The Arizona Coyotes needed to articulate their vision and ambition: To be a future-proof hockey team. As the NHL’s youngest team, located in the desert, and with no legacy baggage holding them back, our task was to give The Coyotes a new, modern edge that mirrored the big bets they’re taking on diversity, inclusion, and culture. From diverse leadership hires to a robust youth hockey presence, it was time to push this initiative from inside the franchise to the ice.

We democratized the sport of hockey, opening doors to anyone and everyone, by focusing on one key word:

“WE”

Hockey for all.

Hockey The Coyotes way.

We looked closely at the past cultural barriers that might have kept people away from hockey, and embraced the place and people the team needed to represent.

We reimagined what a hockey team and their fans could and should look like by putting them on the forefront of the work. That meant representation. Not of hockey’s tired conventions, but of the real people who we see as the future of the team. People from all walks of life. All languages. All races, genders and backgrounds. Everyone from young students to business owners to athletes. Those who are fans but are underrepresented and those who are underrepresented but can become fans.

It’s no secret that hockey is still a predominantly white sport. Its history is filled with latino and African-American players that changed the ice forever but never made it to the NHL or the hall of fame. The Arizona Coyotes, an ice hockey team born and built in the least likely place for hockey to take root, needed to step into a new identity, and celebrate their unlikely origins and invite the state to reimagine what hockey fans and a hockey team can look like.

Authenticity and inclusivity are magnetic. As one of league’s youngest teams, located in the warmest climate in country, and with a scrappy roster and lots of ambition, we doubled down on the authentic traits of the community that surrounds the ice.

The complete redesign started with the team’s logo and colors. We brought the beloved Kachina logo back to the forefront in a palette informed directly by colors found in the Arizona landscape and the broad spectrum of communities who call AZ home. The Kachina mask itself became an element that we used to quickly and graphically invite Arizonans, and the broader Southwest, to be a part of the team.

The top-to-bottom redesign worked in tandem with films and photography used across a multitude of channels, serving as a tribute to the diversity of its people and the place. Shot on location across Arizona, the work featured real Arizonans from across the spectrum, bringing new and unexpected faces into the outward representation of the team and brand. No criteria. No casting call. Just real people, languages, beliefs, genders, and backgrounds, presenting a new vision of hockey as it should be.

The rebrand of the Arizona Coyotes successfully expressed the team’s vision for a more diverse and inclusive era for Hockey.

The new design system garnered 64 pieces of earned media coverage with a combined audience of 908M, sparking conversation around the need of a more diverse NHL.

Game ticket sales for the season surpassed sales goals of $25M by 4.7%.

The Kachina limited edition of 10,000 jerseys sold out online in the first three days of launch.

Website traffic experienced the highest social growth in the past five seasons.

The online films received 4.39M online views and in social media reached 96.5M with 31.3K engagements and 4.82K shares, driving home the message of inclusion and reinforcing the notion that hockey is for all.