O’Neills
The Mission
Some brands are just iconic. O’Neills is absolutely one of them. Ireland’s largest sportswear manufacturer, synonymous with sport and GAA, it’s a brand that is part of so many people’s lives, across every county in Ireland and beyond these shores too.
The team at O’Neills had a very clear objective for this project. They recognised the changing needs and aspirations of their consumer base. The rise of athleisure meant the O’Neills brand was becoming increasingly relevant to a new group of consumers beyond simply the sports set. It was also catering to a wider global consumer base. This presented a unique opportunity to extend the brand further into the lifestyle space. In order to do that, we needed to develop a positioning and icon mark that would allow the brand to seamlessly expand its retail range. So, to say we were excited to partner with the team at O’Neills on this mission is an understatement!
The process
How do you create an icon for an icon?
The O’Neills brand already had so many great assets in its toolkit. Our job was to create a new one that would fit right in. But we had to do our groundwork first. We started at O’Neills HQ, where we were blown away by the extent of what we saw. A vertically integrated operation, with each stage of the process overseen, from the knitting of yarn through to dyeing, cutting, sewing, printing and embroidery.
This unique set-up was a key differentiator for O’Neills. In an age of buydeology, this was a home grown Irish brand with a traceable supply chain and quality at its core. The fact that the brand could stand over every single item it produced was a rich and compelling story for the consumer.
A brand workshop with the O’Neills team allowed us to drill down further into the brand’s DNA. It also provided a platform for a cross-section of the team to get involved and help to shape and define a dynamic new brand strategy.
The outcome
We created a unique set of brand values and a positioning line – Live for it. This powerful line captures the passion at the heart of the O’Neills brand, both from the internal team and its many brand fans. It also asserts the brand’s position and relevance beyond the pitch.
The strategic work set the direction for crafting the brand’s new icon. There was a careful balance to strike. This brand had more than one hundred years of history behind it and we had to be mindful of this. The new icon needed to represent the brand’s rich heritage, while also expressing where the brand intended to go in the future.
The icon immortalised the brand’s GAA roots, taking its cues from the stitching of a Gaelic football. This had special significance for the brand as it was the first ever product made by Charles O’Neill in 1918. Because of the brand’s global audience, it was executed in a subtle way to ensure that it connected across a diverse range of consumers, from athletes and sports fans to athleisurewear acolytes.
