Saturday 12th May 2019 is the day Aston Villa enter the play-offs in the final stretch of this year’s Premiership promotion race in the EFL Championship.
And it seems it’s taken the world to get there, again.
If we rewind to this time last year we see a Villa side in similar circumstances, with a leading figure, in the form of ex-Chelsea superstar and England international, John Terry as assistant coach now and team captain then.
This was a side with less roar and fewer wins under their belt.
Over the last few months, Aston Villa have shown that they’re a side who are ready for the challenge, not by winning enough to just make it, but by breaking records.
Cosmo Jameson — Design Director with SomeOne and lifetime Villa fan — talks us through the clubs journey since the new brand work went live — and its astonishing crescendo of success.
For the first time in the club’s history, back in April, they won ten games on the trot. Their tenth win against Millwall sealed their spot in the play-offs and meant they surpassed their previous best run set back in 1910. Over 100 years of history, marked in 2019 with something special.
In smashing this record, they’ve also become one of 10 sides who have achieved this same feat while playing in the second tier. Since leagues begun.
The signs are pointing upward.
New Brand work = 750% increase in sales
While players such as Abraham, McGinn and VIlla’s top boy, Jack Grealish make the headlines and clean up in the EFL player of the season, top scorer and goal of the month awards.
…As Dean Smith, Villa’s manager, picks up the manager of the month award.
…As kids and big kids across the world play FIFA or head out to the fields with their Villa strip in full glory.
There’s one thing forever present, sitting there, basking in and amplifying glory.
Marking a historic moment in time
The lion.
It’s been three years since the Villans were last in the Premiership.
And three years our branding for Aston Villa has been settling in, growing, evolving and winning for the club.
As much more than a badge, our evolved BrandWorld for Aston Villa has had to work across multiple channels.
In varying forms. From the players shirts, to social posts.
From animations on match-day screens to corporate presentations.
Our adaptable BrandWorld, which celebrated a newly crafted lion, set a high standard for a freshly relegated Villa and provided the commercial means for reclaiming success.
The new records don’t end on the pitch.
Since Villa’s technical partnership with Luke Roper (a globally operating but locally based fashion brand) last year, Villa sold a record amount of kits in a single season, ever.
A 750% increase in sales from the previous season.
That’s a lot of badges.
Front-right and centred sits our lion, cast in all of its textured glory as the shirt badge and patterned across surfaces in small details (as it was designed to be able to do).
The club, has fought back and clawed away.
Batted off the cynics and shown us not just how to win, but how to do it in style.
Helping it along the way, the branding that has proven itself as work that works.
It’s talked the talk, walked the walk and has quite possibly proven to us how commercial success and the power of good design, can positively impact behaviour in a business and on a football pitch.
The final push for promotion starts this Saturday, we’ll be roaring with them
UPDATE: We’re delighted to announce, as you may already know, Villa triumphed and have won their place back in the championship!