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+---- Thread: S81 PT #2: Place To Be (/showthread.php?tid=141601)
RE: S81 PT #2: Place To Be - ec06aaj - 03-01-2025
Option 2: The brand absolutely needs to have more of a connection to its new home that just sounding fun. To take an example, the London Leopards would be alright as something that sounds good, but leopards have nothing to do with London or England as a whole. The London Lions, on the other hand, have a lot more play - the lions on the coat of arms, the Three Lions being our soccer team, the lions at the base of Nelson's Column, all of this makes it feel like the marketing exec who's come up with the concept has put some thought into it rather than "duhhh two things start with same letter".
Similarly, colour scheme plays into it. If the London Lions hit the ice wearing green or orange I'd raise an eyebrow because it doesn't make sense - the flag is red, white and blue and lions would lend themselves nicely to a golden colour, and if you can't make an nice-looking set of branding from that you're not even trying.
RE: S81 PT #2: Place To Be - Nike - 03-01-2025
Home is my favorite place to visit. Every season we only get a few times to get back to New England but every time we do for me its the best couple of trips for the year. As someone who grew up in New England, getting to play at TD Garden, where I watched all of my favorite players growing up is just a treat. I'll never get over how cool it is to play on the ice at the arena where I first discovered my love of hockey. There are tons of other great cities to enjoy in the league, whether its Tampa Bay's warm weather in the midst of the winter or New Orleans great food and culture. There are so many wonderful places to explore each time we go on a roadie with our Chicago squad. But none of those places quite have the same level of comfort as home does (and they never will) and as a result I get to really just enjoy a trip to see my family and be back in the place that grew me into this kind of player.
RE: S81 PT #2: Place To Be - sulovilen - 03-01-2025
Written option 2
Here are my cornerstones for a good fake hockey brand:
- Since the current teams are all in North America, I think it should stay that way, even though it limits the brands and especially locations quite a bit. Having club teams from different continents playing each other is not really a hockey thing. But basically any North American city would do it for me.
- For team name, I don't think there are any rules or restrictions. Name is an important element, but I think even a very creative or odd name can be good, if the team has a solid brand story. And what is the brand story?
- To me a brand story is mostly the origin story of the team. Why is the team in the city where it is and where does the name and logo come from? The name and logo should have some kind of a connection to the area, whether it's history, nature, landmark or something else that has a relation to the area. This is by far the most important thing.
- Once there is a brand story, the visual appearance should just embody that story as well as possible. But for that it's very hard to spell out rules or guidelines. As long as there's a good vibe, it's all good.
RE: S81 PT #2: Place To Be - roquefort - 03-01-2025
2.
I think it's difficult to come up with a GOOD expansion brand. When I discovered the SHL expanding, I like many others had a flood of ideas rush to my large rodent brain speculating on where I would start a new team if I was given the chance. I like that the SHL requires any submissions to ALSO be an application to GM that team, that's a great way to weed out the meme submissions. Anyways, I 'd love to see an expansion team break the mould and expand the SHL overseas. I don't understand why a sim hockey league has to be restricted to just North America, it feels like a massive loss of opportunity to include other countries, cities, and people who are underrepresented in the hockey world. I also find a lot of the current teams to be pretty damn boring, so it would be sweet to see something a little more fresh and exotic. Location aside, I think the team needs a really good logo/name. While some other leagues I play in focus on the "team" I think it's a lot of fun how attached people in the SHL are to their branding, and a fun mascot can bring a lot of life and personality to the team.
RE: S81 PT #2: Place To Be - jbay7 - 03-01-2025
Jarrod Lakemore is a huge fan of visiting Tampa. Though they aren't in the same division, they are in the same conference and he has gotten a chance to stay there a fair number of times throughout his career. The weather there is generally quite nice throughout the hockey season and depending on when he visits, he may have a chance to spend time at some of their pristine beaches, something he does not frequently get to do. More than that though he just finds the city to be quite interesting. He loves exploring the historic Ybor City neighborhood and enjoying its unique architecture and culture. There's always some new interesting restaurant or gallery to find and he loves the mix of different influences found there. Tampa also has a bunch of interesting museums to see. Beyond just the big ones like the Tampa Museum of Art, Lakemore likes some of the niche, smaller ones, like the pinball Museum, home to hundreds of retro pinball machines that are all working and playable for a cheap flat fee. It's a great city and a nice juxtaposition against the colder, more German influenced city of Buffalo. (197 words)
RE: S81 PT #2: Place To Be - Rojjter - 03-01-2025
![[Image: leo4cuppoutine.png]](https://i.ibb.co/4Zyv4gbz/leo4cuppoutine.png)
Leo visits Quebec, to eat some poutine out of the 4 nation cup after beating them in the finals.
