Elevating a club and city on the rise.
The Columbus Crew is one of the ten original football clubs founded when Major League Soccer was created in the U.S. in 1994. Backed by a rich 29 year history of firsts, The Crew continues to be bold and lead by example throughout the league. Armed with a new crest, first in-class soccer stadium, and head coach, the Columbus Crew are evolving their brand to redefine what they stand for and how they represent in the market. Their mission is to advance the club and be a beacon for the city of Columbus. To help accomplish their goals, they sought a local creative agency to establish an evolved aesthetic that represents their new brand narrative and approach. The project included setting the direction of brand graphics to be used throughout the 2023 season and beyond.
Strategy to set the tone
The Crew doesn’t just take pride in being from Columbus, they believe the city and the club are intrinsically linked by a core set of beliefs and work ethic that positively perpetuates them forward. This ideal led us to the creation of a tagline to be used throughout this campaign. “Our City. Our Crew.” which ignites the passion of fans to connect with this Unified Crew front.
Campaign graphic creation
2023 marked the launch of the Velo-CITY kit, and with it a chance to create and align to a visually holistic graphic campaign. Velo-CITY’s use of grain and offsetting shapes from the Crew brand pattern conveys speed and perpetual motion. To align, we created a deconstructed pattern specifically for digital uses that aligns to that idea of forward momentum. The pattern interweaves with player photography creating depth and dimension always extending in one direction. Flexibility within the variations of the pattern will keep the look of this campaign fresh for seasons to come.
Execution across channels
The visual campaign consists of a new Crew font, color usage hierarchy, pattern and photography used across various marketing channels including social media, digital advertising, in-stadium and out-of-home. The graphics exude a fierce confidence that elevates players to a superstar status. The colorways are flexible and purposefully align to specific matchdays or player kit combinations. Videos and animation are fast-paced and featuring players and our energetic fan-base.
