MICR Rebrand!!!
If you are reading this, there is a good chance that you’ve played a role in giving our logo meaning over the past decade. At the end of the day, a logo is just some shapes and colors that are given meaning by those it represents. Marketing professionals, who we will tell you more about below, would say that you helped create ‘brand equity’ for a logo that makes us think about the incredible community that you have helped us build.
Our logo is etched into memories that mean the world to so many. Over 2,400 MICR teammates and alums along with their families, supporters, partners, opponents, advocates, and friends wear shirts, hoodies, hats, and pants sporting that logo today. If you wear your MICR swag at a rugby tournament, an airport, or around Memphis, don’t be surprised if someone comes up to say, Hey! We love our original logo because it has become the emblem of an incredibly unlikely and special journey that has been defined by the most amazing kids, alumni and families in the world. It’s a journey that has forever #changedthegame.
As we orient ourselves to a new decade of service, double down on our mission with more programs and full-time program staff, we were presented with a rare and incredible opportunity to leverage this inflection point in our growth to create a new brand for MICR: one that gives our kids and our community a vibrant and representative brand comparable in scope and quality to what a massive company like Nike would receive, provides them with something they can wear with pride and serves as a rally to continue our relentless journey towards becoming the best organization that we can be for kids that deserve nothing less.
This journey began in2019 when The New Company came to Memphis to create a ‘Dream Crazier’ documentary short about our FPA Girls State Championship run in partnership with Nike. We quickly learned that the folks at NewCo were more than just filmmakers and designers: they believed in our kids and had a heart for Memphis. They genuinely and responsively worked in partnership with us and our community and created an authentic story to highlight the incredible assets within it.
Throughout the pandemic, we stayed in touch with NewCo as they offered paid internships to MICR alums who worked for NewCo remotely. Our alums learned from some of the best creators in the industry, who also volunteered their time to design new jerseys for us and always leveraged the full weight of their platform to promote our kids. In 2021, we invited the founder of The New Company, Matt Luckhurst, to join our board of directors.
And yet, they are not just great human beings. ..
The NewCo ranks among the most prolific and cutting edge marketing and design organizations in the country, routinely contracted by the likes of Nike, Ralph Lauren, BMW, EA Sports, Venmo and beyond. It was The NewCo that decided, with a monumental anniversary on the horizon, MICR’s kids deserved the same type of focus, attention, and creativity that their biggest clients receive . Just like that, The NewCo team adopted MICR as pro-bono clients and began a holistic and thoughtful rebrand project that ran for over 10 months.
While The New Company came up with many incredible ideas and possibilities for our new brand, they empowered our kids and community to make their voice heard throughout the process. NewCo spoke with kids, alums, families, and staff to determine what qualities in the MICR community needed to be considered in these new designs, and when options were presented to MICR to choose from, students and alumni were the first to review and make their decisions. To supplement their design work, NewCo even conducted their own search for a local Memphis photographer to help us capture the spirit of our young people in a 2-day photoshoot, leading them to 1Dot (an extremely talented former Memphis rugger) who is now a member of the MICR family.
As we march ahead into our next decade of service, we do so proudly sporting a new look that represents the culture, spirit, and history of Memphis Inner City Rugby. We are incredibly thankful for The New Company’s sacrifices, investment, creativity and love that has brought this new brand to life. We look forward to making new memories and meaning with you, MICR family, that our new logo will come to represent as we push forward into the next decade of #ChangingTheGame.
