Australian Rugby Union rebrands to Rugby AU as it attempts to become a game for everyone
Australian Rugby Union has rebranded to Rugby Australia or Rugby AU with the help of creative communications agency Digilante.
The new branding is part of an organisational change aimed at marketing Rugby as a game for everyone which is “relevant, inclusive and accessible”.
Australian Rugby’s old branding
Eric O’Brien, executive creative director at Digilante, said the rebrand had to reflect an organisational change that goes beyond a “corporate face lift”.
“Reinventing such an iconic, long-standing organisation required a lot of listening and understanding to confidently propose a new identity that fans, stakeholders and participants alike would connect with.
Rugby Australia’s new branding
“Digilante used the rebrand as an opportunity to restart a positive conversation around Rugby and what it has to offer to individuals, teams and communities,” O’Brien said in a statement.
Explaining the new branding the ECD said Rugby AU represents both girls and boys, men and women and all of the elite national teams including the Wallabies.
“At its heart, we wanted to create a future-focused identity, one that embraces diversity and enables Rugby to deliver on its objectives in appealing to future participants. Ultimately, it is about celebrating the human qualities of Australia’s great global game by showing Rugby in a new light,” O’Brien continued.
In early 2018 a television campaign will be released to promote the new branding alongside a new website and digital media strategy.
Bill Pulver, CEO of Rugby Australia, said: “We are thrilled with our brand evolution that will be revealed over time. Our new identity embodies Rugby’s shared vision to ‘inspire all Australians to enjoy our great global game’ and is the first step in our broader strategy to re-define Rugby for future growth, with a message to all Australians that if they are part of Rugby, they are part of much more than a game.”
Abigail Dawson was Mumbrella's senior content journalist covering event content. She left Mumbrella to move into an agency role in 2020.
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Tell me there’s more to the rebranding than just text on a colour background!!
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a perfect example of rearranging the deckchairs as the Titanic sinks into the North Atlantic
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Looks like a sanitary towel logo.
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Woeful. Nothing Australian or ‘rugby’ about it. Someone phoned this effort in.
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Is that julep green? For some reason this logo reminds me of 1970’s aviation, irresponsible gambling and cheap breath mints all at once. So if that’s what they were going for then it’s perfect.
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You can’t polish a turd, but they are sure as hell trying. I guess the ARU thinks its easier than actually fixing the mess that their organisation is in.
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They didn’t even bother to polish this particular turd, just rolled it in a little glitter
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The quicker the Rugby Australia CEO & Board are replaced the better…
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The overall feeling is that of looking at a couple of toilet seats.
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The last match I attended had an expensive entry ticket, expensive mid range beer, no cover from the rain and it was a lousy game. wrote to the ARU and they agreed. That was 4 years ago. Never again.
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lol
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Which problem does this fix?
The current branding is very recognisable and admired.
The real issue is that Super Rugby fans and revenues are dwindling.
If Rugby Australia wants ‘an opportunity to restart a positive conversation around Rugby’ they need to find a way out of the SANZAAR mess and play in our timezone.
This would mean South African provincial teams play their international games in Europe, and Argentina plays against other American countries.
Our roster should include Asian and Pacific teams.
The old logo was fine: if anything should be changed, it’s those who thought it wasn’t.
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Me brand please!
I wonder how much of the $33 paid by each of my clubs players went to paying for this. Instead of concentrating on what your brand looks like maybe you might like to spend some time helping grass roots rugby at club level.
I not talking about Shute shield clubs either. About time that someone with a bit of vision had a look at the support structures for struggling clubs in the south west of Sydney and country rugby.
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