Following on from the 06/7 campaign, we designed a new visual language for the 07/8 seasons. Some elements were evolutions of the previous identity – ie. the logo and photography brief. But with the graphics we decided on a more confrontational approach. Scratched and painted type and graphics produced a more aggressive message. While the competition continued in it’s corporate clinical technology aesthetic we wanted Reebok to stand out as the credible urban football brand.
Painted & Scratched Graphics -
Painted and scratched elements were widely used in product designs. In communication lifestyle graphics use painted type while performance used scratched lettering. Both have an amateur quality as part of the street authentic anti-design approach.
Product -
Painted and scratched graphics were developed with Roddy D’Arcy for use as decorative elements on lifestyle product.
Advertising -
Leagas Delaney designed the print campaign in line with the visual language. We created the graphic headline text for both performance and lifestyle campaigns.
Sales Launch Display Panels -
A series of graphic panels designed for break-out rooms at the Reebok global sales launch.
Point of Sale -
The visual language was followed for store fronts, product displays and merchandising equipment.
Web -
We worked with Skive and Reebok to create a design that reinforces the aggression and irreverence of the new football campaign. As each new page loads it obliterates the last, as if over painted. Painted and scratched graphic element were created by Apropos, also a simplified custom version of the hand drawn type face.
© Apropos 2009
Working with Gareth on this project was really rewarding. Not only did he gives us great creativity but it was in the context of a practical framework that could really work as ‘glue’ across the project and be expressed in multiple consumer touchpoints which significantly enhanced its impact in the marketplace. On top of that his unassuming style meant that he was a pleasure to work with as a client and critically also ensured he could inhabit the world of multi agency egos and produce a collaborative result.
Roy Gardner – VP Brand Marketing EMEA Reebok
We asked Apropos to develop a visual language that would allow us to connect all of our Reebok football activity throughout product and marketing communications regardless of channel and allow us to communicate in a distinct tone of voice whilst expressing our brand personality. The visual language that Apropos developed delivered this perfectly. It enabled us to bring to life our positioning of ‘More than just the 90 minutes’ by referencing typographic, graphic, colour and language trends emerging in the lifestyle arena and applied them to sport. This gave us a completely different look and feel from other major brands and enabled us to achieve greater cut through with consumers. The visual language also connected communication to product by supplying a product style guide that featured similar attributes such as logo styles, fonts and colour references. This meant that the attitude that we communicated via advertising and digital was translated in some way onto product enabling consumers to make a clearer connection between the brand they saw/heard and ultimately wore. All in all a great job.
John Zaheer-Flaherty – European Marketing Director for Lifestyle at Reebok
The visual language that Gareth created was the inspiration behind the design of the product range – It was the starting point, the catalyst, and in the end it was what made the product relevant to it’s target consumer. Apropos ability to break down the brief into the raw elements of design provided me with ‘ingredients’ necessary to build the product range. It was fun too.
Roddy D’Arcy – Freelance Product Designer