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Strategy May 01, 2018

Promotional Products Opportunity: Canadian Premier League Reveals Official Logo

By  Christopher Ruvo

Canada is ready for its own kickabout. And now it has some branding in place to show it means business.

The Canadian Premier League is expected to begin play in the spring of 2019. It will be a FIFA-sanctioned, top-level, Canada-specific fully professional soccer league. While play hasn’t begun yet, the league recently revealed its official logo – a crest of attractive green and blues.

As the CPL explains, Canada’s people and natural beauty inspired the crest. Certainly some thought went into it:

“The North Star acts as a guiding light for the game of soccer in Canada, acting as a beacon for talent within our borders. The four rings portray a soccer ball, our coasts, and the earth formed out of a stylized time lapse of a star field. The maple leaf is comprised of many parts, which is a reflection of the diversity within our country.”

Some soccer fans were already chiming in to say that the CPL logo is superior to the crest for Major League Soccer – the top professional soccer league in the U.S. MLS features several Canadian teams, too.

The CPL also released an all-red version of the league emblem. Teams will wear the crest of red – Canada’s traditional color, of course -- on their uniforms on Canada Day. They’ll also don the red logo during the Canadian Championship and when playing in the CONCACAF Champions league – an international tournament that features professional clubs teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean.

The CPL expects to begin play with 8 to 10 teams. Teams will reportedly be owned and operated, at least in part, by a mix of National Hockey League and Canadian Football League ownership groups. The league aims to foster and enhance Canadian soccer talent, as this promo video details.

For promotional product distributors, learning about the CPL’s crest is an interesting case study in how a logo can be crafted to invoke the intended essence of a brand in a way that resonates with target audiences. What’s more, it’s a heads-up that there could soon be new opportunities to provide branded merchandise for teams in the forthcoming professional league. So far, it’s confirmed that there will be teams in Hamilton, ON and Winnipeg, MB. Reports suggest there could be teams in Halifax, Calgary and the York Region as well, among others.

Even if you don’t score orders directly with teams, distributors and/or decorators could hit the back of the net on any number of ancillary promo deals, such as providing scarves and T-shirts for fledging supporters’ groups or soccer-related swag for pubs that want to be the go-to spot for fans to watch CPL matches. No doubt Canadian footy fans are already excited: