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Cardiff City Football Club Rebrand

Cardiff City Football Club has announced that it is to go ahead with a complete rebrand, changing the colour of its kits from blue to red.

The club has also designed a new club badge as part of a major investment package from the club’s Malaysian owners.

It is hoped the rebranding will broaden the Championship club’s appeal in ‘international markets’

Football finance expert Professor Wyn Grant, from the University of Warwick’s Politics and International Studies department, shares his thoughts:

Wyn Grant

This decision reflects the strength of globalisation forces in British football. Many Cardiff City fans will be unhappy, although equally they would have been unhappy if they had lost the much needed investment in the club from Malaysia. Building the Cardiff City brand in Asia will be a tough challenge even if they get promoted to the Premier League.



Dr Sue Bridgewater, football marketing expert from the Warwick Business School, also warns that the club may lose more fans than it hopes to gain with the colour switch:

Sue BridgewaterMarketing and branding theory, as well as the collective knowledge of football marketers would say “expect a massive backlash…” The transition period will not be easy, and the club may lose loyal local fans in an attempt to gain new fans. It may well end up being counter-productive. An expensive and unpopular move, although the publicity gained for the club in the process might appeal to anyone who believes that there is "no such thing as bad publicity."

Ironically, introducing a red away strip, for use in those markets where this matters, might have passed almost unobserved and gone some way to achieving the desired effect in the East Asian markets...


You can read more from Dr Sue Bridgewater about the re-branding here.

More on this story from the BBC.