ZEBRE PARMA: NEW LOGO UNVEILED

08/10/2022

Parma, 10th August 2022 - New colors, same identity. Zebre is changing its logo but not its vocation of fostering and developing the best young talents in Italian rugby, taking the field every weekend against the leading formations of Europe, the United Kingdom and South Africa representing the entire movement.

Ahead of the 2022/23 season in the two international United Rugby Championship and EPCR Challenge Cup tournaments, the federal franchise has unveiled its new logo, which from this year will proudly reflect the yellow-blue color scheme, in homage to and in perfect adherence with the color motif of the City of Parma, the city that has hosted and supported the North West XV at the Lanfranchi Stadium and on the prestigious world stages of the rugby since 2012.

A chromatic restyling that, in addition to underlining the club's bond and sense of belonging with the territory, intends to reiterate the strategic development project of the federal franchise, eager to establish itself as a reference point for athletes, fans, partners and business models in a geographic area with a strong and ambitious business fabric, a lively and receptive network of institutions, inhabitants and associative realities and a historic and passionate rugby movement.

Michele Dalai - CEO of Zebre Parma
Our decision to have a new Logo, which is actually a fairly complete reinterpretation of the already existing Logo because it does not change the graphic meaning, it changes the colours, which however are central to this change, and we add a fundamental word, which is Parma. It is not an attempt but the awareness that we must take root in a way that is not only symbolic to the place where we play, a place that historically hosts Rugby, that loves it, that plays it and that follows it. Well... we would like to represent ourselves as a small national team of this great territory, which is the North West, which is not only Parma, which is Emilia, which is the whole area around Lombardy and Tuscany. But we play here, we play in a stadium that is in Parma and the colours of this city are known to be yellow and blue and we have chosen to marry them to the end, then bringing them even in the first thing that is known about us, that is the first thing you see of us, namely our Logo.
Why is decided to make this evolution now?
We were coming from a clearly difficult season, a season that went through many phases, many interruptions, some due to the Covid drama, others to many other reasons that were central for us: the technical change, the generational change of a team that was beginning to struggle. We wanted to take advantage of this phase of total change in the sporting sector, in the sporting part of our operations, to give a signal... the signal is that we want to deserve this championship, which is a championship that has reached the absolute level of excellence from so many points of view: of communication, of marketing, but above all of sporting performance; here the Zebre, of a large part of last season, are a team that has not deserved this championship, we want not to rebuild an identity, we are the same as before in the sense that we are the same people who are leading a profoundly renewed project, and we want this project to be renewed in everything, even in the image; this is the new corporate course, let's call it that if we want, but it is a long-term sporting project, which starts, I insist, from the simplest things, from the most understandable. Zebre's change is radical and magmatic on the pitch... it must be so off it too.
What response do you expect from the community of Parma, which has hosted and supported Zebre since 2012?
I don't expect any response from the community of Parma, I expect a proposal from us, finally very solid, strong and recognisable. I expect to keep a few promises, I expect to win a few games and enthuse a few people who otherwise we would be tugging at by the jacket to get to this place. Until we are able to meet these expectations it is difficult to make a proposal and receive a response, certainly if all our efforts, all that we are putting in in terms of day-to-day work, in terms of planning, had immediate results I would be very disappointed if this was not followed by a little more enthusiasm.
What is the big challenge for Zebre today and what future prospects do you see for the club?
The big challenge for Zebre is to deserve this championship; I insist, deserving it means not necessarily setting a minimum number of victories, although it would be necessary, but about these things I leave it to Franco Tonni and Fabio Roselli to speak, what for me is a great victory it would be to see this stadium full as it was in some of the last games of last year, to see kids and youngsters who set themselves the primary goal of their sporting career to play for the Zebras, and that is to produce solid players for the Italian national team, because this is the mandate we have from FIR and this is the real goal of Zebras, but also of Benetton. We have to compete, and so compete is a word that has been missing from Zebre's vocabulary for so many years, and then above all we have to produce... We have to produce players who complete their cycle here and then represent with the national team jersey the best of Italian Rugby which is what we have to be.

The new logo "Zebre Parma" keeps on the snout of the stylized zebra the colors of the Italian flag, representing the whole movement and the clubs of the "Zebre Family" that are its expression; the other graphic elements adopt the pantone shades of the logo of the City of Parma, depicting the yellow-blue color scheme in the mane and, under the design of the rugby ball, the name of the team already promoted and welcomed in Italy and abroad last season.

A novelty already prepared, introduced as a natural continuation of a technical and corporate project of growth. From this point of view, the replacement of the multicolor motif that has distinguished the club's corporate image since the 2017/18 season is not surprising. An emblem par excellence of the concept of inclusion, the rainbow color scheme expresses a sensitivity and attention that Zebre has always respected and supported, as demonstrated by the many social responsibility initiatives undertaken over the years; a commitment to the struggles for civil rights, equity, respect and inclusiveness that the North West XV has internalized and now, all the more reason to strengthen and promote.

Statements from the CEO of Zebre Parma Michele Dalai: "The new logo reiterates the colours and puts a word in the middle, namely 'Parma', which is important to us. We finally want to represent ourselves as a small national team of this great territory that is the North West of Italy and that has in Parma the home of international rugby. The colours of this city are yellow and blue and we have chosen to marry them, highlighting them in the very first things that tell us, namely the logo and the jersey. We don't want to reconstruct an identity, but to embark on a long-term project that starts from the simple things, from the most understandable. It is another proof of trust that the Federation wants to show and give to this territory, but it is not a leap in the dark, nor a foregone move. The big challenge now will be to deserve to compete in such a prestigious championship as the United Rugby Championship, bringing results in sporting terms, in terms of contributing to the training of players for the national team, and in terms of involving a growing number of people and supporters around our club".