Variations and inconsistencies in team branding

[raz]

4 hours ago, Jungle Jim said:

There were at least three licensed Bengals helmet logos used in the 1960s and 1970s, and for reasons I'll never know, none matched the actual helmet.

 

 

When the striped helmets debuted in 1981, the first official logo did not have an accurate striping pattern.

 

They later got it closer to accurate:

 

 

I totally had this gumball helmet when I was a kid, featuring yet another iteration of 'Bengals' that they never wore:

 

(This one isn't mine, though.)

[wildwing64]

The LA Kings have this crown logo:

 

 

 

And then they have this one, which has been simplified. And squashed for some reason.

 

 

Back when the Ducks-Kings rivalry was officially named the "Freeway Face-Off", this version of the Kings logo was used:

 

 

 

[Mingjai]

The Blackhawks' secondary logo, which appears in my avatar has two general forms: the first is the serif "C" that appears on the team's on-ice jerseys, while the second is the san serif "C" that often appears on hats, other apparel, and (from my own personal collection) CCM 550 replica jerseys. It's not obvious to me how the use of the two variants is determined other than that the sarif logo is the jersey logo. One thing that is generally consistent is that each of these two forms generally have a white-green tomahawk for red and black backgrounds and green-red tomahawk for white backgrounds (with the exception of some apparent anomalies in the late 80s, shown in the third image).

 

 

 

 

Here's the 80s jersey anomaly:

 

 

 

 

[VikWings]

4 hours ago, DC in Da House w/o a Doubt said:

I think it's safe to say Baylor has adopted all variations and shades of green and gold/yellow as their colors.  

 

Any of these are fair game for them at this point:

 

 

(And these)

And don't forget Volt!

[AstroCree]

This 1962 NL Official Program features the Met cap with an orange top.

 

Except they didn't have an orange button top on the cap until the late 90's. 

 

Not many people will notice but I did so that's something. 

[CreamSoda]

5 minutes ago, insert name said:

This 1962 NL Official Program features the Met cap with an orange top.

 

Except they didn't have an orange button top on the cap until the late 90's. 

 

Not many people will notice but I did so that's something. 

 

 

You got that going for you, which is nice.

[tBBP]

My favorite occurrence(s) of this were back around the turn of the century--two teams whode primary uniforms had more of a change kit-to-primary-kit dichotomy going on:

 

 

Two completely different crests, home and away...yet somehow they seemed to make it work. (By the way, I don't know about anyone else but I miss those duds. Well except the Blueland ones--those annoyed me.)

 

 

In Ucla's case, no light blue appeared anywhere on the roads, making them look somewhat like two different teams, but you can obviously see the cohesion.

 

(Now having posted these, I'm honestly amazed none of y'all have yet brought up the Cowboys, NY Giants, or the Minnesota Wild's sweaters...)

[Sport]

The Yankees could standardize the cap and chest logo and I wouldn't have noticed. I knew they had different logos, but their differences are small enough that it wouldn't catch my eye. 

 

The Tigers, though, look positively weird anytime I see a concept on here that tries to pick one old english D over the other. The hat D is too thin and wispy for the chest. The chest D is too thick and clunky for the hats. That may be because I'm used to it, but I think they both work in their own way. 

[AstroCree]

When the Mets introduced black they went through so many uniform variations.

 

Black and Blue Hat with White Jersey

Sometimes with the away jerseys

A more traditional look with the blue hats

Once they did Black and Blue Hats with the Black Jersey. 

[Jungle Jim]

3 hours ago, rjrrzube said:

I totally had this gumball helmet when I was a kid, featuring yet another iteration of 'Bengals' that they never wore:

 

(This one isn't mine, though.)

 

What happened there is they simply arched the letters from the wordmark they used in their first three seasons 1968-70.

 

 

 Although I'm assuming someone (erroneously) approved its use for the gumball helmets of the time, the team or the league never used that style for other licensed merchandise or as "the" representation for the team for a given era, like the others I posted.

 

[KittSmith_95]

What are gumball helmets?

 

 

These feel like a collector item to me.... 

[Gothamite]

3 hours ago, insert name said:

This 1962 NL Official Program features the Met cap with an orange top.

 

Except they didn't have an orange button top on the cap until the late 90's. 

