Stingers Rebranded

New Logo, New Uniforms, New Brand for Concordia Stingers Revealed at Press Conference

SportsJulian McKenzie — Published September 7, 2015

A new logo, new uniforms—only for the football team—and promotional posters for Concordia Stingers were revealed at a press conference last Wednesday in the Concordia Gym by Patrick Boivin, Director of Recreation and Athletics. Concordia President Alan Shepard was in attendance, as well as various Stingers coaches and players.

The rebranding project was led by 20 Concordia students, under the guidance of Concordia alum John Londono, who aided in video and photo production, and creative leader Sebastien Boulanger. The athletics department also collaborated with Canadian marketing firm Cossette for the project.

Days leading up to the conference, the Stingers have released teaser videos on social media for new uniforms and the logo, as well as promotional videos featuring Stingers athletes.

“Sebastien came to get me and asked me to take pictures the way I would do it personally,” said Londono. “The way I shoot bands, when I shoot artists, when I shoot personal stuff. The look and feel of the series and of videos is really personal; it’s really my style. To be honest, it’s the project I’m most proud of.”

Fine Arts students and student athletes participated in the production of the teaser videos.

“I was super happy to get involved, also to give the students a chance to learn from John,” said Boulanger, a former basketball coach who says he was “born into sports and the arts.”

“To create a new movement, if it starts from the university, it’s more powerful than having it just come from outside,” he said. “I had to do this.”

Boivin was pleased at the new look for the Stingers, and gave credit to the students involved.

“They saw an opportunity to put their creative juices to work,” added Boivin. “We have a true branding opportunity and they just hopped on board.”

Instead of the familiar bee that has been a staple at ConU for years, a giant C in interchangeable maroon and gold stripes, with a stinger as its tail, is the Stingers’ new logo.

The university’s mascot, Buzz, was also noticeably absent at the press conference, but a newer-looking Buzz has been featured on some of the new promotional posters, as well as on the side of the Concordia Stadium stands.

Boivin assured that there are no plans to “kill” the mascot, and that he will be “recreated.”

“He’s going for a bit of a facelift,” Boivin said.

As for uniforms, the football team was front and centre at the press conference, modeling their own new home and away jerseys days before their home opener last Friday, where Concordia lost 37-0 to visiting Sherbrooke Vert et Or.

None of the other teams’ uniforms, including the men’s rugby team who won a championship last season over McGill University, were unveiled. But they will be in the coming weeks once the school has received their orders, with a few caveats.

“All the teams will have the uniforms that they’re meant to have,” said Boivin. “Some teams will only have their home jerseys done this year. They’ll get their away jerseys next year, and that’s in the interest of being cost-conscious.”

Russell Athletic, an American company that has produced sports jerseys for American universities and has had sponsorship deals with the National Football League in the past, made the uniforms for the Stingers’ football team. Concordia University is the only Canadian university to have an agreement with Russell.

The players, and various Concordia personnel, are all on board with the new uniforms.

“One of the coaches said to me that if the uniforms don’t look great, it gets more difficult to recruit students to the team,” said President Shepard. “It makes sense when you think about it. They’re paying attention to how they’re perceived by other people,”

“I’m not a big design guy, I’m not an artist in any way. But they’re like retro uniforms. They look beautiful and clean,” Shepard said.

“It feels awesome,” said Stingers safety Mikael Charland, who, along with teammates Jamal Henry, Keegan Treloar and Andrew Barlett, showed off the uniforms at the press conference. “I like the uniform. We’re going to look good and we’re going to play good,”

“It’s a new era, and a new look,” said Stingers kicker Treloar.

The hashtag #StingersUnited has also been a huge part of the rebrand, and considering that Concordia still plans on releasing more promotional videos and posts, the school is hoping that more students can come together in support of their teams.

“We’re legitimizing who we are to the rest of the Concordia community, and hopefully engaging more of that community to get involved and get behind us,” said Boivin.

With files from Vince Morello and Jonathan Caragay-Cook

Video by Elysia-Marie Campbell