Colour is one of the most powerful identifiers a brand can have. And if there's one sector that highlights the power of colour in branding, its sport. Some teams are even informally named after their colours: the 'blues', the 'reds'. And that can set things up for a clash when it comes to front-of-shirt logo sponsorship deals.
Brand placement in football can often be controversial, but the presence of the Red Bull logo on the Leeds United 2024-25 kit seems particularly discordant. Leeds are blue and yellow. The Red bull logo is red, logically. And that happens to be the colour of arch rival Manchester United.
Leeds United's hatred of all things red is very real. It's so strong that even the McDonald’s near the club's Elland Road stadium avoided using red in its signage, and a former Leeds sponsor, 32red, switched the colour of its logo from red to blue when it appeared on the team's shirts.
But Red Bull is a bigger brand, and it seems it wasn't prepared to make such a compromise. That seems like a missed opportunity for the company to win over fans after it became a shareholder in the club. And ultimately, it could be a loss for everyone, since it will harm the club financially if the new kit sells poorly.
"Won't be buying it if there's red on it," one fan wrote on X. "Adidas won't be happy and the club will lose millions. Hopefully Red Bull's sponsorship money will cover that." "Awful. No thought given by Red Bull to the logo colour unlike 32red, who took the fans' comments and went with it. Corporate bullying by a global brand. I won't be buying," someone else wrote. Others attempted to 'fix' the new kit design by turning the Red Bull logo blue.
Much better pic.twitter.com/7aRVMvkZIXJuly 3, 2024
For the record, Leeds did play in red for a time back in 1973. Nevertheless, I think Red Bull has made a misstep here and that it could have found a solution to avoid incurring the animosity of fans. Aside from the significance of red for Leeds, the kit just looks so chaotic with so many colours. This is one reason that brands tend to use their logos in a neutral black or white when they place them on football kits: it avoids a clashing mess of hues. And in this case, a blue bull would have made people notice the branding more.
It's not the first time Leeds United has seen a design controversy. Back in 2018, fans were outraged by a redesign of the Leeds United badge. For recent rebranding exercises with more successful results, see the new Tropicana logo.
