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On Tuesday, the Toronto Tempo revealed their inaugural burgundy “Explorer” and white “Heroine” jerseys, introducing the first on-court identity of the expansion franchise.
On a day that should have been characterized by excitement, engagement and enthusiasm, however, the Tempo’s jersey reveal instead sparked criticism.
The Tempo had teased the drop over social media on Monday, rallying fans behind the future of their optics. Following up on swelling anticipation, they decided to launch the jersey post at… 6 a.m. ET on Tuesday?
Marketing professionals know that social media engagement is driven by compacted momentum: You want everyone to see your product at the same time to fuel conversations. Not only were Toronto residents themselves barely awake for the drop, half of North America was cold asleep.
This isn’t exactly the end of the world, but an early morning launch for the franchises biggest announcement in months was just the start of the Tempo’s marketing shortcomings.
Has WNBA jersey branding gone too far?
Once the WNBA fanbase finally woke up to see the jerseys, excitement was clouded by a handful of concerns. The elephant in the room, or perhaps on the jersey, was the gargantuan CIBC, or Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, brand logo on the front of the jerseys.
WNBA jerseys have been capitalist billboards for over a decade now. Remember when some jerseys didn’t even say the name of the city or team? Maya Moore used to suit up for the Mayo Clinic, and Elena Delle Donne for GEICO.
The corporate infestation of jerseys is far from unique to the WNBA, but as a league that historically struggled to generate substantial profits, the W has embraced it to a further extent than other professional American sports leagues.
In such a tense moment for league profitability and revenue share, it’s not realistic to ask teams to drop their jersey sponsors. However, the CIBC logo actually uses a bigger font than the Tempo logo itself. Other jersey sponsors, like Liberty Mutual for the New York Liberty and UCLA Health for the Los Angeles Sparks, are significantly smaller than the team name itself, making them more of an afterthought than a dominating feature.
The Tempo jersey is an ode to the dark history of WNBA jersey branding, rather than a modern fusion of brand partnerships and aesthetic autonomy.
What explains the Tempo’s colorway change?
Even more damning than the CIBC logo itself is the jersey colorway.
Fans quickly pointed out that the jersey colorway is a strange departure from the Tempo’s previous branding. Rather than the plum purple that was introduced as the team’s primary color, the jerseys have a much more red-ish, wine-colored hue, coined “Tempo Bordeaux.”
If you compare at the team logo side-by-side with the jerseys, the change in color becomes painfully obvious. A look back at the coloring used for the team’s announcement of the hiring of head coach Sandy Brondello, arguably the organization’s most important decision that would seem to demand the correct branding, also highlights the inauspicious shift.
It didn’t take long for fans to theorize the reason behind such a noticeable color change.
While burgundy may not be the featured color of the Tempo logo, it is the main colorway of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. Not only has the CIBC logo sullied the lettering of the jersey, the team may have decided to depart from their franchise colors in favor of CIBC brand guidelines.
The decision to use a warmer burgundy in the team’s inaugural jerseys isn’t definitively linked to their partnership with CIBC, but it’s certainly hard to ignore the obvious change in colors when deprived of any other potential reason. It’s always possible that the original plum color just didn’t look good on jersey samples.
What are your thoughts on the Tempo jersey “controversy”? Do you think the expansion franchise caved to the desires of their corporate sponsor? Or, is all this much huffing and puffing about nothing? Share your thoughts and more on The Feed.
Either way, the Tempo have found a unique way to reignite the flame of WNBA commercialism before ever stepping foot on a basketball court. Any money that can flow back to the pockets of the players will always be a bonus, but it’s safe to say that the Tempo are treading on thin ice with their fans.
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