The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) has rebranded to take advantage of Canada’s collective admiration for the Olympics and its Canadian athletes.
The rebrand was an effort to refresh the look of the COC, a not-for-profit supporter of the amateur high-performance sport community in Canada. Dennis Kim, executive director, brand marketing at the COC, said with the Olympic movement in Canada at an all-time high, “we wanted to build on that momentum.”
A microsite with a video telling the brand’s story goes live today. A new COC site featuring its refreshed look will launch later this fall. The COC’s corporate partners will also build the updated elements into their programming and advertising as the London 2012 Olympics get closer.
The most fundamental shift from a brand strategy standpoint is getting consumers to see the COC as the Canadian Olympic Team more so than the Committee itself, which represents the professionals in the office or board members. “Canadians really care most about the athletes and the Canadian Olympic Team,” said Kim.
Indeed, the new team mark (pictured) is the focus of COC’s rebrand. It features a maple leaf, a version of which has been used on the team’s Olympic uniforms since 1908 – roughly 60 years before it became the single icon on Canada’s flag. The updated mark will be featured on the Canadian Olympic Team uniforms for London 2012.
The emphasis on the Canadian Olympic Team extends to the redesigned partner marks, which are used by official supporters, suppliers and national partners. It was important to convey to the public that sponsors are backing the team, which Kim said differs from backing other sports properties. “People understand that this is helping amateur sport and these athletes as opposed to pro sports or that type of thing.”
The COC’s rebrand also incorporates a lot of photography of Canadian Olympians such as Joannie Rochette and Donovan Bailey in what have become iconic Canadian moments. “The best asset we have is the athletes, the faces,” says Kim. The images will be used in everything from COC videos leading up to London 2012 to banners.
The committee has also changed its typeface. To reflect the athletic look of the big block typography used in the 1930s on Canadian Olympic athletes’ uniforms, Kim said the COC has now gravitated toward a typeface called Stratum 1.
It replaces Charlotte Sans, a font Kim said served its purpose, but wasn’t sporty enough. “That’s more of a corporate font… With the new font, you could almost say it would work for Nike because it’s got an athletic feel to it.”
And along with the Canadian Olympic Team mark, the COC also redesigned its own logo. Kim said the new simpler version is a “clean-up” of the previous one. The gradient flame, which Kim said was “too 90s,” is gone.
A secondary graphic of the COC’s rebrand, the ‘Mosaic Maple Leaf’ (pictured) will be used to complement the other refreshed marks. Kim says the mosaic concept was influenced by Canadian art and Canadian quilting.
The rebranding project took more than four months. The main designer was Vancouver-based Ben Hulse.
Kim will also be the opening speaker at Marketing‘s full-day Sports Marketing Conference in Toronto, Tuesday. Aside from introducing the new design, Kim will discuss ways the COC is working with corporate partners to optimize sponsorships of Canada’s Olympians. Click here to see the full agenda.
