March 24th, 2009 Rebranding the Detroit Lions
Anybody who grew up in Michigan or who follows the NFL is familiar with the logo above and all of the baggage attached to it. It’s the logo of the Detroit Lions, a once-proud franchise whose 2008–2009 season was the worst in NFL history. From the Ford family’s disastrous ownership to bad management decisions to bad luck, the Lions are in the midst of putting together the worst decade in the history of any NFL franchise.
You can’t fire the owners (unfortunately), but you can make a lot of other changes. Along with management changes (several of which weren’t really much of a change) and a lot of personnel changes, the Lions have decided to scrap the old-style Detroit Lions logo (above) and replace it with this:
Sorry for the small size, but it’s the best I could find. As you can see, the basic shape of the Lion is still the same, but they’ve added in some nice broad strokes to give the logo a little more motion. They’ve also sharpened up the Lion’s face, adding an eye and making the snarl more pronounced. It certainly looks a lot tougher and more menacing—now let’s wait to see if the team matches up to the logo.
Overall, I like the logo change. I’m pleased that even though this is a big change for them, the didn’t go too far. I’m glad they kept the Honolulu blue, as well. I know that some fans don’t like the blue very much and don’t think it’s a very tough-looking color, but it is one of the classic NFL logos. Keeping your traditions intact while giving your franchise a contemporary look is a good way to go about rebranding.
In addition to the logo, they have replaced the old, western-style “LIONS” logotype with this:
I don’t love it, but I don’t hate it. The old type was really, really dated and always looked out of place to me. This fits in with the new logo and it has a little more motion to it. It’s fine.
My only regret in this is that I didn’t write about it last week when I first saw a leaked version of the logo. It wasn’t the exact logo, but it was pretty close. Had I written about this then, it would be a little more timely. This is still pretty fresh news, but next time I won’t sit on the news for a week.
kwame March 24th, 2009 at 11:57 am
only think I don’t like about the new logo is that they have kept the black accents. They remind me too much of matt millen. New text is very World League, (bad)
Shawn March 24th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
I don’t mind the black outline in this instance. My guess is that the official logo will be just blue and white with the black outlined used when it’s on a darker background. I am glad they are getting rid of the black jerseys, that’s for sure, because you’re right–too much a reminder of Matt Millen.
I see what you mean about the wordmark…it’s not great. But I do think it’s better than the old wordmark, World League or not.
Thanks for the comment.
Brad March 24th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
Yeah, the logotype is going to be dated by yesterday. I do like the tweaks to the Lion though, a little more character is a good thing (especialy for the Lions…)
Shawn March 24th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
You’re right, but the old logotype was dated in the seventies. So I’ll take yesterday’s logotype versus yesteryear’s.
Brad March 24th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Until it is yesteryears and they come back around with the previous yesteryear as a “retro” throwback and be lauded as genius!
Shawn March 24th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
I was thinking about that earlier. How long will it be until they break the Old West “LIONS” back out? I hope it’s never, but I am sure they’ll do some Retro Day at Ford Field and that will be all over the turf. Don’t do it, Lions!