Written by “RupertGraphic” for BausciaCafe
Original article at https://www.bausciacafe.com/bauscia-creatif/stemma-gate/
Weeks ago, just before the Serie A match between Inter and Juventus, news arose confusing the Inter fans: the possible, imminent change of our coat of arms. As a consequence, the Crest Gate was born.
We have read it on Minuti di Recupero, on Tuttosport, and then on all of the other Italian and foreign newspapers that deal with jerseys and the sort.
Here’s the first article on the topic, on Minuti di Recupero.
But let’s take a step back, there is some chaos: coat of arms/logo/rebranding / restyling / adaptation / Juventus style…stay calm, stay calm, STAY CALM.
Coat of arms: identification and identity symbol, generally “applied” on shirts. In our case, it is the one on jerseys and clothing in general.
Logo: identification and distinctive element, brand sign, which can coincide with the coat of arms or be a less complex derivation adapted to the corporate part or other.
Brand Restyling: is a visual intervention on existing elements that are reorganized and modified according to new needs. “Makeup and wig”, just to be clear, which can be light or even tough but always in continuity with the existing lines. It sets goals in actuality, I have to make myself look good to go out tonight.
Rebranding: it is a structural activity, which comes before the modification of a sign (logo or coat of arms) and it is breaking, it is strategic, it is positioning. At the base, it is the need to communicate a deep change, even a reversal. The rebranding acts in the medium-long term: you are a different person, you do different things, you have a new face.
Restyling / Rebranding
Between these two worlds there are infinite nuances due to different sectors and fields, but also due to the extreme speed of technology and changing visual standards. That’s what Apple, Instagram, Facebook, etc. do: they change your visual color language -and tastes- while you sleep with apps in the background without even telling you (bad guys, not even a press release).
This kind of evolution has forced many soccer clubs, including Inter Milan, to take action on their brand sign, to convert and translate the coat of arms – which was born on the shirt – to the external corporate, commercial, and digital world. We have all noticed how, since the birth of IMH, in the various contents or social, commercial, and other initiatives, different declensions, and variants of the main coat of arms have been used, without having to flaunt it. These are just temporary refreshments or adaptions.
DOES INTER MILAN REALLY NEED TO CHANGE?
Inter Milan did a rebranding in 2014 by LeftLoft (case history here and an interview I recommend here) where they streamlined the crest and disciplined the various uses. Basically, our coat of arms, even as a corporate logo, WORKS. The adjustments for current needs, as we’ve seen, wouldn’t even make sense to declare, so if you change it’s not strictly for a technical issue but a specific and different purpose.
There are no obvious problems of use in our sign, coat of arms, logo. If the decision was made to change, it means there is a strategy and not a need for correction.
From this fundamental point comes a great distinction from those who have changed because they had in use a coat of arms out of time, with design and visual from other eras and language, as was the case for j******s.
But how many times have we changed in the “Pirelli era”?
More than it seems. Follow the jersey.
Tips: from 2007, from the centenary, until the Coppa Italia of 2011, we used a coat of arms that is not included in the classic lists of brand evolution: it’s a ghost coat of arms. After this evolution we see that Inter has basically only modified the shape and organization of the coat of arms over time (we are always talking about the Pirelli era for convenience): the only real big change is the ‘98 version in force between 1999 and 2007, where the need was to incorporate the words “Inter” and “1908” in the coat of arms, and with the choice to put the star in the coat of arms (which later turned out to be wrong).
I AM MILANO – Let’s play hunches. Which motivations can be behind the change
Info from the press:
- RELEASE IN MARCH
- MINIMAL
- I AM MILANO CAMPAIGN in parallel
As we said before, this choice would not seem to be dictated by technical necessity but more a choice of brand, therefore close to rebranding, and it is easy to assume that there will be a radical change of image, both visual and in terms of definition, trivially of denomination too. As we said in our article Identità o Morte, we will find in the products of the future the definition Inter Milano 1908. This is something extremely important for the Asian market where Milan (ouch) is associated with the Rossoneri and the wording very often used abroad Inter Milan creates and has created many problems of incorrect association. It is absolutely necessary a novelty to identify Inter as the Milano -the Italian word for the city of Milan- team.
