Discussion Do Port need to rebrand?

[Silent Alarm]

On the main board, there's a discussion about Port's questionable marketability.

In their AFL existence, the Power have won a Premiership, competed in finals, and been far from a laughing stock. In the past two or so seasons, they've been in the unenviable position of being woeful on-field, and worrying off it. Whether it's jokes on the AFL Memes page or the bay covers at AAMI, Port are not a fashionable club.

In their decade-and-a-half, they have failed to fully establish themselves. In Western Australia, the Eagles are the dominant club. They have more Premierships and a membership waiting list. However, the Dockers, despite their underwhelming performances, are a financially sound. Memebership sits over 30,000 consistently. The club, even in their darkest days, still attracted sponsorship. By the time the new stadium is running, Freo could realistically have a few more finals appearances and almost 50,000 fans.

This is not a self-congratulatory wankfest. WA's footy landscape is the closest to SA's. That is why I'm using West Coast and Fremantle in comparison to the Crows and Power.

So...

How do you think a second Adelaide team should've looked in the mid 90s? What colourway should they have adopted? Should it have been a Port Adelaide 'project?'

Or, what do you think is next for the Power? Should they become the Adelaide Power? Port Adelaide FC? Or is a new badge something you want to throw around?

Basically, let's have some suggestions for jumpers, logos, names, etc.

This is not for the AFL Commission board, though I was going to chuck it there. This is for design and serious discussion. I think topics about a club's identity belong in here.

 

[El_Scorcho]

The Dockers are financially sound because of the mining boom. Remember how the Dockers were looking ~10-12 years ago before that hit. The clean stadium deal you guys get means it really is a different kettle a fish to what we have to put up with over here.

Port Adelaide makes enough money for everyone else that we're not really in any trouble. The "bailouts" that the SANFL "give" us are just them returning a small part of the massive contribution we make to football in South Australia. Don't let the media or Crows fans fool you.

Moving away from the Port Adelaide name now would be absolutely ridiculous if you think about it for more than 5 seconds.

Who is supporting this new club?

Certainly not Port supporters, who I can assure you will actively campaign for other Port supporters to boycott a franchise club that replaces us.

You might get a small amount of Crows supporters moving over who can't get tickets, but you're kidding yourself if you think moving away from Port Adelaide will suddenly grant you 30,000 die hards who go week in week out.

Again, we are just fine when we're going well on field, and even when we're not, we line the SANFL coffers regardless. The SANFL know this, the AFL know this, and we're never in any real danger. If Port dies, several SANFL clubs go with them or learn to stand on their own two feet after a decade and a half of milking a cash cow.

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AS FOR YOUR THIS TOPIC AND IT'S INTEREST TO THE FGD BOARD

It's obvious we made some branding mistakes in the mid 90s.

It's been heavily discussed in the past, and IMO we should have gone without a nickname. Obviously we couldn't use Magpies or the black and white prison bar design due to AFL rules, but we went too far away from our core and supporters didn't quite get it.

My branding would have centered around this:

Instead of adding a colour, removing a colour.

Brand ourselves as the PAFC, Port Adelaide, and let nicknames form naturally.

 

[El_Scorcho]

However our branding now is pretty solid. We have one of the better guernsey sets in the league, and our branding is pretty solid and consistent.

Our issues are onfield, not branding related.

Our logo could possibly use an update, but as i've posted before, despite everyone saying we should have a new logo, i've never seen anything posted that even approaches our current one.

 

[jethro11]

See my designs in the Create an AFL Guernsey thread for my perfect Port jumper set.

I think the Power name was a mistake. IMO they should of kept it Port Adelaide Football Club, and use Port as the official nickname.

 

[Gibbsy]

I can't think of anything longwinded to say right now, but I will quip that teal is a great fit with Port Adelaide in my opinion - simply because as they were inducted into the AFL in 1997, teal was one of those very "90s" colours that was prominent in sports graphic design (NBA, MLS, even cricket etc).

