Pelé Sports

A new brand positioning for a footballing legend

The Beautiful Revolution

Viva A Revolucão Bonita; ‘The Beautiful Revolution’. Pelé Sports needed a new visual language that would not only bring Pelé and his identity to a 21st century market, but also show off the rich heritage that the player represents.

Pelé hails from a time of great revolution across South America. The 1950’s were a key time and the emergence of Brazil as a force to be reckoned with in world football was exciting. Pelé led the way, playing beautiful football which inspired generations of Brazilians who embraced the beautiful approach. This campaign is the representation of those truths.

Role

Art Director
Designer

Period

2011–13

Agency

Resistance Partners

The painted approach became the core identity expression for Pelé Sports under the TBR campaign

A heavy reliance on type

Like any revolution, literal messaging is a key part of what you’re trying to communicate. With this is in mind, I designed a range of type styles from script, to letterpress, to various hand rendered styled taglines. Collectively they worked as part of a brand suite to semiotically communicate the idea of a revolution in a visually appropriate manner. These designs then appeared across a range of touchpoints in campaigns, merchandise and online.

The launch of the revolution

Pelé Sports announced it’s new positioning in the global football market through an exclusive event in London where press, PR, creatives and professional footballers Rio Ferdinand, Anton Ferdinand and Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain (as well as Pelé himself) were in attendance.

We were responsible for designing and dressing the entire event, from promotion to the hand painted plinths upon which merchandise was displayed.

Design for lifestyle

The involvement with Pelé Sports was so extensive, we worked across every conceivable touchpoint that the brand had to cover. One of the more creative touchpoints was the Lifestyle arm. Whether designing for a lining of a high end performance garments, or for posters in retail stores—we created a whole series of abstract designs that could be applied across a plethora of different elements.

Dozens of designs were produced across the lifestyle t-shirt range