WWE has officially unveiled a new logo that it will use to rebrand the company -- only its fourth since 1982 when it operated as World Wrestling Federation.
The logo will look familiar to WWE fans, since it's the same image that debuted in January when the company introduced the WWE Network at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The digital streaming service officially launched Feb. 24.
The new branding will start to roll out over the next several weeks and start appearing on the company's "Raw" and "SmackDown" shows, that air on USA Network and Syfy, as well as on its championship belts, consumer products, websites, apps and on the sides of production trucks that travel to each of its live events. It also will make an appearance in some form at this Sunday's "SummerSlam" pay-per-view in Los Angeles, its second most popular event after "WrestleMania."
To launch the logo, which looks more modern with sharp edges, WWE's chairman and CEO Vince McMahon tweeted the new look after raising a flag with the moniker over the company's Stamford, Conn., headquarters on Friday.
WWE's most recent logo debuted in 2002 and marked the first time the company operated as WWE, rather than WWF. That image was an evolution of the WWF logo, simply dropping the letter F. Both had the same hand-drawn look.
"The new logo is a representation of the evolution of the WWE brand," Stephanie McMahon, WWE's chief brand officer told Variety.
WWE hadn't initially planned on having the WWE Network logo represent the entire company, but "there was a wonderful response" to it in January, and "it represented everything we wanted to say to the marketplace," McMahon said.
"Everything from the hard edges and the sleek coloring expresses a contemporary feel and demonstrates we're always looking ahead," McMahon added. "It was really important to capture the core of the WWE."
The digital network, now available in over 170 countries, offers up all of WWE's pay-per-views, including "WrestleMania," original programming and access to its library of footage for $9.99 a month, "is one of the biggest launches that the WWE has ever put into the marketplace," McMahon said, so it only felt right to use that logo for our company. It didn't just represent the way the network was forward-thinking about how we distribute our content but the entire business."
To come up with the look, WWE turned to its inhouse team of designers.
"We didn't want to completely change our brand image," McMahon said. "That's why we kept the red and black colors. It's been a staple of our company for 15 years and represents the bold nature of what we do."
WWE rebrands with new logo tied to digital network | Boston Herald
