The Juventus F.C. Rebrand — The Most Controversial Rebrand in History?

La Vecchia Signora. I Bianconeri. La Fidanzata d’Italia.

This club goes by many names. You may know it as Juventus Football Club.

Founded in 1897, Juventus (Juve) is an historic football club based in the city of Turin, Italy. Juventus are the most successful team in the history of Italian football; boasting 36 official league titles, two European Cups, and 13 Coppa Italia titles to name a few. In the 123 years since a group of students started Sport-Club Juventus, the club has played a significant role in both the highs and the lows of Italian football.

Juventus is a club with a rich history, famous for being the home to some of the game’s most legendary players over multiple generations. One of the club’s (many) nicknames; I Bianconeri, means “The Black and Whites”, and speaks to the iconic colour dyad that is synonymous with Juventus. The elegant monotone colourway pervades all aspects of the Italian club’s identity, but, the famous black & white stripes did not originate in Turin.

Fun fact: The black and white striped kit was adopted in the early 1900s after the team back then needed to replace some old and faded pink shirts — an English player on the team was asked to arrange some replacement shirts and what arrived were Notts County F.C. replicas! The team had no choice but to wear the black & white striped kit, and the rest, as they say…

Juventus kits through the ages.

Brand Identity

In our last article we touched on the importance of harnessing brand equity in design. Respecting the history and tradition of an organisation, a company, a football club — a brand — is incredibly important when engaging in any sort of redesign work. This is especially important to consider with football clubs, as supporters identities are wrapped up in both the history and current performance of the club.

A timeline of Juventus crests.

The Juventus rebrand represents a very different style of execution to the Rangers F.C. brand identity update that we discussed in last week’s post, by See Saw Creative and Craig Black. The approach and execution of the Juventus work is certainly bold. Not only is it bold, but it is also highly controversial. Controversy however, isn’t always a bad thing. And the designers at Interbrand responsible for this project have seen their work in the limelight for a number of years now — picking up several high-profile awards along the away.

Interbrand’s rejuvenation of the Juventus brand has sparked a lot of debate and divided football fans around the world. Below, we unpack the good and the bad through a design and brand lens. Also, since we introduced the topic of brand equity, we see this is a great opportunity to further this discussion and give another perspective on maintaining versus reinventing equity in a brand.

Forza

It would be easy to cover the 2017 Juventus rebrand from a fan’s perspective. We might bring up some different points of view that are not necessarily related to the design itself, but more related to the value of the club, what the club means to each and every fan, its history, and its legacy. This would be a backward-looking approach. It would bias us to discuss the Juventus brand by placing a historical lens on the club. While it is important to note that the fans are the ones on the receiving end of a rebrand, since they are the ones that engage, invest, and support the team with religious fanaticism — focusing the discussion here would not be telling the whole story.

[RJM]: I will say that I am not sure how I would feel if my beloved Hamilton Academical Football Club started from scratch again with its identity. Any change would have to be spot on, with each and every inch of the new identity being perfect. This feeling is probably one that many Juventus fans had when they found out that a rebrand of their club was going to take place. As we mentioned above, the Juventus rebrand was met with mixed reviews, and many fans had a word (or two) to say about the new look of the club.

Projecting a Rich History into the Future

As we mentioned last week, there are a few divergent approaches possible when rebranding a football club. The approach taken by See Saw Creative and Craig Black, of cleverly taking parts of the old crest & brand and delicately retouching the elements to amplify them to new and improved heights, is one way. Another approach is to defy everyone’s expectations of what it means to brand a football club. The latter approach is the one chosen by Interbrand for Juventus.

Beginning with a black canvas and projecting out 50 years into the future, Interbrand reimagined the next generation of Juventus football club. “We built the Juventus brand based on our vision of football’s future, not our observation of its past” said Silvio Vigato, Head of Brand and Co-Chief Revenue Officer of Juventus. What emerged was far more than three simple black & white lines. “The brand is the meeting point between passion and business, it is a growth catalyst with a particularly complex management, especially for a sports team: football is the only category in which loyalty is never questioned. Performance can be negative, players can change but the brand, as a synthesis of values, remains unchanged” — Manfredi Ricca, Chief Strategy Officer EMEA & LatAm of Interbrand. When Ricca says that the brand remains unchanged, he is referring to the Juventus brand as a complete entity. As we know, a brand is more than just a logo, and is on the line every time someone interacts with a company (or in this case, club).

The Juventus crest, before and after.

The Oval Crest: Juventus Brand Before

The Juventus rebrand came at a good time. The previous logo, designed in 2004, while rich in historical significance, was showing signs of age and was in need of an update. From a design perspective, there wasn’t a whole lot about the old crest to get excited about. The shape of the crest, and its outline that gets thicker at the top and bottom, causes it to look slightly out of proportion, as if it has been vertically stretched. Moreover, the negative stroke that surrounds the stripes makes the crest feel unbalanced and top heavy.

