The new-look Jets take flight next season.new york jets
Every NFL fan across America knows the acronym “S.O.J.” regarding New York’s other NFL team: “Same Old Jets.” That’s what you get when you’ve missed the playoffs for the past eight seasons and had just eight playoff appearances over the past 32 years, a period during which the rival New York Giants won three Super Bowls.
Clearly, the only way to dispel that notion is on the gridiron, with upgraded talent. The Jets have made recent improvements, signing Le’Veon Bell, the most coveted (and costly) NFL free agent. Last April, the team drafted what it hopes will be a franchise quarterback in Sam Darnold.
Years before both of those moves, Jets ownership initiated another move toward a new identity — a rebrand unveiled last Thursday that is the team’s first in more than two decades.
Think it takes a while to turn around the fortunes of an NFL team on the field? Initial work on the rebrand began in 2014. That’s when the Jets started walking a tightrope that’s familiar to every brand marketer from Procter & Gamble on down: How to attract younger customers without losing your core consumers — that archetypal 20 percent who account for 80 percent of sales.
“Of course, what happens on the field is paramount,” said Neil Glat, Jets president since 2012, “but we want to be new on a lot of fronts. You’ve got to refresh while respecting history and tradition.”
new york jets
Just like a packaged-goods relaunch, before a single sketch is drawn or color review attempted, there was a brand audit. League officials interviewed stakeholders from season-ticket holders to team owners, determining which equities were imbued in the 59-year-old brand and what needed to be tweaked.
From the first interview five years back with Jets owner Woody Johnson, one direction was paramount.
“They were most adamant about, ‘We’re not going to cede New York to anybody,’” said James Carmichael, NFL brand director. “Ownership told us this is as much their town as anybody’s and that a really unique piece of New York personality is truest to the Jets. Our challenge was to carve that out with them. A big part of that was playing up New York visually.”
So while the logo and the Jets’ hunter green color have been altered, the most apparent change is that the words “New York” now appear boldly on the newly minted metallic green helmets and on the front of the jersey, now a lighter shade that the Jets are calling “Gotham Green.”
“They’re very invested in adding things their brand hasn’t had, especially younger energy,” said Marc Reeves, Nike senior director of NFL and NCAA. “They’re dedicated to connecting with the youth of New York City, trying to define themselves as a team that owns the young.”
To attract that audience, the Jets have added black to their color palette. In addition to uniforms that are primarily white and green, there’s an alternate jersey that’s largely black, with some green accents.
Adding black “really expands what the Jets are allowed to do,” said NFL Art Director Chris Stackhouse. “It makes their colors appealing from a wearability point of view, takes it to a place that’s more modern and to where it can be part of fashion and entertainment.”
Those initial stakeholder interviews took between eight and 12 months. Team and league officials then started working separate paths to design both a new uniform and a different logo.
Since the Jets are a team inexorably tied to their green color, finding a new shade took around two years and a review of nearly every Pantone green. Among the concerns, Nike has to be sure it can reproduce the color across every consumer touchpoint.
“We pushed and pulled on how to express that idea of New York, as far as color and logo,” Carmichael said.
By late 2017, both the new color and logos passed ownership approval — the classic logo was modernized just a bit. Nike started prototyping uniforms, after ensuring it could find the right dyes. The new uniforms were modeled in boardrooms and eventually on field at MetLife Stadium.
Any new logo by the premier spectator sport in the nation’s top market will always sell. So how will the Jets know they got it right?
“To us, success looks like a young male or female on the subway wearing our new jersey,” said Tim Kemp, Jets senior marketing director, who grew up a fan of the team. “We surely want to connect with those who love the team like their parents, but we also have a unique opportunity to seed our brand with people who aren’t even vested in sports and cultivate the next generation.”
If the Jets accomplish that, on and off the field, perhaps it will give rise to a new aphorism among New York football fans: “Same Old Giants.”
Terry Lefton can be reached at tlefton@sportsbusinessjournal.com.
