VHL Branding is horrible and we need to shut this MF Down! Fire the commissioners!

[Pifferfish 699]

So I was just reading @Rin's .com on Logos and their lack of connection to their cities and @Gustav  replied with some logo that do make sense. I had originally intended to just reply to Gus and name a few more but 250 words later I was like... Might as well get some TPE real quick! 

 

 

here is the link to the original thread in case anybody want to check out exactly what I'm referring to and see the other brands they brought up. 

 

 

https://vhlforum.com/topic/154704-vhl-branding-is-a-mixed-bag/

 

 

So here are some of the few teams that have brands that either come very close to or strictly speaking do work geographically for their cities (and I'm not a biologist so any of the animal deductions are purely based on my previous knowledge and surface level research.)

 

 

 Moscow Menace - This brand works on a level for me as I imagine it's Ivan the Terrible or just a nod at the destructive history of that nation's leadership in general.

 

 

 Seattle Bears - This brand is almost a hit as Seattle does have native Bear populations, technically I think you'll find Brown or Grizzly Bears over the Canadian border and not so much in Washington, that's more Black bear territory, but this is forgivable in my opinion considering the Bears have literally existed in the VHL since like S2

 

 

 Vancouver Wolves - This one on the other hand is spot on, Gray Wolves modern range is almost exclusively Western and Northern Canada to my understanding, in particular their range goes as far south as Vancouver

 

 

New York Americans - Do I really need to say it? ita obvious really. New York is the former United States capital before the existence of the District of Colombia biggest city in the country make this one easily a hit, even if I find the overall brand a bit boring.

 

 

 San Diego Marlins - So technically there are 11 Species of Marlin and most of them are in the warmer waters of the Atlantic but two of them find their ideal habitat in the Pacific and more specifically around southern California and Mexico. Black Marlins and Striped Marlins. Now it is kind of difficult to determine which marlin species the logo is meant to represent but I believe based on the shape of the sail and hind tail and distribution of the coloration on the body that is meant to be an Atlantic Marlin (technically no Marlin has a sail that does that fully rounded over top but we listen and don't judge). 

 

 

 Riga Reign - This brand is probably the least connected for me but I guess it does work. Latvia has had it's share of sovereigns and kingdoms in its history and the lion is a feature of both the Rigan and Latvian coats of arms. The orange color I think was simply chosen due to a lack of orange in the VHL landscape and to match the coloration of a lion maybe? Unsure on this front.

 

 

Now I made it to this point and realized, I'm a mere 80 words from Media Spot territory, oh boy! So let's add to this piece abit and suggest some replacement brands for some of the less connected ones.

(Edit: I realized I had forgotten Riga so I added that, and that would put me at 500 but F it, let's still do the rebrands for funsies, maybe I'll reach 1000)

 

 

 Prague Phantoms > Prague Bats

 

Prague and Czechia as a whole does have a very present Bat population that includes 18 unique species, and they are known to dwell quite close to humans. This would also allow the color scheme and generally shaping of the logo to remain quite similar to the current team.

 

 

 Warsaw Predators > Warsaw Defenders?

 

okay maybe my name suggestion is a bit, weak... But I do think honoring the history of the Polish people and their valiant defense of their homeland at the start of the deadliest war in human history is something worth remembering and embracing... Simply predators are not in right now, shout-out to Drizzy after that halftime show. As a team name it's just gritty to me, like I don't like saying it. If you want to have a scary big cat as your mascot and brand, pick a specific cat. You don't get to encompass all of the predatory animal kingdom. Choose lions, leopards, jaguars, panthers, or tigers if you so very much want that! Either way on the rebrand front I do believe you could transition the color scheme to maybe a white and red instead of blue and orange. 1) we don't have a purely red VHL team and 2) there is literally another blue and orange team in the EU already, albeit they rock more of a navy blue. 

 

 

 Helsinki Titans > Athens Titans

 

Let's get a little bit crazy here, instead of rebranding let's relocate the Titans. 1) the color scheme is a major hit with Greece still on the blue and white. 2) the brand itself would be majorly representative of the culture of ancient Greece and their belief in the Titans before the gods overthrew them. 3) I think Athens specifically has utilized this color scheme to represent their city or one close to it in the past.

I know it may be sacrilegious to take a team from Finland as that is one of the biggest nations for hockey in the world, but we have to admit this brand represents another city better, and if the Finnish fans want to complain about losing their team then we can always rename the Titans to the Helsinki Snowflakes to actually represent the team's fandom. 

