Force Rebrand

For the past 10 years, ABI had been building momentum behind their product, the ABI Force Z-23 to the point where it had become the industry standard of baseball infield grooming with a presence on multiple professional baseball teams’ fields. But it was becoming clear that in order for it to continue to grow, it was time to spin it off to become the cornerstone of a new brand and a new line of products.

As is often the case, the challenge was how to give the new Force brand its own distinct identity while still maintaining connections to and cohesion with the ABI Attachments parent brand so that they wouldn’t clash when presented together.

Since we had a new established ABI Attachments rebrand to play off of, our initial concept exploration was centered around the capital F, the ideas of speed and agility, the zero-turn functionality of the product, and invoking of the style of athletic apparel.

Working within the approved brand architecture of an endorsed brands model, another challenge we had to work through was how to apply the endorsement to the logo design. We worked through multiple options of wording, keeping in mind legal trademark considerations with the assistance of our intellectual property lawyer, and advising the Board of Directors on the strengths and risks of each approach.

In the end, the logo that was selected and approved by the Board of Directors was a concept inspired by Hermes, the Greek deity and messenger of the gods, and the stylized art deco hood ornaments of luxury cars from the 1930’s.

This final version included a wing emblem formed from the crossbars of the capital letter F, a wordmark set in the same typeface as the ABI Attachments logo, and a hurricane symbol in the counter of the letter O as a reference to the zero-turn capabilities of the Force Z-23.