After two years of planning and designing, the Los Angeles Rams finally revealed their new logo to everyone on Monday. The big unveiling, however, was met with more criticism from fans than the team probably anticipated.
That’s not to say the Rams were unaware of the pushback that was bound to arise, but they probably hoped fans’ reception to the new logo would be warmer than it was. Almost immediately, fans ripped the logo on Twitter, while others fired up Photoshop and attempted to improve the design – some even successfully.
While the outrage over the simplistic L.A. logo was to be expected after the leaked hat a few weeks ago, the team left itself a contingency plan by unveiling not one logo, but two.
There’s the L.A. mark, as well as the more traditional ram head, which has been modernized with a minimalist look.
When the announcement was made, the Rams first showed off the L.A. mark, which was leaked on the draft hat. However, in the same release video where Jared Goff put on a hat with that logo, John Johnson wore one with the ram head.
That wasn’t accidental, and it was a sign of the Rams’ commitment to both logos, not just the controversial L.A. mark.
On a video conference with Rams creative director Cory Befort and VP of merchandise, Tyrel Kirkham, it was made clear that the team is keeping its options open with both logos. They’ll both be used on the team’s website and branding, as well as at SoFi Stadium.
“With the 50-yard line on the field, we’re creating stencils for both logos,” Befort told Rams Wire. “We’re leaning into both marks heavily.”
While Befort said technically, the L.A. mark is the Rams’ primary logo, they can (and will) use the ram head, too. The reason for that is simple: Each logo appeals to a different subset of the fanbase.
The L.A. design is much different than any of the Rams’ past logos, which could appeal to a newer audience of fans. On the flipside, the ram head is probably the preferred logo for fans who have supported the team back to their previous Los Angeles days.
“We can touch that new fan, as well as general Los Angeles fans and get them on board,” Befort said, adding that the ram head “correlates more with classic fans.”
It was a long process coming up with these two logos. Befort estimated that the design team went through 200-300 different logos before landing on the ones they revealed Monday.
And when the brainstorming began toward the end of 2017, they weren’t set on strictly using an L.A. logo or a ram head. They were open to both and didn’t see why they couldn’t go with both.
“We collectively went through two to three hundred different logos before landing in this space,” Befort said. “From Day 1, we didn’t say we need to go with L.A. or a ram head. We just landed on, ‘Why can’t we have an LA mark and a ram head mark?’”
With two options on the table, the Rams have opened the door for ample merchandise opportunities. Kirkham explained the benefit of having two iconic logos from a sales perspective, allowing the team to capitalize on different audiences.
For instance, they can use the ram head on more traditional pieces of merchandise, while the L.A. logo fits better with lifestyle items.
As for how each logo sold in the initial offering on Monday after the unveiling, Kirkham says both were well received merchandise-wise. He noted that the team is limited out of the gate because it doesn’t have licensing deals for the new logos with all the major retailers, but the Rams will “have a lot more product hitting the market” in the near future.
“We want to leverage both marks,” he said.
It’s possible that overwhelming fan reception could push the team to use one logo over the other. Rams COO Kevin Demoff suggested they’ll be listening to fan feedback if there’s one mark they like best.
Merchandise sales will likely be a determining factor in that, because after all, money talks.