They needed something unique and the colour teal provided that. I appreciate that an effort was made in 2010 to return to the teal to its original colour rather than the sky blue that it was becoming by the end of 2009.

 

[Broken]

However our branding now is pretty solid. We have one of the better guernsey sets in the league, and our branding is pretty solid and consistent.

Our issues are onfield, not branding related.

Our logo could possibly use an update, but as i've posted before, despite everyone saying we should have a new logo, i've never seen anything posted that even approaches our current one.

I agree with the bolded statement. The jumper design they have now is quite simple but very effective especially compared to ones Port have used in the past and compared to the newer jumpers designed since then.

 

[Greater Gattsby]

I just whipped up a new logo for Port Adelaide, a concept where they shall be known as the "storm" (thunder works too).

 

[E92_]

Memebership sits over 30,000 consistently. The club, even in their darkest days, still attracted sponsorship. By the time the new stadium is running, Freo could realistically have a few more finals appearances and almost 50,000 fans.

Agree with others that they probably should of just came in as Port Adelaide. Their logo could use an update but their current jumper set is great.

 

[Omegaville]

Port Adelaide's branding is fine.
When it came in, its main aim was to avoid the mistakes of the Dockers (weird colours, weird name etc), and it achieved that. To paraphrase Kevin Sheedy, Power gives the sense of "feeling powerful".

What hurt Port's branding at first:
- Slash-marked jumper
- Black tail-feather jumper
- Being unable to use that picket fence jumper
- Confusion of name - were they "Port Adelaide Power" or "Port Power"?

Watching the Power in their first 8 years, in my view, it was seeing a team break free of any stereotypes their old Magpies identity had, and forge their own new identity in a new league. I don't think this was to their detriment, and the premiership capped off their arrival. Given the very few draft concessions they got compared to Fremantle, GC and GWS, their record is terrific.

What does this mean for this discussion?
It means there's overreaction to what's happened this week. The team lost to GWS, their coach was dumped, the president has quit, and it's all panic stations. If the team needs to rebrand because of that, then THAT IS ABSOLUTE RUBBISH. Write off this year, come out next year as a new unit.

Here's an opportunity for Port: see if Gold Coast is interested in trading a top draft pick for a seasoned player. Guy McKenna's said they have too many youngsters in the team and they need "real men". They'll have top pick... they might be willing to trade it.

 

[Silent Alarm]

Watching the Power in their first 8 years, in my view, it was seeing a team break free of any stereotypes their old Magpies identity had, and forge their own new identity in a new league. I don't think this was to their detriment, and the premiership capped off their arrival. Given the very few draft concessions they got compared to Fremantle, GC and GWS, their record is terrific.

Pretty sure West Coast and Adelaide got the better draft concessions. Freo's deal was nothing special.

 

[Stewies Power]

My branding would have centered around this:

Instead of adding a colour, removing a colour.

Brand ourselves as the PAFC, Port Adelaide, and let nicknames form naturally.

That looks pretty cool, good job

 

[cannavo]

Their current jumpers suggest they have no power
Smeagle made this in 09, I reckon it suits Port today

 

[Greater Gattsby]

Another attempt:

 

[Michaelwebo]

gee.. sorry if my post was THAT much of a disturbance...

 

[LadyPants]

Instead of adding a colour, removing a colour.

Brand ourselves as the PAFC, Port Adelaide, and let nicknames form naturally.

That actually looks great but obviously Eddie would have an issue with it.

 

[Mero]

Port Power or Port Adelaide Power always sounds like a utility company to me.
Like they would come around and check your gas usage then send you a bill in the mail.

Their colours are fine, especially since they reverted back to wearing footy jumpers, instead of the SBS logo on their jumpers.

 

[chiwigi]

Port Power or Port Adelaide Power always sounds like a utility company to me.
Like they would come around and check your gas usage then send you a bill in the mail.

Their colours are fine, especially since they reverted back to wearing footy jumpers, instead of the SBS logo on their jumpers.

