The Sydney Sixers is thundering into the BBL and WBBL seasons with an almighty brand refresh, changing how the cricket club shows up online, at events, and everywhere in between.
The in-house job, led by Sixers’ graphic designer, Jeremy Mosley, is based on the ‘Expect The Unforgettable’ tagline, itself inspired by Steve Smith’s memorable innings at the SCG when he hit 121-not-out from just 64 deliveries.
“What gave us the idea of this tagline was a lot of people in the comment section [of the Sixers social media] saying how unforgettable that day was,” Sydney Sixers social media specialist, Daniel Adamson told B&T.
“It’s a day that you’ll never forget, the day when Steve Smith, one of the best players in the world, rolled up to the SCG, put on the magenta and whacked 121 like it was park cricket. We want to show that when you come to a Sixers game, expect unforgettable moments just like that Steve Smith moment last year.”
The rebrand ties into a new strategy the Sixes deployed last year of being the summer destination in Sydney. No matter the stadium the Magenta play in, whether that be the SCG, or the historic North Sydney Oval the match is unmissable.
“The strategy is about creating FOMO, because we only play five live home games [a season] in both the BBL and WBBL. It’s not rugby league where each team gets 14 home games,” explained Adamson.
But what the Sixers lack in home games, they gain in iconic venues—helping the cricket club portray matches as a purely unmissable event.
The refresh involves stronger imagery to let the “graphics do the work” and a focus on storytelling. This is enhanced by the simplicity and subtleness of the font being used all over the Sixers social media.
“We don’t want to bore fans with too many words, rather, we want our imagery and what happens at the game to break through,” added Adamson.
The refresh comes at a time when the Sixers used to show up digitally with “block colours and a lot of information”. But Adamson feared that this wasn’t keeping up with the times, and that it’s quite obvious that all the best sporting clubs all over the world “have a really strong video and photography presence”. A presence that Sixers will be vying to recreate all season long.
“Digitally, fans can expect better imagery and more storytelling specifically on our YouTube channel. We’re determined to spotlight the players and tell their stories. We’ve got a really big year ahead of us with Barbar Azam coming from Pakistan and we want to showcase his personality to our already huge Pakistan audience as well as our Aussie fans,” he said.
After Azam signed, the Sixers’ social media accounts gained some 350,000 followers.
“There’s no better time [for brands’ ] than right now to hop on board!” said Adamson.
Community Ties
A part of the refresh is the hand writing of all-rounder Maitlan Brown to be displayed on all Sixers community cricket content.
This was intended by the Sixers to demonstrate the connection between the playing group and the Sixers community, and how the two are not too different. Because at the end of the day, every Sixer started out on the same pitches and wore the same colours before getting to the Big Bash.
“We really want to highlight the fact that if kids want to pick up a cricket bat earlier or join a junior cricket team, there’s an actual path they can go from junior cricket to professional cricket.”
The Sixers’ WBBL campaign begins on November 9 when the magenta takes on the Perth Scorches.
