Bradford City AFC proposed the club’s new identity, following the Your City, Your Say project which has been consulting with supporters over the past 12 months about the club’s brand, and how they would like to see it re-imagined for the future.
Starting in November 2021, the Your City, Your Say survey was opened for seven weeks and represented the first milestone in consultation with supporters, with close to 5,000 fans responding to give their thoughts on all things Bradford City.
From there, further consultations with fans who participated in the survey and club supporters’ groups have been held by the club’s senior management team, to gain further guidance and present an opportunity for the fanbase to shape the future identity of the club.
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Chief Executive Officer Ryan Sparks said: “This is arguably one of the club’s biggest projects in the past 30 years, so it was extremely important to make sure everyone had a chance to have their say, but also ensure the new identity is right for Bradford City AFC and can prove a strong part of the club’s image for years to come.
“At the start of this project, we said we would always be Claret and Amber, we would always be the Bantams and we would always be Bradford City AFC. Those things will never change. We also said we wanted to run this project hand-in-hand with our loyal supporters, and were delighted to see so many people respond to the survey to give their views, and also come forward and engage with listening sessions and workshops to give their important opinions on how our club’s identity should evolve. We believe we have done everything we possibly can to put the power of this change into the hands of those supporters.
“As we strive to be the best on the pitch, we also aspire to be the best off the pitch. We feel this evolution of our identity can help us further compete in a digital-first world, while also improving the marketability and commercial attractiveness of our football club.
“We believe our new design encapsulates everything Bradford City - and the people of the district of Bradford - stands for. It represents the unique, hard-working, collectively tough and competitive nature of our city.
“We are constantly trying to take the club forward, enhancing and improving the organisation. We believe this piece of work is a large part in modernising the club and helping it stride forward on the path to achieving our collective goals.”
Luke Flacks, Director of Brand, Marketing and Media, added: “From the 2021 survey and the extensive listening sessions we held with supporters, we could immediately see there was an appetite for this evolution. While some supporters were understandably nervous about the project, we wanted to reassure them the fundamentals of our football club will never change, and that we were determined to use our past as inspiration for our future identity.
“There are a lot of intentional similarities between the club’s past identities and this new design. Through supporter feedback over the past 12 months, we could see the common denominators were the importance of our bantam, our distinctive shield shape and our unique Claret and Amber colours - all of which take pride of place in the new design.
“Draped in Claret and Amber, the club’s iconic shield has been geometrically refined and now houses the core parts of the club’s identity. The adaptation of this shield and the movement of the elements within it now gives the identity a stronger and more prominent look, which helps it stand up against rival crests in club marketing and communications. These things consistently prove a challenge with the layout of the club’s current crest.
“Bradford City AFC is who we are! It was important to keep the ‘BCAFC’ lettering in the identity, as this separates us from the likes of Bristol City and Birmingham City (BCFC). Again, in a digital world where the likes of hashtags are so widely used across social media, this is another unique denominator of our club, and one we want to continually own and embrace.
“We know when our football club does well, the whole Bradford district thrives and benefits from it greatly. The structure of the BCAFC wordmark symbolises this, with the football club acting as a podium for the city, lifting it up and giving it a base to thrive and be seen, with the shape of the bespoke typeface again taking inspiration from previous identities.
“Finally, the new and improved bantam stands centre stage. A stronger, more powerful bird replaces the former club icon, and now faces forward, looking to the future. It is in a confident stance with its front foot raised - focused, ready to compete and represent. It symbolises everything a Bradford City supporter wants from their team on the pitch.
“We believe we have done all we can to collect supporters’ views and creatively reimagine the club’s identity so that it not only becomes a strong representation of Bradford City, but will also work in a modern world with the versatility to adapt over years to come.”