We should just be Port Adelaide, a non noun nickname ironically sounds weak.
As we have just changed the jumper another change would be too much, though a variation of the PB's would be great with silver replacing the white.

Change the bloody song too!

 

[justlookingaround]

Could they afford to rebrand?...

 

[Omegaville]

Port Power or Port Adelaide Power always sounds like a utility company to me.
Like they would come around and check your gas usage then send you a bill in the mail.

We should just be Port Adelaide, a non noun nickname ironically sounds weak.

Power is a noun. It's an abstract noun: a thing which you can't see or hold.
They're always tricky as team nicknames but they catch on:

Melbourne Storm
Melbourne Victory
Melbourne Heart
New Orleans/Utah Jazz
Miami Heat
Colorado Avalanche
Canterbury Tactix
Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic
Orlando Magic
SE Melbourne Magic
Western Force
etc.

To be honest, I don't think Power is so undefinable. It's on the same level as Blues.

 

[chiwigi]

Power is a noun. It's an abstract noun: a thing which you can't see or hold.
They're always tricky as team nicknames but they catch on:

Melbourne Storm
Melbourne Victory
Melbourne Heart
New Orleans/Utah Jazz
Miami Heat
Colorado Avalanche
Canterbury Tactix
Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic
Orlando Magic
SE Melbourne Magic
Western Force
etc.

To be honest, I don't think Power is so undefinable. It's on the same level as Blues.

Not a noun, it's usage in the team name only makes it so.

You have also listed some of the worst names in world sport. They sound pathetic.

 

[Mr Eagle]

'Port Adelaide' was the mistake, in my opinion. Not enough appeal to the wider SA market, too much baggage in terms of its existing image. But having made it, there's no way they are going to unmake it.

The colours are fine, although I'm not sure they've ever really exploited teal to its full extent (cf Fremantle and purple, but then we come back to 'PA' being a mistake).

The jumper is now fine, although it was a mess for many years (their early tri-panel and 'jagged shoulder' efforts I didn't mind).

Power is... well, it's meh, to be honest. It's not a lot of fun to play with, but it at least has some inherent properties of strength and energy about it.

 

[Sam_23]

'Port Adelaide' was the mistake, in my opinion. Not enough appeal to the wider SA market, too much baggage in terms of its existing image. But having made it, there's no way they are going to unmake it.

That would be one of the dumbest mistakes in the history of AFL football.

First of all, the Crows were Adelaide, the Pride of SA, the team for all South Australians, and were pulling huge crowds as a result, being Port Adelaide ensured all Magpies supporters over the age of 6 (which was a lot more then they'd get by being another state team) supported them.

Second of all, how could that "baggage" of their existing image you speak of, their existing image was one of a dominant football club with loads of success and one that, no matter what, would never give in, and were always expected to win, and anything less was simply not good enough. The mistake was allowing that to slowly disappear.

 

[COHL]

Is there anybody that says the word "Power" when mentioning Port Adelaide in a sentence? I don't. I just say Port.

 

[Mr Eagle]

First of all, the Crows were Adelaide, the Pride of SA, the team for all South Australians, and were pulling huge crowds as a result, being Port Adelaide ensured all Magpies supporters over the age of 6 (which was a lot more then they'd get by being another state team) supported them.

So why be an existing state team? 'Fremantle' found a good balance between appealing to heritage (EF and SF) and having a broad enough brand that could appeal to newcomers.

Second of all, how could that "baggage" of their existing image you speak of, their existing image was one of a dominant football club with loads of success and one that, no matter what, would never give in, and were always expected to win, and anything less was simply not good enough. The mistake was allowing that to slowly disappear.

A dominant, successful club... that was largely hated by non-Port fans, even in its new form. Not attractive.

 

[Sam_23]

Football isn't always about being attractive to fans, yes, everyone hates them, so what you're saying is by changing their name from Port to Southern, or Adelaide, would instantly change the way people view them?