Wigan Warriors' new badge: Kris Radlinski Q&A
Executive director Kris Radlinski explains why Wigan have launched a new club badge.
The obvious question - why have you done it?
We felt it was the right thing to do for a long time. We all felt that the existing badge was too traditional, too old-fashioned and needed modernising.
And this was reaffirmed to us when Super League carried out an independent audit of clubs for its rebrand.
As part of the Super League rebrand, it was broadcast-led and with a digital agenda - sport is consumed in different ways than before. We felt we needed something bold, brave, fresh and modern - and potentially inspire a younger generation.
We need to get younger fans through the gates. With the way sport is consumed now, we needed to maximise our exposure on digital platforms.
And the new badge has commercial benefits, too.
For many years the crest has not enabled us to do some things we want to do. So, for example, from a retail point of view we've not been able to stock some of the items we want to because companies are scared of the intricate nature of the badge.
It has 21,000 threads on the badge and every time we embroider it on a jersey, it costs £3.20, so it costs a lot of money to produce it.
In order to expand our range, this is a lot simpler, and it allows us to do things we've not done before.
We sell baby-grows at the minute and the crest takes up half the torso, it's massive! This allows us to do some different things but cooler things, that's the vibe we want to be going for.
We want a lifestyle range, in line with Juventus and Man City - it's not just a new crest, it's a cultural movement.
What would you say to the fans attached to the existing crest and don't want to change?
If you take everything I've just said about the commercial side, the digital agenda, the only thing left is people's emotional attachment to the existing crest. And I get that - I'm emotionally attached to it.
I'm under no illusions here, we will upset some people, the spotlight is on us here. What I will say is we're doing it for the right reasons, to make us bigger, to let us grow, to make us a better brand, to bring in more money which will be reinvested back into the club.
Once you explain the process and the different elements of it - I can't understand why people wouldn't want to like it. We want fans to have an open mind.
If they say, 'There's nothing wrong with the old crest', they're not really listening to the wider story of why we're doing this.
Everyone is entitled to their opinions and I'm not scared of what people will say, but we're doing it to try and make us better. We're going in with open eyes, we know how it works and how social media works - we've done our homework on it, we've worked our socks off on it.
Designing the new badge, what factors were considered?
There were some non-negotiables, the ancient and loyal, the 1872, the cherry and white behind the shield - and the shield is from the crest.
The big difference is the warrior in the middle.
We still get letters from fans who don't like being called Warriors but that's who we are, it's here to stay. So this is the first time we've used that in our badge.
The real focus was the story about the eyes of the warriors, the eyes of a Wiganer.
One of the key people involved in this process wasn’t from Wigan, but was taking a look into the eyes of the initial draft of our warrior and said that he had always seen a steely glare in the eyes of people from Wigan; something forged deep within them that showed real passion and determination. That really got us thinking and we set about ensuring that the Brigante warrior on the badge, representing the very early history of our town, had exactly that intense look about him.
How long did the redesign take?
The whole process has taken just over a year, from the initial brainstorming meetings, through the design process and then ultimate sign off. With a project of this size, consultation from all stakeholders has to be an important consideration which is why speaking to a cross-section of fans was critical in this process.
There's been so much negativity recently, not just around Super League, so I hope this can help people look forward with hope.
This year has made us all review our life goals and priorities. The challenges that the world is facing are the most difficult in many of our lifetimes. Regardless of people’s initial reactions, this has to be viewed as a positive. We are making a bold and brave statement to look forward with optimism and hope. We don’t want to just exist. Come with us on this journey.
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