Once again jonh nails it.

Just read on Sky something that makes a lot of sense and is probably a major part of this decision. It was Rads confirming it costs £3.20 to embroider a traditional crest on any garment due to the thread count, whereas this costs next to nothing. The training wear was pathetic last year with an ironed on crest on everything making it look less than amateur. This change should solve that at least but it won’t appease the fans.

I can live with the new badge and kit designs (even if they aren't what I would choose) as long as we keep signing players like French and Bateman to wear them.

John I’m with you with a lot of your comments however, the new design is amateurish in the the extreme and I’m genuinely amazed that IL gave his approval

Erased an iconic badge to save some money. Disgusting. Another cost cutting initiative that holds the fans in contempt.

Like I said I’m not particularly a fond of it but I totally understand it and support the decision, and it won’t weigh heavy on my mind when we are hopefully back in the stadium watching French and the rest of the team wearing it next year.

No matter what it was it was going to upset the traditionalists amongst us.

It looks like a great commercial move, a great marketing move and in truth probably pulls up in line with the rest of the league into the 21st Century and the progressive aspirations of us as a club and a sport.

The ability to produce more quality training and leisure ware for fans to buy is a boost in my opinion.

Some of the slating of IFL and his “cost cutting” really is laughable given the announcement relating to French.

It looks like a grumpy old hairy spider.

I heard about the cost argument months ago and to a degree I understand this but the design of the new badge could be a marketing disaster sonwe resolve one issue but replace it with a bigger one

I know for a fact that some fans were involved in this review and at least one advised the club that the new badge would be a disaster for most fans

Not sure which marketing agency we have used on the new badge but their designers must be paid peanuts. Pun intended.

I understand and to a degree accept the need for change but the new design for me is truly appalling

Do.you.really believe that any cost saving from the badge change will be passed onto.the customer???

Is the top and bottom of it. Change it if you must but get it right when you do.

The majority of the criticism is not the need for change but the actual output deemed to be suitable to drive increased merchandising sales

It looks like the majority of our supporters - miserable so and so's who just like whinging. I think that's why people don't like it - it's too close to home.

No but it greatly affects the profit margin.

Having just digested the details on the micro site, I'd sum my feelings up as extremely disappointed.

I'll lay my cards out on the table for this one;

1 - I work in Marketing. It's what I do every day, it's what my qualifications are in & I've got a real mix of B2C and "big brand experience" behind me.

2 - I know I'm going in at the club here and, tbh, that sits uncomfortably with me. I've been massively supportive (& still am) of IL, but with point #1 in mind, I can't stomach this at all.

3 - I'm not a traditionalist, or closed off to new ideas. I was supportive of the club and their efforts to get more corporate partners. I've got first hand experience dealing with Geoff Warburton and know how hard the club works to bring in new business. The criticism and vitriol aimed off the back London/Australia was wrong imo.

I can't however get onboard with this one.

If this was the final throw of a dice, after a period of really trying to engage with the fan base, I'd understand it (see point 3 above), but it isn't.

They talk about the change being done to engage with younger fans, but that's just BS. I can tell you with first hand experience, that it won't work. I'm of the age that the last badge update was kinda aimed at my age group - I don't know anyone who started watching the club because of it. I'm not sure how this new badge will be silver bullet to their problems now?

Have the club tried everything to engage with younger fans? Going on TikTok and posting generic/bland copycat video's doesn't cut it imo. There's loads more ideas I'd have hoped the club could have explored before taking such a big step. After that I'd have only liked the badge to be used for the kids they want to engage with. Kids are the future, but they've also ed off a massive % of the fan base that have years left.

On the whole I think our Marketing dept is dross & has been since Simon Collinson left. The very fact the video on the micro site they've created is buffering due to traffic is laughable. The new profile pic on FB is/was pixelated - it's amateur hour.

Sadly for the club this is looking like they've shot themselves in the foot. The engagement across all the social platforms is overwhelmingly negative. Granted some on here aren't too fussed & that's fine, but I'm yet to meet anyone that actually likes or wants this.

I commented that they’ve already confirmed themselves cost played a part. That’s not bagging then and is a fair enough argument.

A better design wouldn’t have been too much to ask for IMO, although if we end up with French, Bateman and Hastings in the team, I’d play with a picture of a steak pie stuck on our chest.

Exactly.
We may have missed an exciting opportunity with an infantile design
Will be interesting to see reactions from younger fans

Just seen it on Twitter. Truly awful. Sack whoever was involved in creating the monstrosity. Looks like a Widnes Vikings badge.

I don't like the badge, shirt looks ok.
However my little grandson will love it.

I don't buy the replica shirts for myself but buy polo shirts etc, so I'll be interested how they look. The badge won't stop me buying one if the look of the shirt is o.k.. It'll be interesting to see what the range of leisure wear looks like.

You can’t actually genuinely believe that changing the badge is going to boost attendances?

You’ve posted that like you’re giving some unique insight into the reasoning. The reason for changing the crest is blatantly obvious. It’s absolutely laughable and even more out of touch to think that that’s going to increase attendances and interest in the game/Wigan. Kids aren’t going to suddenly take an interest in Wigan because they changed their badge. The problems are much much deeper in the sport as a whole and in all honesty this type of thing is the lazy attempt to generate interest with younger generations thinking kids are really into logos.


Edit: that’s not a criticism of Wigan specifically but the game as a whole. It’s a dire set of events that this is as cutting edge as marketing in rugby league gets.

Unless I’ve grossly misunderstood the club have done this to boost attendances and interest from the younger fans? Really?

I read this after I posted, but this is exactly what I was getting at in my last post. It’s more a sign of how out of touch some of the marketing teams are in the sport they think this is a genuinely good way to attract new fans.

We should desperately trying to get the likes of Amazon or Netflix on board to do a well produced behind the scenes documentary. Rugby league is so far behind the times with these things most of the time the boat has been completely missed by the time the clubs get up to date with current trends.

My grandson loves the new shirt. If we could have used white instead of black the new shirt for me would be great

I believe the new leisure wear looks really good

The badge clearly won’t suddenly get kids charging through the turnstiles.

What it gives is the ability to build a marketing campaign around it, it will be more recognisable to new fans as part of product placement.

It will allow the club to produce a better range of clothing which will be more accessible to fans.

It’s all part of a jigsaw. This isn’t, or I hope it isn’t the extent of the journey the club will be going on with the rebrand.

Time will tell.

Like I said it isn’t for me but I’m not the demographic it is aimed at.

I don't think the marketing department are that thick that they don't know about Amazon or Netflix. Seriously doubt they would be interested in spending money on a well produced documentary about a relatively small sports club. We aren't the Chicago Bulls or Man City.

Where are the stars for our WCC wins? Serious, genuine question.