Sport is a crowded enterprise, and whereas international leagues just like the NFL and Premier League get pleasure from billion-pound broadcast offers and cross-generational fandom, rising competitions just like the World Supercross Championship must construct from the bottom up. Which means greater than a brand new brand or color palette. It means rethinking what a sports activities model is and who it is actually for.
When the World Supercross Championship approached Zag, the transient wasn’t to “modernise” or copy the massive leagues. The aim was to create a model that would develop with its viewers, rooted in tradition relatively than conference, and enchantment to each long-time followers and people simply discovering the game.
“The breakthrough got here once we stopped pondering of World Supercross as a conventional motorsport and began seeing it as a worldwide subculture,” says James Hurst, companion and chief artistic officer at Zag. “The present fanbase wasn’t on the lookout for polish or status — they wished authenticity, adrenaline, and id.”
Fairly than start with legacy sports activities fashions, Zag’s technique crew solid the online large. They reviewed 31 manufacturers and interviewed traders and insiders, not simply in sport however throughout leisure and creator tradition. They drew inspiration from newer, fan-first codecs like Kings League and Fan Managed Soccer, in addition to the expressive visible identities of music and streetwear, and from reside experiences like Burning Man that mix efficiency and participation.
These references helped the crew perceive what fashionable followers need: shorter, sharper bursts of leisure; a number of methods to interact with the motion; and a way of direct connection to the athletes themselves. The aim wasn’t to sanitise the Supercross id for the mainstream, however to amplify what made it magnetic. “We realised this wasn’t a sport that wanted to be massified; it wanted to be magnified,” says James.
The results of that pondering is a model that is unapologetically itself, beginning with the strategic platform “Make Filth Fly.” Greater than a slogan, the phrase grew to become a artistic and industrial North Star.
“It captured the visceral thrill of the game, it celebrated the subcultural swagger of the group, and it signalled the worldwide ambition to take this expertise to new audiences,” explains James. “It grew to become greater than a line — it was a filter for each artistic determination.”
That positioning wanted an id system to match, and so Zag made some extent of avoiding drained motorsport tropes. “We started with a banned listing: chrome gradients, checkered flags, carbon fibre textures, italicised velocity fonts — something that felt predictable or performative,” James recollects. As an alternative, they constructed from the grime up: tyre treads, terrain marks and movement behaviours shaped the premise of a design language that is each uncooked and expansive.
The brand new brand takes its cues from the observe, incorporating a semiotic metaphor within the type of a knobbly tyre tread “W” mark. A customized typeface, reworked from Area Grotesk, anchors the visible id with confidence and readability. The pictures type favours fisheye views, dynamic crops and gritty textures, leaning into the visible heritage of utmost sports activities whereas making room for recent storytelling.
Probably the most distinctive elements is what Zag calls “The World Canvas.” It is a modular system combining round motifs (echoing planetary movement and the game’s international attain) with tactile graphics constructed from tyre textures and grime trails. The impact is versatile however cohesive and simply tailored throughout reside occasions, social content material, merch, broadcast graphics and past.
“Each asset º from area graphics to movement tiles – may be constructed from the identical system, with simply sufficient flexibility to replicate native vitality and particular person type,” says James.
This was essential for a contest with international ambition. The 2025 season kicks off in October and can see races in Kuala Lumpur, Vancouver, Buenos Aires, Cape City and the Gold Coast. The brand new id helps bridge audiences and geographies whereas staying rooted within the tradition of Supercross itself.
“We wished to construct one thing that felt grounded within the grime however designed to journey,” says James. “The extra we leaned into the authenticity of the group – their language, type, rituals – the extra distinct and exportable the model grew to become.”
That sense of specificity has a industrial goal, too. In a sports activities media setting formed by free-to-air content material, creator-led leagues and viewers fragmentation, Zag’s technique goes past aesthetics. Their discovery work explored new income alternatives, the way forward for broadcast codecs, and fan engagement fashions impressed by esports and digital-first manufacturers. The id system is constructed to flex alongside these ambitions.
For Luisa Fernandez, chief product officer on the World Supercross Championship, the method was about greater than surface-level rebranding. “The Zag crew have been unimaginable at serving to us not simply create a brand new model for our sport, however serving to us obtain our long-term product and progress ambitions,” she says. “They introduced area of interest however related analogues, have been all the time open to problem, and have been a real companion all through.”
As extra challenger leagues look to scale with out merely mimicking the massive gamers, Zag’s strategy provides a blueprint for constructing sports activities manufacturers which can be expressive, culturally literate, and designed to really feel alive.
“The following era of sports activities manufacturers can be constructed much less like establishments and extra like actions,” says James. “Supercross is not making an attempt to be for everybody – and that is precisely why it has the potential to go in every single place.”
