Sports Identity - There are no rules

We're often banging on about recall, awareness or mental availability.

The thinking is that, by being consistent and clear in the public presentation of your brand, you will occupy an easier-to-reach spot in the brains of your potential customers.

At the same time, we're also huge sports fans and fully-fledged obsessives when it comes to the colliding worlds of football and fashion. Take a look at this video from MUNDIAL to see us chipping-in on the topic.

It is here where the rule book seems to have gone out the window.

There are all sorts of permutations of how this comes to life so, for the sake of this piece, let's just focus on football kits.

We've seen manufacturers making use of their own heritage or sub-brand on third kits (think Nike/Jordan X PSG or the adidas trefoil logo on kits for the likes of Bayern Munich and Manchester United). This has been wildly popular as brands have discovered value in tapping into nostalgia.

At the same time we've seen clubs exploring their own identities with both futuristic brand development AND the celebration of some of their heritage IP. Think about the modern, simplified 'Prince Rupert's Tower' icon that Everton have been using or the use of the old 80's badge on this season's third kit from their city rivals, Liverpool.

This season, in fact, Liverpool are using a different crest on each of their three kits. Newcastle and Tottenham are worthy of note as well with their prominent use of heritage crests in the last season or two.

What we're left with is a plethora of icons and identities. Technically speaking, this flies in the face of the perceived wisdom of brand or marketing people.

The cynical view? Kit manufacturers and clubs will do whatever it takes to shift more product. The balanced opinion of this writer? Sometimes, rules are made to be broken. This is, perhaps, a unique sub-category in the brand playbook. One that isn't applicable to most BUT, one that only exists where there is a rich history to be tapped into. Something that actually chimes with the consumer.

Football fans are emotional, sentimental beings by their very nature. Therein lies an opportunity to explore opportunities, to make use of long-ignored resources and to be creative.

With our brand hats on, maybe we should have an issue with it but we don't. We're here for it. Long live the 'no rules' era.

Do you want to get creative with your brand? Let's talk.