The Olds Grizzlys officially unveiled three new logos for the team just before tee-off time for its first annual Friends of the Grizzlys Classic golf tournament at the Olds Golf Club June 1.
There are three logos altogether.
The main one shows an angry grizzly bear standing up grabbing with his claws a hockey stick that has seen better days. Below are the words Olds Grizzlys. A puck also zooms out from below. The second Z in Grizzlys is kind of streaked. The image is partly framed by an upside down triangle.
A second logo shows the same angry grizzly with the hockey stick surrounded by a circle. The words Olds Grizzlys are inside that circle, along with three stars.
A third logo shows the angry grizzly holding the same hockey stick, only this time it's busted.
All three logos retain the traditional Grizzlys colours: yellow, black and white.
Grizzlys sales and marketing manager Brady Sims unveiled the logos.
The first one is the team's main logo. Sims and club president Darcy Dallas said it will appear on the team's jerseys in time for the 2018-19 season.
The second one will be the players' shoulder patch and appears on other merchandise, like baseball caps.
The third one will appear on players' helmets and could serve as the crest for a third jersey, Sims said.
"As you can see, we wanted to keep the primary focus of our new brand on the grizzly bear and I think we did that successfully with all the logos," Sims said.
The team also unveiled a word mark which simply says Olds Grizzlys, with the angry grizzly bear's face between the words Olds and Grizzlys. Once again the second Z in Grizzly is streaked.
Sims said the word mark will be "sold on select merchandise" and will be used on all official Grizzlys letterhead.
Reporters asked Dallas why the new logos were created.
"It was more because we want to show the community that we are going in a different direction," Dallas said. "This is a different organization than past years. Even though the history of the team's great, the last few years (weren't), so the town didn't really buy into it.
"So now, with the new logo and the new team and the new coaching staff, pretty much everything's new, so we decided to go with the new brand to launch the new team," he said.
It was pointed out to Dallas that money spent to develop this brand could have used for other things.
"It really wasn't too much. We think in the long run the new branding will be very beneficial for us financially because we'll be able to sell merchandise again to all the kids and adults around -- our fans -- who will want to purchase the new brand," Dallas said.
He said the brand was sourced and developed locally.
"All the money stayed here in the community of Olds," Dallas said.
He said it took about three weeks to come up with and approve the logos and it took about a month and a half to organize the golf tournament.
Dallas was amazed how quickly the tournament sold out.
"As soon as we put it out there it took two weeks to fill. It was absolutely amazing," he said. "The only bad part there's a lot of local people who wanted to golf in it who weren't able to because it sold out so quickly."
This past weekend, the Grizzlys held a top 40 camp in Penhold.
Dallas was pumped about that too.
"We've got some amazing players coming; kids that we didn't think we'd have a chance to sign, so that's looking amazing right now," he said.
Dallas said dates for the Grizzlys' training camp have not yet been set. He expects it will be held during the weekend of Aug. 17 or the Aug. 24.
