What do you do if you want to infuse creativity into sports team branding and merchandise?

Sports can't live without truly connecting to fashion, art, culture and the essence that defines their fans. Creativity is just a different way of understanding and presenting a concept or idea. If you are able to connect and cross fashion, music, art, culture and sports and bring it to your brand and merchandising, your brand will win. No doubt. Sports properties are currently working on new exciting and creative ways of wearing and enjoying their brand. Keep it up, don't miss the trends and apply it to your brand structure. Your brand and club will skyrocket!!

To infuse creativity into sports team branding and merchandise, focus on understanding your audience's demographics and preferences, leverage the team's unique historical and cultural elements, collaborate with artists for fresh designs, and innovate with sustainable materials and personalized merchandise. Also, incorporate technology like augmented reality for interactive experiences, engage fans directly in the design process, and offer seasonal or event-based themes to maintain interest and boost sales.

The short answer! To infuse creativity into sport team branding and marketing, focus on unique visual elements, engaging storytelling, interactive fan experiences, and innovative digital campaigns.

Step 1 is understanding the target audience or customer. So often we see brands creating beautiful designs with no real understanding of who they are targeting or what the brand says about their business. It's always encouraging when you can imagine a brand and immediately connect a product. This isn't always a day 1 exercise in branding but it can't be overlooked because the best brands have a plan from day 1 to establish a connection to their product, customers, and success. So follow the path set by the world's biggest brands like Nike, Amazon, FedEx, etc., and plan ahead by auditing the who.

Generate ideas for creative branding and merchandise concepts that align with the team's identity and resonate with fans, You can as well study other sports teams' branding and merchandise to identify trends, gaps, and opportunities for differentiation.

Bring your fans into the process. Run contests, do surveys, encourage them to share stories, favourite eras or unsung heroes. If you have influential supporters bring them into the conversation to introduce the team to their fanbase, many of whom will not be existing supporters. Then open source your designs - let fans put their twists on them on digital platforms like Roblox and have them vote on the best one. Maybe even share design tips or classes on social (like artist David Cho and his Batman drawing class) to encourage them to put a twist on your existing kit.

‘Originality depends on new and striking combinations of ideas.’ Therefore, explore beyond the sphere of one sport and delve into other disciplines. PSG did a great job with Air Jordan, merging football with the popular in Paris sport of basketball. Go further and collaborate with a fashion brand like AC Milan and Off-White or using knowledge of your fanbase find the brands or people that resonate with them from somewhere totally away from the pitch. Red Star Paris have a lab for kids and artists to come and collaborate, making music, art, food and more.

For me, it’s about blending tradition with fresh, innovative ideas. For instance, collaborating with local artists for unique merchandise designs or incorporating fan feedback to create products they genuinely love. It’s amazing how a bit of creativity can strengthen the bond between a team and its supporters. Excited to see how others are bringing new life to their team branding!

Regularly but respectfully update your brand along with your research into trends. Stay abreast of what your customer is looking for but also look ahead to see what they’ll want in years to come. Test ideas through limited collaborations to see what lands. Nod to the past by regularly update branding to reflect key milestones or events and consider special-edition merchandise tied to anniversaries or historical moments to create urgency and exclusivity.

“Branding” is a commercial enterprise that requires: 1) Visibility and Recognition beginning with the audience before acceptance…the “audience” being who is the Consumer, and will they become a new “residual value” Customer (for themselves, children, Team)…Client (distributor, retail marketer, reseller)… Believer (User’s word of mouth, attraction by others with product(s)> socially in Public environments; competitions> Individual and Team… Quality of Product and Origin: 1) Domestic and/or International; 2) Return Philosophy: 1) defects or misrepresentation by PR or Retailer; 3) maintaining Quality Control Leadership Team Members, who are the eyes and ears of any Commercial endeavors… 4) Community Service commitment creates Trust & Value…

The ability to connect with life long fans that can share memories and emotions that they feel when supporting their team, collaborate that input with local artists, musicians, poets anyone who can embody a feeling or a branding that represents the community. Create an all inclusive brand that has Easter eggs of information or design for long time fans and new ones. Think of people looking for hidden mickeys at Disney or watching movies that connect shared universes in them. Make a brand that all can enjoy with little tidbits for the diehards to enjoy. It doesn’t take a lot to get people interested but it takes a lot to keep them coming back for more