Atlanta Hockey Branding Concepts
Proposal 1: Brand Equity Leveraging
Thrashers 2.0?
The NHL has conquered Florida. Or maybe Florida has conquered the NHL? Considering Las Vegas, Dallas, and LA, it appears that hockey can now work in sunny, hot weather cities. Ignoring the Arizona Coyotes' results, it seems that the NHL’s best growth opportunity is a southern expansion strategy, with Houston and Atlanta at the top of the list. In fact, there has already been progress on a new hockey-specific arena in the Atlanta area.
My next four articles on the Substack will investigate branding concepts for a new Atlanta NHL club. The concepts are best viewed as prototypes. They will each come from a marketing and fandom concept.
I’m leading the series off with a team branding concept that leverages pre-existing fandom in the Atlanta market. I’ll refer to this concept as the “Brand Equity Leveraging” approach.
Brand Equity Leveraging
The first proposal is the return of the Atlanta Thrashers. I’ll refer to this as the “Thrashers 2.0” concept in this and future articles. The basic idea is simple: Atlanta’s previous hockey team was the Thrashers, so let’s run it back.
A quick ChatGPT rundown of the Atlanta Thrashers highlights some of the essential facts to get us all on the same page regarding the relevant history. Basically, hockey has been tried (twice) in Atlanta and hasn’t worked.
The Atlanta Thrashers were awarded as an NHL expansion team in 1997 and began playing at Philips Arena in the 1999–2000 season, reintroducing top-tier hockey to Georgia after the departure of the Flames. Named after Georgia’s state bird, the brown thrasher, the franchise struggled through most of its 11-year tenure, reaching the playoffs just once in 2006–07 when they won the Southeast Division but were swept in the first round. After continuous financial struggles, the team was sold in 2011 to True North Sports & Entertainment and relocated to Winnipeg, becoming the reborn Jets.
Eleven years may not be much in the world of sports brands, but it counts for something. Generation X and older Millennials might have followed the team, and the Thrashers' name still holds some value. The Thrashers also joined the Falcons and Hawks as teams with bird-related names. These are minor points, but the associations with hockey and the Thrashers have already been established, so an expansion franchise wouldn’t be starting entirely from scratch. However, Atlanta’s hockey history didn’t start with the Thrashers. The Thrashers were Atlanta’s second NHL team. The Flames were part of Atlanta sports from 1972 to 1980.
Our first branding proposal for a potential Atlanta NHL team builds on Atlanta’s previous hockey adventures. The goal is to use words and images already associated with Atlanta Hockey. The key marketing concept for this approach is “brand equity.”
Brand equity is the incremental value a brand provides (to a firm). Brands provide incremental value through higher awareness, positive associations, higher customer loyalty, and diminished price sensitivity. A great way to understand the power of a sports brand is to think about markets with two teams. For example, in Los Angeles, even if the Clippers and Lakers have the same record, the Lakers will probably sell more tickets at higher prices and generate more media and merchandise revenues.
In sports, brand equity can be seen as the value of the relationship between the team (brand) and the fan. Using previous names and images (conceptually) lowers the costs to build awareness and foster fandom.
Brand Logo
The image below is a prototype for a new Thrashers logo. The image was generated in ChatGPT based on a series of prompts that asked for specific details such as colors and images, like a bird of prey and hockey sticks integrated with feathers. It is too highly detailed for many applications and types of merchandise, but the detail allows for the various branding/design elements to be clearly represented.
The logo is designed to convey multiple brand features:
The starting point for the logo was to continue the focus on the “thrasher.” This maintains the name and bird symbol to connect with the previous Atlanta team.
The second design element is that the new Thrashers logo uses the Red and Black colors from UGA and adds some Gold as a connection to Georgia Tech. This is a subtle tie-in to the local sports community, and the color scheme is also consistent with several other local professional teams. The colors are specified to connect the team to Atlanta sports culture.
The “Thrasher” now includes a fiery background to convey the notion of a phoenix reborn in fire. The “rebirth” conveys that this is a new Thrashers team. The fire also harkens back to Atlanta’s original NHL team, the Flames.
The fire is consistent with the unofficial (and often mocked) nickname of Hotlanta, which refers to both the local culture and the weather.
