Kooga now BLK?

[Slim 293]

So I haven't been able to find any information aside from a Rebels' tweet.........

But apparently Kooga has rebranded as BLK (in Australia/NZ).

I assume this is not on all jerseys as the Wallabies still cary 'Kooga'?

Anyways, an example:

 

[TOCC]

Yes the owners of Kooga have started BLK, it even uses the same office.
But all Kooga products aren't been rebranded as BLK... not yet anyway..
Its likely to do with the licensing of the Kooga brand since its in partnership/license with Kooga UK..

 

[Slim 293]

So far the Brumbies and Rebels have the BLK logo, and I assume the Reds and the Force will follow suit?

 

[RugbyReg]

Reds won't.

 

[FiveStarStu]

KooGa are going to be changing most - if not all - of the products they can sell overseas, to BLK. It's because they don't own the KooGa brand in NZ.

 

[Badger]

So there are three "brands"=> KooGa, BLK and Seviin. Sounds like a bit of brand dilution there. I can't recall any other jersey supplier doing this.

Any reason why they don't own the brand name internationally?

 

[Jets]

It's owned in Australia under a licence from the UK company. The SeVIIn brand is targeted solely at the 7's market and is probably due in part to not owning the Kooga brand internationally. Now that Kooga Aust is a successful business they probably want to own their brand internationally.

 

[RugbyFuture]

Kooga UK is much bigger and have been around much longer as well as Kooga Australia being successful on their own, still not a great rebrand if they do it fully.

 

[Tangawizi]

This was in the Fiji Sun. Wouldn't be surprised if Wallabies and Reds eventually become BLK too as it seems to be a Kooga Aus v Kooga UK dispute.

http://www.fijisun.com.fj/2012/10/21/kooga-company-plans-to-manufacture-here-in-fiji/

KooGa, Seviin and BLK

Mr Brant said that people would have noted a change on the brand logo on Digicel Sevens and Flying Fijians rugby jerseys.
“The Fijian people would have seen the seven’s team wearing the garment with seviin on it while the Flying Fijians wearing a garment which has BLK on it. This has caused a lot of confusion in the marketplace regarding this. We got asked thousands of times as to what is going on.
“The Brant family owns KooGa in Australia. However, we don’t own the KooGa brand for the Northern Hemisphere.
“We were building the brand for them in England and they were not doing anything. So, we thought to buy the brand for our regions.
“There were seven teams in the World Cup who wore KooGa and all from us, none from the Northern Hemisphere.
“We were doing all the work but they were benefiting from it. On their website, they had all our teams on it and we could not do anything about it.
“All these guys were buying products and paid us royalties but we were hardly getting anything in return. KooGa England did not allow us to distribute it ourselves.
“So we decided to launch seviin by KooGa Australia and BLK by KooGa Australia. Everything else is the same and the quality is the best around but that is the only difference,” he said.
Mr Brant flies out of Fiji today and will be back later in the month for further talks regarding the factory.

 

[Blue]

BLK? WTF?

 

[Grandmaster Flash]

Wallabies running out with BLK on their shirts. This the first time?

 

[Jets]

Yes it was. They will wear it for the tour and switch to Asics next year.

 

[Slim 293]

It's a shame the ARU can't contract Adidas to do the job.........

The new French jersey:

 

[TOCC]

It helps that the French don't have a sponsor on their jersey

 

[Slim 293]

They could be sponsored by "Vagisil" and it would still be more visually appealing than anything the Wallabies have run out in for the past 7 years.........

 

[TheBigDog]

Yes it was. They will wear it for the tour and switch to Asics next year.

I thought Asics were only going to be the boots/shoe sponser for the ARU? I haven't actually seen anyone in a jersey by them before...

 

[Slim 293]

I thought Asics were only going to be the boots/shoe sponser for the ARU? I haven't actually seen anyone in a jersey by them before.

Nah, they'll be the new jersey supplier.........

Apparently they'll be doing the Boks too?

They already do Castres, as well as the Penrith Panthers in the NRL..........

 

[Jets]

A few Japanese teams use Asics too.

 

[TheBigDog]

Ah true, well will be interesting to see the new design.

Getting back to the Kooga to BLK chat - i'm assuming that means all club and school sides who are sponsered by Kooga will be getting the rebranding then if they currently hold a contract? I know some of the QLD schools rep sides have already been given the BLK gear as well.

 

[flat_eric]

From a marketing perspective, why the rebrand in the first place? As a relatively new player in the sporting merchandise business, it has probably taken them this long to cut through as a distinctive brand - yet now they want to start again with something as unidentifiable as 'BLK'?