two I will be launching the Expansion jersey design contest. Stay tuned!
Reader Comments (24)
i say before we do rebranding, we pick 3rd jerseys as part of a "rebranding" idea?
North Carolina Nighthawks have to go! The whole set is atrocious
The Atlanta Arsenal should move to Ottawa!
I'm all for waiting another year, for a lot of us (myself included) the jersey designs are our only successful contribution to the league. I would hate to see someone's design never even used after putting so much work into it. Maybe we could start a 3rd jersey competition in the near future instead. That would be fun but not quite as drastic or overwhelming as rebranding entire teams.
Ben M raises good point, but I also think a relocation would be a good idea to keep things up during off season in hockey.
Also Guess Who, I have no idea what you're talking about. I was a huge fan of the nighthawks concepts. Would buy that jersey in a heartbeat if the team actually existed.
I appreciate the feedback. However, I'm not sure that avoiding a lull in the action is the best reason for throwing away the hard work of many designers. There will still be stuff to do. For instance, the two expansion teams still need uniforms designed.
The funny thing is that every time I look at the results of the poll, it's almost perfectly split between yes and no. I'll leave the poll open a while longer, but I'm still very much leaning toward holding off on rebranding and relocation efforts until next summer. I only regret not thinking this through sooner.
By the way, another GM resigned this week meaning more teams will be needing management in the fall. I'll make an announcement about how you can apply in September.
I agree with Happy. I'm not a huge fan of the Nighthawks, but there are a couple teams that could use a rebrand.
There doesnt seem to be a whole lot of really interesting jerseys. Maybe some like the Vancouver Canucks with some words on the front. Some numbers on the fronts would be nice too and also maybe better numbering and lettering fonts on the back. A few of the teams have quite minor league logos and jerseys. Alaska and Boulder both have some minor league looking jerseys, while Baltimore and Boulder both have minor league logos. the Saskatoon Sharpshooters have a horible logo. Its too generic looking. The jerseys are boring but are probably the best you would be able to make with this logo. Some of the teams have great jerseys though. Some of my favorites are Milwalkee, Chicago, and Portland. There a quite a few teams that need new jerseys and maybe new logos too, but leave them for a year. There was so much work done, so dont let it go to waste.
As mentioned, do a 3rd jersey contest instead. That way you keep the hard work of the winning designers while giving lots of opportunities for people to make new ones.
Without trying to insult the designers, who have devoted lots of time and effort, there are a number of teams that have logos, names, and jerseys that just don't work. (Nighthawks, Beasts, Blue Crabs, etc. in my opinion) Perhaps rebranding should be forthcoming sooner rather than later.
Maybe because I am very happy with my team and logo(Portland) or perhaps I see no reason to rebrand now. I don't want my new logo to be my old logo already, I want the time to work with it, have fun with it.
There were plenty of chances to do this a while ago, and everyone seemed happy. To change at this point just because you don't like another teams logo seems silly, you need to worry about your own not some one else's.
I say hold off on the rebranding because two teams don't even have jerseys yet and changing the league's look before it's even finished seems kinda weird to me.
Yeah ok. I voted yes rebrand, but in my mind it was mostly relocate.
I'm fine with what we have now (and Grinch I love your post, cause Boulder, Baltimore, Saskatoon and Alaska are among my top favorites sets, funny how tastes can differ), be it for the sake of trying them, trying to feel them, for at least a year. Then we can rebrand.
Third jersey contest is a good idea though, it will peace everyone.
So in the results please switch my yes to a no.
How about instead of a poll to rebrand we have a poll for third jerseys?
Something along to lines of one team in each division gets a third jersey, or a couple teams in the league. Something that will keep the league fresh, but still leave options open in the future. I mean, why rebrand before the jerseys are essentially 'used'. The jerseys, names, cities, logos- they were all chosen for a reason. Despite if we all like every jersey or not, they deserve to be here for at least one season. In the long run, it would be impossible to satisfy every person, for every team, in every aspect. We don't need to jump right into the third jersey contest. Sort of test the waters.
And to be completely honest, I would personally be a little upset if one of my designs that won got relegated before it made it to at least one actual season, and I guarantee any designer could agree.
I really enjoy seeing all the concepts that y'all come up with. There are a lot of truly talented designers at this site. With that said, I'm not a huge fan of the Portland and Vancouver logos.
I like the idea of a World League.
Make it like the old WLAF where there are some North American cities (there are no IceHL teams in major markets like Philadelphia, Toronto, Cleveland, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Phoenix). Throw in Eastern and Western European divisions along with some in Asia, Africa(?) and South America.
One thing. Go for nicknames in the native languages.
Les Papillons de Paris
Hamburg Hündchen
Los Mapaches de Madrid
Rane di Roma
Lagostas de Lisboa
@ Simon. Les papillons de Paris hahahaha. I'd love to see such a team, but talk about removing homophobia and "virility" values from tough sports like ice hockey, they'd surely be laughed at a lot ;-)
This being said, I agree with you that Toronto deserves another team. The original poll gave only one availability for whole Ontario, while there is enough market for three teams at least.
Now, SF, Phoenix, Miami "major markets"? For hockey, really? Africa? @_@
I agreed that we should hold off on rebranding. Give the designs a year before you give things a new look. Maybe a couple tiny tweaks could be done, but not full rebranding.
And where's all this Nighthawks hate coming from? I love their jerseys. They were my #2 pick when I was applying for an IceHL team because of their unique color scheme.
I know there is a Hamilton team, but not having a team from Toronto is silly to me. They're two seperate cities with a decent sized distance between them. They're farther apart than Baltimore and Washinton DC are, I am pretty sure. There definitely needs to be a team in Toronto.
@ Pablo - In the big picture, a "World" league should have world-class cities. No doubt that Miami, Phoenix and, especially, San Francisco are major metropolitan cities. Are they good for a pretend hockey league? If we can pretend that Regina, Yellowknife and Saskatoon are major league, why not?
I guarantee that, when we start throwing around major European cities like Moscow, Berlin, Paris, Stockholm, London and Prague - someone with suggest Lillehammer and Innsbruck for potential team sites.