The image shows a base of ice. The ice symbolizes hockey and provides a contrast to “hot” Atlanta. This contrast emphasizes that hockey is something new, thrilling, and fresh for the city.
The next figures show a more abstract version of the logo. Simple logos can be compelling in sports. The first logo is probably best viewed as branding inspiration used to generate simpler, more abstract logos.
Brand Message
The logo and team name are the core of the branding concept because when (prospective) fans think about the hockey team, they will think about the Thrashers, and the image that comes to mind will be the fiery Thrasher. The name and image also become the starting point for a larger marketing campaign.
This exercise (building out potential Atlanta hockey brands) is hopefully a fun and useful exercise that I will use in my sports marketing course. I’m not going to develop a full marketing campaign; instead, I’ll illustrate how the concept may be used to generate a couple of marketing assets.
The third figure shows a potential marketing instrument for introducing the team through social media channels. The logo emphasizes the new team’s name and the imagery. It is like giving potential fans a name and face for the new team.
The image also aims to inform the prospective fan about the team. In this piece, the brand's story is conveyed through text: “The World’s Coldest Game is reborn in America’s Hottest City.”
The text highlights several key aspects of the new club.
Reborn: Hockey is starting fresh in Atlanta. Atlanta has a hockey tradition, but this is a new chapter.
Atlanta: The city of Atlanta and its “Hot” culture are emphasized. Sports fandom needs to start local, so connections to the home city are critical.
World: Hockey is mentioned as the “World’s Coldest Game.” This phrase highlights hockey as a great international sport (4 Nations Face-Off), missing from Atlanta.
Mascot
Mascots are an underappreciated part of sports branding. Mascots can provide a relationship partner to fans and a shared point of reference. Mascots can also operate as goofy or snarky club spokespeople on social channels.
The proposed mascot concept is a thrilling, trick-skating bird named Scorch. Scorch is intended to be part of the Thrashers' package of exciting action through impressive skating displays and stunts. The fourth figure shows how Scorch might be implemented.
Scorch is designed to support the new brand in several ways.
The previous Thrashers mascot was Thrash. The new mascot is Scorch. The name Scorch reflects the fiery rebirth theme and the idea of heat on ice. The name change and new design set the team apart from the previous Thrashers club.
The Scorch character would perform exciting tricks similar to Cosmo the Cougar (BYU). The goal would be to create exciting tricks on ice that could potentially go viral. Having an “exciting” rather than “humorous” is a branding decision.
Scorch would also act as a member of the team via social media. Scorch’s tone and content might focus on the teams and his own thrilling highlights. The social media goal would be to support and build on the thrilling aspect of the brand.
Comments
As noted, this is not a complete marketing proposal, but enough to illustrate an approach. The “Thrashers 2.0” concept includes aspects from the city’s previous hockey teams (Thrashers, Flames) and local sports brands (color scheme, bird name/symbol). The concept attempts to leverage existing sports fandom and associations to encourage a fandom community. This (Brand Equity Leveraging) approach to team naming attempts to get a head start on building relationships with potential fans. It's like starting as old friends, rather than as strangers.
The fundamental question about the “Thrasher’s 2.0 Concept” for a new Atlanta NHL club is whether the Thrasher’s name has enough value to not forgo the opportunity to create something new. Maybe a great new name or another concept with more long-term potential exists. This is where marketing judgment comes into the equation.
There may also be administrative details or political considerations. Is the “Thrashers” name available? Maybe using the name comes with a financial cost. Political considerations may also be relevant. The old Thrashers were run by the company that operates the Hawks. Would a new club want to use the same branding the Hawks tried? These details could scuttle the whole idea at the onset.
This proposal, along with future ones, is easy to criticize. I encourage everyone to provide strong criticism of these proposals. Naming teams is both simple and complex, as it’s easy to come up with a logical name but almost impossible to find something that genuinely excites fans. The most successful sports brands (Cowboys, Lakers, Celtics, Yankees, etc.) have rich histories and deep connections with fans. Building a sports brand takes generations and consistent success. A great new name won't automatically create a fandom; it's more about an introduction that fosters future potential.
NEXT: I’m calling this first proposal “Thrashers 2.0”. We can call its marketing logic “Brand Equity Leveraging.” I don’t want to reveal the name of the second proposal just yet, but the marketing logic will be all about “Community and Connections.”