If we add to this the info of the campaign I AM MILANO and the will to be more minimal, we can imagine a possible intervention on the structure of the coat of arms. That is the passage from FCIM – FOOTBALL CLUB INTERNAZIONALE MILANO to IM – INTER MILANO.
INTER MILANO. It all adds up.
Assuming that this could be the way, what we could draw as a conclusion is that Inter Milan needs to have a lighted sign and position itself peremptorily as INTER MILANO, and therefore the monogram is immediate and direct in NY Yankees style.
If the goal is to reduce the monogram to quickly and unmistakably convey the INTER MILANO definition, we would have a completely different situation in nature and philosophy from the rebranding of j**e, yet why do we read in Italy articles that write about it as if they were one consequence of the other?
Judging by the type of newspapers that have touched on the subject so far, it does not seem to be qualitative information, but rather a biased (rosy) attempt to attribute merit and a veil of extraordinariness to brand identity, that of Je, which is instead a false myth: fonts that are difficult to read on the jerseys, a crest that creates difficulties on jerseys and TV…in short, other things are extraordinary. The identity of the Je was needed to make a clean break with the symbology associated with Calciopoli, trials, and relegations, a clean break was needed, and furthermore, the doubled J has no message other than itself or Jagellonia.
That’s why it seems to make no sense at all to say that Inter Milano is rebranding “in the wake” of j**e (without even having seen it).
On the contrary, it seems, according to our hypothesis, a completely different path: Inter Milano would look for a minimal road but without losing its identity and message, on the contrary, it would do it to underline a strategic point of its identity: MILANO. All the opposite of the bianconeri.
More than the wake, it seems that Inter wants to put the arrow and show that you can change and be modern while retaining your identity.
Will it succeed? March is around the corner, we’ll see.
ATTENTION PLEASE! ANTONELLO SPEAKS
After 24 hours of chaos, half-news, half-denials, and many preventive, useless, and inconsistent polemics
From the moment this article was conceived to its publication, the tables have turned: starting from the unclear news of Tuttosport and Minuti di Recupero, up to newspapers such as Gazzetta (which claimed a name change) and Repubblica, which was the first to intervene and correct the information.
Finally, Ansa reported Antonello’s denial: “The club has been working for over a year on a marketing project, based on the historical values of Inter, which aims to bring closer and involve its millions of fans and further strengthen the bond with the city of Milan. We will not change our name”.
After the misreporting of the news by some newspapers (or maybe it came from some deep throat to give boredom), perplexity had spread among the fans, at this point, the question can only be one:
If Inter wanted to be “called” (not change its legal name) Inter Milano instead of Inter Milan, what would be the scandal?
One abbreviation or the other, it would be correct and indeed it would be as everyone calls Inter Milano in the world as well as not being a deprivation of identity but a reinforcement, since Milano is part of the name of the Company.
It was already started a frenzy of angry idiots for a name change that was not a change: ignorance, malice, desire for protagonism, and clickbait as the only religion.
One thing is certain: this news came out badly, conveyed worse, incomplete and distorted, prepared for universal looting.
From this point of view, it is necessary to protect ourselves, a subject of this kind is too delicate to come out with information that is not very pertinent to reality, in a delicate period for the team and the society.
Inter Milano has always been visionary, avant-garde, original and creative, why shouldn’t it be now?
It’s not just a soccer team anymore: it’s a community, a way of life, of being…in fact…
I AM INTER
PS: let’s clear up a misunderstanding. This here below is not and has never been a hypothesis, but only a game made by the great Emilio Sansolini at the launch of the j**e’s coat of arms, who wanted to demonstrate how with the same code you could decline every Serie A team and dismantle the halo of the masterpiece that was so fashionable.