 

Not many people will notice but I did so that's something. 

 

I'd chalk that one up to ignorance, since that was the Mets' first season.   Or it's possible that they had an early style guide when they went to press - there were published reports before the season started that the Mets would have orange trim on their jerseys, among other small differences. 

 

Regarldess, what a gorgeous set of caps.  The best the National League has ever looked. 

[Discrim]

2 hours ago, KittSmith_95 said:

What are gumball helmets?

 

 

These feel like a collector item to me.... 

Small helmets you got out of a machine, right by the candy and gumball machines, and which worked in the same manner (hence the name...and now you possess a bit more knowledge )...back in the day, there was the shell, facemask, and decals, and you put the decals on yourself.  Aside from the mythical black-mask Steelers helmets I've seen but never owned, I've only ever seen white facemasks, and I used to grab a few all the time.  The ones they have now, on the upside they look more like actual helmets...but on the downside, everything's painted on already.

Far as that Bengals helmet, I remember many years ago, I bought a bag full of 60s gumball helmets, among them a few of the above Bengals helmets, those Chargers helmets with the straight, old gold bolt, a few silver Oilers helmets, and a gold Redskins helmet.

[oldschoolvikings]

2 hours ago, KittSmith_95 said:

What are gumball helmets?

 

 

These feel like a collector item to me.... 

 

 

 

 

[ScubaSteve]

On 3/10/2016 at 7:11 PM, Dolphins Dynasty said:

Wow, the middle logo looks a bit cleaner than the main one. I actually like that.

 

As for other logos? I saw two Eagles' logos where one is with a silver outline and one where there is no silver outline.

 

 

 

 

Not even just the logo, the "midnight green" color. Going to games, it's not just a bunch of green jerseys and merch in the crowd. It's a mix of green, dark green, teal, blue-ish, and all of the in between. I really wish the birds would go back to kelly green but I'm starting to lose hope

[UnclearInitial]

On 3/10/2016 at 2:11 AM, Gothamite said:

I never noticed that.   

 

It's like the Yankees, who have three versions of their interlocking "NY". 

 

There's the cap version:

 

 

The jersey version:

 

 

And a print-only version that they don't use on any uniform but is featured on the vast majority of promotional materials. 

 

 

The Yankees also used to have a different batting helmet logo, with the arms of the Y tapering sooner than in the print logo. though they changed it to the print logo in recent years. IMO it should have been the other way round , the old batting helmet logo was less wonky

 

 

The eagles should really just ditch the silver outlined logo, so unnecessary

[Bmac]

14 hours ago, wildwing64 said:

The LA Kings have this crown logo:

 

 

 

And then they have this one, which has been simplified. And squashed for some reason.

 

 

Back when the Ducks-Kings rivalry was officially named the "Freeway Face-Off", this version of the Kings logo was used:

 

 

 

The simplified logo was originally intended for embroidery usage only, somehow it found its way into digital use.

[leopard88]

16 hours ago, insert name said:

This 1962 NL Official Program features the Met cap with an orange top.

 

 

What is interesting to me is how many of these are still/back in use . . . or pretty close in the case of the Phillies.

[Bmac]

On 3/10/2016 at 7:05 AM, chcarlson23 said:

The Wild had this logo as their main logo until a few years ago at least according to this site. 

 

The only place I've seen this logo is a collectible puck. Everywhere else has the logo without the wordmark above it. 

I once heard the text above the logo was supposed to remain for the first 10 seasons of the team's existence. The idea being they were a new team with a logo that wouldn't be instantly identifiable, so the text was needed to build the brand. Which is actually a basic advertising practice taught often, so it's interesting if true. I think the logo with text ending up serving as the primary for 11 seasons.

[chcarlson23]

58 minutes ago, Bmac said:

I once heard the text above the logo was supposed to remain for the first 10 seasons of the team's existence. The idea being they were a new team with a logo that wouldn't be instantly identifiable, so the text was needed to build the brand. Which is actually a basic advertising practice taught often, so it's interesting if true. I think the logo with text ending up serving as the primary for 11 seasons.

It was 10 seasons, 11 years. The Wild don't count the full year lockout as a team season, as most teams don't either. This year is the 16th year of the teams existence, but the team is celebrating 15 seasons. So it did get used for only 10 seasons.