RE: S81 PT #2: Place To Be - Ohtaay - 03-01-2025
Expansion expansion expansion. Now I feel like this might be one of the questions that has many different answers but similar answers at the same time. For me when looking into an expansion team the first thing that must be considered is the location and the fan base. With our sister League the NHL we can see that expansion team so far I've mostly went to the states in order to try to grow the fan base there. That being said there are some deserving Canadian locations I could probably support a team however they see longer term growth in the United States. Once your location is settled on and I feel like there is many locations to pick from. It then falls into picking a strong brand and logo that fans can get behind and support in merchandise jerseys and so on. You will never make everyone happy with your team choice and your logo choice but you have to get it right and try not to ruffle too many feathers.
170+
RE: S81 PT #2: Place To Be - lunaripcole - 03-01-2025
ISFL Affiliate
RE: S81 PT #2: Place To Be - Gaia Mormont - 03-01-2025
Written Option 1;
As a young kid growing up in Iceland, Elvar Gil-Galad always had a picture of the New York skyline in his room. He loved the thought of such a busy city existing in a world. The bright lights, the bustle of the daily grind. This fascinated a kid whose only lights at night time were the moon, stars and the aurora on occasion.
The first trip to Manhattan to play the Rage last season was such a great moment. Flying in at night and seeing the world lit up beneath him brought such a strange sense of euphoria. Elvar ditched the team meeting to go on a personal quest to find the greatest slice and hopped bar to bar just absolutely loving life. The Syndicate played an afternoon game do ELvar managed to take in a show on Broadway and sat for half an hour after the show was done just in complete awe of this world that he had never known. It was an amazing experience.
RE: S81 PT #2: Place To Be - lore - 03-01-2025
Code:
prompt 2 - 198 wordsLocation is key in that you need a city with a population that can support a full ass hockey team, at the very least in the long-term if not the short-term. So step 1 is a very big, very populated city. Sheer numbers will help an expansion team overcome a lack of (initial) fanbase until they can win more and more people over. Branding is what casual people will recognize first before anything else, for better or for worse, so it had better be memorable. The trend for logos is leaning more and more towards being uncomplicated and bold, or cleeeeeaaaaaannnn as I like to say. When the branding is too busy and complicated it can be less memorable, or very memorable for all the wrong reasons. In terms of the relationship between the team's branding and location, it seems universally preferred for there to be some sort of connection to the home city, even if it is a small or lesser known connection. It gives locals a sense of ownership/kinship with the team, and everyone else some learning material. For example, I had no freaking idea that panthers were endemic to Florida, and now I do!
RE: S81 PT #2: Place To Be - SFresh3 - 03-01-2025
Graphic Option 2:
Boos rain down as @WannabeFinn takes the stage.
![[Image: W6OMsSQ.jpeg]](https://i.imgur.com/W6OMsSQ.jpeg)
RE: S81 PT #2: Place To Be - Tesla - 03-01-2025
Written Option 1
Agent Tesla: I apologize I have to interrupt you right at the start there Mister Morgan as my player mostly travels with me via my planeswalker spark. Why waste a plane ticket on him when with a snap of my fingers we can be anywhere in the multiverse?
Interviewer: Um, well then is it safe to say that means he does not actually get to spend any extended time visiting other cities?
Agent Tesla: Yes and no. He gets to spend as much time in other cities as the rest of the team out of my interest in maintaining team chemistry. Just means that when they are boarding a plane to go home I save them the hassle of traveling with the walking corpse.
Interviewer: Okay so then the rest of the questions on the prompter should still be ones that can be answered. Please?
Agent Tesla: Fair enough. There are two cities that would be at the top of Dave's list when it comes to these questions. Baltimore home of the Platoon for the reason of getting to visit Annapolis while we are there which in his homeworld was where he played with the Angels and got to play for the Stanley Cup. I think it reminds him of home because of that and gives him some comfort in that regard.
Interviewer: Interesting! What is the other city that you would say tops his list?
Agent Tesla: That would easily be Seattle as that is my personally preferred city and I believe he has realized that as I tend to be softer when that is where we are going. Anything to ease the pressure you know how lazy some people can be.
Interviewer: Don't you literally work him to death on a nigh daily basis?
Agent Tesla: Well yeah, but I revive him after so it is fine.
Code:
Word Count: 309RE: S81 PT #2: Place To Be - Shiamus - 03-01-2025
Graphic Option #2 -[attachment=730]
RE: S81 PT #2: Place To Be - Dhoop - 03-01-2025
PBE Affiliate
RE: S81 PT #2: Place To Be - LeakyCink - 03-01-2025
Chuck Lumbermouth likes visiting Thunder Bay because its fairly close to his home in Minnesota. Not only is he comfortable there, but he gets to visit family and friends, which he does not get to do very often. Yukon is a long way away from home, even though its home now too, so its hard to get back often. Thunder Bay is close enough that if they can find one free day he can visit family for a bit. Even if he can't get to Minnesota, family can make it up to Thunder Bay to watch him play, and its on the lake, which feels like home anyway to Chuck. Once he makes it to the SHL he will be able to visit Minnesota for games from time to time as well.