Rebel rebrands with Hulsbosch
New logo
Hulsbosch has created a new brand identity for Rebel Sport which includes logo, in store design and staff uniforms.
The rebrand sees the word Sport dropped from Rebel’s title. The new logo also sees the second e reversed. According to Hulsbosch: “The flipped ‘e’ intends to communicate healthy competition either against another person and/or oneself to promote the idea of personal best.”
Rebel is aiming to increase its market share of sports enthusiasts and to grow the number of female customers.
The old logo
Jaid Hulsbosch, director at Hulsbosch said: “As an established 27 year old business it was important to identify the values of the Rebel brand and the core assets inherent in its graphic identity. With this understanding, we worked on the idea of being the best you can and applied this as a brand attribute that carried meaning and relevance through to its customer base.”
Video explaining the Rebel rebrand process:
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What the hell is this? Why fix something that’s not broken? And seriously, that explanation of the “meaning” of the flipped E is the most ridiculous thing I have read since visiting the art gallery and reading an abstract artist’s interpretation of their work. How can a backwards E (not exactly the most original concept of design) possibly make people think about “healthy competition either against another person and/or oneself to promote the idea of personal best”. Fark.
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Breathtaking work! I wonder if that reversed ‘e’ is going to trigger a sales surge?
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Could have just removed ‘Sport’ from the old logo, and it actually would have looked quite contemporary.
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I have to say more. The flipped E communicates to me a few things, none of which have any relationship to its intended meaning. 1. Whoever designed it was lacking creativity on the day they were told to do the job 2. Rebel has now become a shop for children 3. With that last L also possibly flipped (so hard to tell with those newfangled lower case fonts), what’s to say that the B hasn’t also been flipped, but in another direction? And maybe then the genius then flipped the whole brand, so now it’s actually LEPER. That’s what I see when I look at it with the flipped E. Maybe that’s just me.
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Award winning stuff
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The reversed e makes me think of the doofus in school that couldn’t tell which way the letters were supposed to face. At times it looks like a mirror image that I’m supposed to read backwards.
Don’t like the change from a stronger logo to a weaker, blander one.
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Brilliant! Simple smart and contemporary. From an unbiased (and unrelated) observer from across the ditch.
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The rebranded store looks like Dick Smith.
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Spend less money on rebranding and pass the saving onto customers perhaps..
Until then many will keep buying reasonably priced sports gear from overseas.
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Oh, my.
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Nice way to graphically express competition by facing off the 2 e’s… I reckon it’s bold and uncomplicated…
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the whole ‘dont spend on branding and pass savings onto customers’ argument is naive
It’s a business not a NFP.
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They simplified the type and made it harder to read.
Looks like a classic amateur design mistake to me.
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I buy shed loads of sports wear / gear.
I don’t go to Rebel – just way tooooooo expensive. USA / UK I get a great saving online, even if I were to pay GST too I would still save.
What I find pretty crazy is how Amart (owned by Rebel) sells some of the same gear cheaper than Rebel does?
Rebel should focus on price and service (perhaps this will come next..?) I remember the last time I went to a store and had to wait ages to get some runners to try on – that was it – never again, can’t be ar5ed.
Nice logo all the same – it looks fresher and more dynamic. I think it fits in the sports arena – it is slick, fast and powerful. nice job!
Good luck Rebel, I have a feeling you are going to need it with this high Aussie dollar and cheap online prices for the same gear you sell, easily purchasable from overseas. You have simply got to be stupid to shop in Rebel, when you can buy the same gear online and save yourself hundreds!!!!!
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Not ground breaking, but does the job well.
Looks clean, fresh and contemporary.
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Hulsbosch had a good track record of doing great design.
Until now.
To call this design would be an insult to even the least thought-out clip art kid’s party invitation. It’s quite disheartening from both the design agency (for serving this up) and the client (for swallowing it). The industry, clients and public deserve better.
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Typography in retail brand design at the moment is the ‘in thing’.
This will be held up as example of a ‘solid failure’ and is also not doing design company’s any favours with proving there value to clients, poor form.
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How do you type it? Are Hulsbosch the only ones who have a backwards ‘e’ on their keyboard?? Each time I type it is still reflects the old logo?
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Is the lower-case L also flipped?
I am confused…
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rebelsport.com.au is still active to the chain, so If they’ve dropped the sport, then what web address are they going to use, as rebel.com and rebel.com.au are taken?
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“It’s a business not a NFP.”
Thanks for that insight.
Basically I fail to see how this rebrand will achieve a return on investment for Rebel Sport. I think there are many other areas they could have addressed before changing their already established brand.
It’s a bandaid solution. Maybe they could’ve thrown more dollars at e-retail for example.
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I wonder if the flipped R in Toys R Us means the same thing?
If they turned the semi-circle gaps in the lowercase e’s into stars they might as well kids’ toys as well.
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I love the concept. It gets people talking about an otherwise stale brand so why not?
i was also served by a young gent “Tim” in their Macquarie Centre store recently and the new uniform fitted him perfectly. He looked very much the Reb3l!
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If you stare at it for more than three seconds it makes you feel cross-eyed.
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I think the backwards “e” personifies solidarity, egalitarianism and post-modernity; which is more than relevant in a contemporary context. I also think it’s pretty and should appeal to the wider audience because it looks friendly and stuff. Hulsbosch are also clearly Korn fans.
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I’m confused , how do I now pronounce this new letter ? is this from France ? Why is rebel trying to be French?
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yawn
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That copy of Final Cut Express has now paid for itself….naaart.
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In context, I think this is a good rebrand and don’t understand the hate for it here.
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Adidas Copa Mundials football boots:
Rebel:
$220Aus
Order online from the UK and ship to Aus inc shipping:
$140Aus
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I hope they charged them at least $100,000 for it.
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Bad move on a branding perspective. The execution and extension of the new ‘logo’ is fine and dandy, however, I personally feel the new brand logo does not personify the core values of what Rebel Sport is… To what that is, lies within its customers.
Design is one thing. Function is another. Was there a need to change the logo? Or was it merely a tactful decision made by new influencers?
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very clever keeps people talking
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keeps people talking well done
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Keeps nelly talking, well done
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Wonder how much that ‘huge project’ cost?
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