Looking For Unity

The Flying Kangaroo on the tail of the Qantas aircraft is accepted as one of the most instantly recognisable brands in the world. Over the years it has been tweaked to keep it up to date but its essence has never changed, and why would it?

Equally recognisable is the Commonwealth coat of Arms as the formal symbol of Australia with the Kangaroo and the Emu standing either side of the shield depicting the symbol of the six states of Australia. The minute anyone sees the Kanagroo and the emu they know it is Australia.

When the Football Federation of Australia was launched a strong push was made for the sport to be called Football and no longer Soccer.

Australia is one of the few international teams where the side has a very strong instantly recognisable nickname, “The Socceroos.” Some feared this switch to calling the game Football would see the established name be cast aside. The new President Frank Lowe said at the time “We are one of the few countries that calls its national team by a nickname, it has been commonly used and is a much loved name but we may see it fade out as evolution takes place.”

The name 14 years later is as strong as ever, as is the Matildas, the nickname for try women’s team, thanks to some outstanding team performances and individual players being classed as some of the best in their positions in the world, the likes of Sam Kerr, Elise Kellond- Knight and Lydia Williams.

When the Football Federation was unveiled so too was a new logo for the game, a new brand one that we were told would would reflect the game’s “core attributes of inclusiveness, family, expressiveness, youth, style and fun will be prominent in the way that football is presented going forward.”

The logo which many described as an orange being unpeeled was accepted as being new and fresh, and many felt it reflected the change and a new dawn for the game.

Yet this week the FFA unveiled another logo. One that is going to take time to be recognised and become established. The old one that had already thanks to three consecutive World Cup finals become recognised by many as the badge of the Socceroos is no more.

In September of this year under a piece titled “Who Are You?” we looked at why the FFA would head down this path and asked our readers to vote on which logo they preferred. At the time of writing the old logo was the preferred option.

The new Logo which looks like three Green and Gold paperclips, not joined but lying side-by-side to make up a triangle are supposed “to capture the atmospheric and diverse nature that makes the Caltex Socceroos and Westfield Matildas two of Australia’s most beloved national sporting teams,” FFA CEO David Gallop stated at the launch. “This further reinforces the underlying tagline of the brand launch being ‘Uniting a Nation’ – a position that celebrates the rich diversity of football in Australia and the power football has to bring people of all backgrounds together under a common passion.”

Surely if it was about “uniting a nation,” ‘the paperclips’ would be linked? What is more uniting than the badge of Australia, our coat of arms, that the cricketers and many of our other national representative teams wear?

How is anyone outside of football in Australia, let alone the world going to know that this new badge is the badge of our national football team?

The Chief Marketing Officer of the FFA, Luke Bould, was quoted as saying at the launch of the new logos that “The Westfield Matildas and Caltex Socceroos have emerged as two of the country’s favourite national teams at a time where they truly represent the diversity and unity of our nation like no others.” So why if that is the case would you pick this time to change their logo and brand?

It would be good to know who decided that the Socceroos and Matildas needed a new logo and brand? It would be good to know how much has this cost the stakeholders? Also was this put to a vote amongst the “Football Family,” that everyone associated with the game is told they are part of?

As one Marketing expert wisely said when asked their opinion by Not The Footy Show, “It is easier to create a new brand than to develop an existing one.”

Yet if we look at the existing brands that are instantly recognisable the reason they have stood the test of time is that have found ways to evolve their brand, to develop it and still keep it in the forefront of our minds.

A great example of this is the Pepsi Cola Logo and how as a product it has stayed dominant but has gone through a number of logo changes since its most radical in 1950. It has crucially kept a similar, instantly recognisable theme in all the evolution since that time.

Jaid Hulsbosch, managing director of Hulsbosch the company that designed the new logo claimed that his work “conveys a clarified visual language that is an energetic rendering for a stronger football footprint in Australia.”

Had this been a new logo for Office Works or another major retail stationery outlet there may have been a few more nodding heads, instead of a sea of furrowed brows.

When Frank Lowy was appointed Chairman of the new Football Federation of Australia he sent an open letter to the stakeholders in December 2004 in which he wrote:

“The New Football in a corporate sense will stand for good, modern and transparent corporate governance and management, honest and open communication, inclusiveness and a “unity of purpose” in the best interests of the game.”

Words, some would say after the year that has been 2018, that come back to haunt the FFA.

The old brand was meant to represent a “Unity of purpose,” the new one “Uniting a Nation.” Clearly this is too highbrow for us. Surely simply wearing the Australian coat of Arms would have been an easier and cheaper way of achieving the same outcome?