Hamish Bidwell
The Hawke's Bay Rugby Union (HBRU) board has unanimously decided on the Magpies logo it believes will carry the province to premier division status.
HBRU chairman Richard Hunt said the board was presented with three potential logos by local advertising agencies Adplus, Creative and Vernon King and wasted no time
in selecting the one which, he said, best conveyed the union's values.
"We chose the one where the magpie has its wings wrapped around the word," Mr Hunt said.
"That's the one we liked and when you see it along with some of the brochures that went with it, it was an easy decision."
Aside from appearing on the Magpies' jersey, the new logo will also adorn all the HBRU's stationary and promotional material. With that in mind, Mr Hunt said it was vital that the new logo reflected the nurturing, inclusive image that the HBRU was trying to portray.
"The way it was explained to us, it's almost as if the magpie is cradling the word 'Magpies'. It's almost looking after it, which appealed to us and also the aggressive look in its eye typifies the Magpie spirit as well.
"I can't say which agency it came from but I can say that we were very impressed with what we saw. I mean, I'm a truck driver you're a journalist and most of us probably forget how much goes into a thing like this.
"They (the agencies) actually put a lot of thought into exactly what a magpie is and when they explained it, it really gave us an insight into how that arrived at their designs."
Mr Hunt said the agencies' brief had been to come up with a logo that reflected what the HBRU saw as its key attributes. Things like accountability, professionalism, transparency, inclusiveness, pride, success and leadership, which were all part of the new HBRU structure.
He also wanted to remind people that the motivation for this re-branding project had not been to improve the Magpies' performance on the field.
Many people had commented that new logos or playing colours would not make the Magpies a better team, but that was never the intention.
Mr Hunt said the logo was all about marketability and presenting prospective sponsors with an image of an organisation that was progressive and ambitious, something that he said the new logo did well.