One aspect that stands out and remains true to the Juventus brand is of course the famous black and white stripes. They define and frame the crest very well, and provide the historical continuity that the fans love. We also see the silhouette of the bull with the crown above — an element that has changed many times over the years and was once a Rampant Zebra. The combination of the bull with the golden arch detracts from the visual congruence of the crest which lessens its impact on the eye.

As for the typography in the logo, although the text is very bold and readable, the warped effect across the arch causes some of the characters to look askew. Our opinion is that even refreshing the typography in this existing crest would have gone a long way toward improving the overall look of the logo.

It appears that the 2004 rebrand was done with brand equity in mind. As you can see from the crest timeline, many of the previous Juventus crests followed a consistent style with their visual execution. The oval crest, stripes, zebra (then bull), and colour scheme are persistent, recurring elements that were expressed in the crest over the years. The most valuable element of Juventus’ brand equity is the black and white stripes — so much so that they have a nickname for it. But the bull at the bottom of the crest, and some of the other elements were not necessarily as embedded in the history of the club. It is important to remember that this logo was developed back in 2004, and there have been a lot of changes in what we can do as designers since then. However, the leadership at the club clearly recognised that it was time for change, and a reinvention of the prestigious brand Juventus had to take place.

From A Crest to a Letter

The new Juventus rebrand is probably one of the most controversial releases in recent history. It is an understatement to say that there were a lot of unhappy football fans when the new identity was unveiled. Negative press poured in from media outlets and fans around the world, and the club’s leadership came under fire for allowing this to happen. Unpopular opinion alert: From a design point of view… this new identity is a thing of beauty. From the craft of the logo to the execution of the entire brand architecture, it not only gives the club a facelift, but reinvents Juventus as a brand.

Firstly, the new logo is certainly iconic. It is bold and makes a statement. It cleverly incorporates three main elements. Firstly, the Escudo, meaning shield in English. Secondly, the barras negras y blancas, meaning the black and white stripes, and last but not least the Letra “J”, which is pretty self explanatory. All these elements come together to create a truly unique mark. Although some may argue that this is a stretch, and the logo construction is an easy way of selling the new design, we would disagree and argue that a lot of skill and craft has gone into creating the new mark.

We don’t have anything bad to say about the design of the new identity. It is modern, bold, simple, and hugely effective. It is also worth mentioning that although the logo is bold, it is also extremely flexible and works brilliantly alongside a range of new brand experiences — including the stadium branding and across a variety of digital applications — all of which are crucial to modern football clubs.

By maintaining Juventus’s trademark black and white stripes within the identity, the new logo continues to carry equity despite being a totally new look. This simple design thrives from straight lines and sharp edges, giving it a fierce look that should excite the Juventus fans and players alike.

Secondly, the custom typeface — named Juventus Fans, that supports the Juventus mark is beautifully executed. It works well across a number of weights and even has an interesting inlined style. The hero of the new typeface however, is the execution of the numbering. Each numeral has been crafted with a tight attention to detail, and every number has its own personality while the whole family is held together by a common thread.

Custom typeface: Juventus Fans (Left). The new brand brought to life (Centre). Juventus merchandise. Fashion, or football? (Right)

[RJM]: I will also add that this typeface really comes to life when seeing it in different applications. From print, to digital, it all looks bold and makes a strong statement. My one small criticism would be to say that the stretched type style in the family may not be necessary. I think the other styles already do an excellent job.

Fashion or Football?

Now that we have expressed how we feel about the new Juventus from a design point of view, we want to raise a couple of thoughts regarding the project as a whole. Like we have already discussed above, a lot of football fans were unhappy with the shift from classic crest to futuristic logo. The rebrand represents a shattering of expectations. Some media commentators have suggested that it changes Juventus from a football club to a premium lifestyle brand. From our interpretation, Interbrand remained uncompromised when it came to their execution. By doing so they were able to create an identity that can accompany the club into the next 150 years. But, the big question is, did this rebrand go too far? It certainly goes contrary to the norms of what we expect to see as football fans, both within the logo itself and also extending to other parts of the identity. We will leave the answer for that question up for debate — our thinking is that the new identity is bold, controversial, well-crafted, and innovative — and we respect that.

Extra Time: Something to Think About

Is it better to start again or maintain the things that are rooted in history?

Both approached have pros and cons. We discussed Rangers last week. This week it is Juventus. Both underwent rebrands, but in very different ways. The strength of the Juventus brand made it possible for Interbrand to completely change the face of the club. While we certainly appreciate the rebrand from a design perspective, and we respect the boldness of the change, we recognise that fans were unhappy for a reason. Interbrand took a risk with this new direction, but did they take the history of Juventus into enough consideration? We would love to hear your thoughts!

Check out the entire Interbrand case study here.

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