 

    

Now to address one last thing, there are teams that I think have fine brands. The United for example. I get the name, I just don't see how it specifically connect with London in particular. It's not bad or outlandish but it's just okay. DC Dragons i want to say is in similar territory to the 3 I just changed but I do know there is maybe some logic here. The Capitals in real life play hockey in Chinatown of DC. Maybe that's where the idea for Dragons spawned from, I don't know. Malmo Nighthawks is another one that I will give a pass because the name could generally refer to any hawk, which Sweden does have. Lastly, the Toronto Legion is one that I would normally be quick to judge, but I am not Canadian and am not sure if there is some meaning there that my dumb American ego can't comprehend, so I won't comment on that team's brand. Thanks for reading y'all!

 

(We made it to 1k )

Once again, thank you to @Rin and @Gustav  for inspiring me to spend an hour and a half doing research and writing this media spot despite me having like 3 weeks of VSN job pay in the pipeline already. 

 

words 1,000+

Edited 21 hours ago by Pifferfish

[Triller 1,702]

I'm still backing the Scotland Herd as a London relocation but if I'm not mistaken, that is the London Bridge in the United logo?  Makes a bit more of a connection that way.

[Daniel Janser 2,262]

21 minutes ago, Triller said:

that is the London Bridge in the United logo

Before @Victor and @MubbleFubbles get a fit... it is the Tower Bridge, but your point still stands. 

The London Bridge burnt down several times and is now an unassuming (but undoubtedly vital) six-lane bridge across the river Thames.

Edited 19 hours ago by Daniel Janser

[Pifferfish 699]

1 hour ago, Triller said:

I'm still backing the Scotland Herd as a London relocation but if I'm not mistaken, that is the London Bridge in the United logo?  Makes a bit more of a connection that way.

Tower Bridge and I do get that but the name itself doesn't really mean anything. I think it may be kind of a nod to the Premier Leagues and English football in general as lots of teams use the name United, Scotland Herd would be fire though.

[Victor 11,114]

3 hours ago, Pifferfish said:

 Moscow Menace - This brand works on a level for me as I imagine it's Ivan the Terrible or just a nod at the destructive history of that nation's leadership in general

Yes thank you this is my finest contribution to the VHL

 

scroll down for my more extensive corny intro to the franchise

 

[Pifferfish 699]

1 hour ago, Victor said:

Yes thank you this is my finest contribution to the VHL

 

scroll down for my more extensive corny intro to the franchise

 

See, you'd think I read that verbatim before I wrote this MS, I have never seen that post so I'm glad I hit the nail on the head there. Go Piffer! And to think, since then they've added a whole military offensive to that list of terrible things, who thought Russia could get more menacing. What a world

[Victor 11,114]

45 minutes ago, Pifferfish said:

See, you'd think I read that verbatim before I wrote this MS, I have never seen that post so I'm glad I hit the nail on the head there. Go Piffer! And to think, since then they've added a whole military offensive to that list of terrible things, who thought Russia could get more menacing. What a world

The Menace are a self fulfilling prophecy

[Ahma 1,470]

we keep winning.

[tcookie 964]

5 hours ago, Pifferfish said:

 

 Helsinki Titans > Athens Titans

 

Let's get a little bit crazy here, instead of rebranding let's relocate the Titans. 1) the color scheme is a major hit with Greece still on the blue and white. 2) the brand itself would be majorly representative of the culture of ancient Greece and their belief in the Titans before the gods overthrew them. 3) I think Athens specifically has utilized this color scheme to represent their city or one close to it in the past.

I know it may be sacrilegious to take a team from Finland as that is one of the biggest nations for hockey in the world, but we have to admit this brand represents another city better, and if the Finnish fans want to complain about losing their team then we can always rename the Titans to the Helsinki Snowflakes to actually represent the team's fandom. 

 

you kinda cooked here

[Grape 781]

5 hours ago, Pifferfish said:

New York is the former United States capital before the existence of the District of Colombia

I love that I knew that Leesburg, VA was a former US capital but not New York

[Pifferfish 699]

2 minutes ago, Grape said:

I love that I knew that Leesburg, VA was a former US capital but not New York

Yeah I mean I'm going to keep it a band, pretty sure I got this info from Hamilton like a lot of people know of Philly as a former psuedo capital during the revolution, but I believe post revolution New York became the center of the US government, then moving it to DC and VA while DC was built up was a concession made to the southern states for some type of support for some kind of law or something...something like that, I was better with this stuff when I didn't have historical VHL stats clogging up my brains CPU

[Pifferfish 699]

11 minutes ago, tcookie said:

you kinda cooked here

I like to think I cooked the whole way through but glad this part resonated lol

[Rin 171]

17 hours ago, Victor said:

Yes thank you this is my finest contribution to the VHL

 

scroll down for my more extensive corny intro to the franchise

 

 

You call it corny, but I fucking love it lmao. Top 2 logo in the VHL, A+ tie-in to Moscow, it's everything I could have asked for.