Description:

AFLP4CA are a climate action group made of AFL and AFLW players, ex-players and people working within the AFL as an industry.

In early 2020 the group began collaborating with climate experts from across Australia to help build a compelling case for how the AFL as a sport should address and talk about the effects of climate change.

We were approached by the AFLP4CA to help them develop a brand strategy and go to market plan, as well as a compelling and engaging brand story and identity to launch their initiative.

The brief was to create a brand that could be a banner for players, ex-players, industry professionals and supporters of the sport who wanted to see climate action taken seriously.

The brand needed to engage with the entire AFL as a sport and as a culture to ignite this change and safeguard the future of the sport.

A key objective of the brief was to engage and gather support for the group's cause, a strength in numbers play that could help activate key stakeholders within the sport as powerful allies. With this in mind, the brand had to be relatable to all audiences and something they could easily get behind.

Put simply; we needed to create a brand for the AFLP4CA that would inspire and drive support for their cause, whilst also establishing a platform for awareness, storytelling and education around climate focussed initiatives and issues.

AFL is one of the most popular sports in Australia, but this posed one of the biggest challenges in the brief. The audience we were hoping to engage with was so varied in its degrees of climate literacy, political, religious and science based views; and we somehow needed to unify them all in support of the work that the group was engaged with.

Another challenge we needed to overcome was the scale and breadth of the problem that the group wanted to tackle; and through a highly collaborative strategy process we helped them develop a vision and a plan to focus their efforts.

We created a dynamic and flexible identity that could adapt in time and to suit its audience. An identity that is true to the group's vision and grass roots ethos, that their community can feel part of and wear with pride.

We drew inspiration from sports brands; with their motivational, high impact imagery and we combined this with a more DIY, punk aesthetic that is so prevalent in supporter culture.

The re-imagining of badges, crests and patterns make the brand feel a part of AFL culture, helping the group’s sustainability focussed messages gain higher engagement in the typically more conservative sports fanbase.