NEW YORK — The WNBA’s emblem is getting a brand new look and the league is resetting its model for the upcoming season.
The league unveiled its plans Monday, intent on embracing the optimism of the ladies throughout the WNBA in constructing the following era of followers.
“We are excited about all of it,” WNBA chief working officer Christy Hedgpeth stated by cellphone final week. “It begins with our objective, which is to increase our viewers and develop at a quicker fee.
“We imagine we’ll try this by turning into increasingly more culturally related over time. It led us to a brand new goal shopper, new design goal that’s a lot, a lot youthful — the 16-to-34 millennials, who’re very numerous, very socially aware, engaged in problems with at present.”
The WNBA’s 23rd season begins May 24, with the Seattle Storm the defending champion.
The league partnered with Sylvain Labs, an innovation and model design consultancy final 12 months, to study extra about its current followers and potential new followers. They developed a long-term development technique and establish new advertising alternatives.
“We’ve engaged very, very closely throughout this process,” Hedgpeth stated. “Six months working with Sylvain Labs to develop what the new brand will stand for.”
The two teams, together with participant enter, got here up with the league’s new emblem.
“They took the silhouette out of the box which is a massive breakthrough as she was perceived totally different,” Hedgpeth stated. “She was free, there was more movement there, taking up more space. She’s more athletic, longer physique. This is basketball on our terms. That was a phrase that really resonated with the players. That’s really symbolic in that regard.”
The new emblem is totally different from others affiliated with the NBA.
“The NBA logo, there’s a rectangle around him, he’s in a box. Same with the G-League logo and the previous W-logo. She had a box around her,” Hedgpeth stated. “The box is going away. It’s powerful, it’s freeing and it’s expansive.”
It’s the primary time the league could have a brand new emblem since 2013. While the brand new emblem gained’t be on the uniforms or balls till subsequent 12 months due to the dearth of manufacturing time wanted to do it, it is going to be all over the place else across the league.
Hedgpeth insisted that the emblem wasn’t modeled after one participant and that the hair was an enormous a part of the dialog. The emblem has a bun which represents the best way many gamers put on their hair.
The league additionally has a brand new marquee companion in AT&T.
“They are a perfect fit,” Hedgpeth stated. “They have such a great fit to diversity and inclusion and accurately portraying women in advertising.”