Chron: Rockets' new look

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/1985816

July 8, 2003, 9:58PM

Rockets' new look to include logo with stylized, twin-tailed R
By DAVID BARRON
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle

It's only one letter, scarlet though it may be.

But if the Rockets have their way, the stylized, twin-tailed R unveiled Tuesday as the team's new logo will symbolize the city's NBA franchise as surely as the Celtics and Lakers have been represented for decades by their trademarks.

And at least the flying R will retire the Rockets' needle-nosed, snaggletoothed cartoon rocket to the fashion scrapheap where it belongs.

The Rockets unveiled the logo Tuesday as the first step of a redesign that will culminate in September with the debut of red and silver uniforms.

The rollout began about 10 days ago with a choreographed leak of 200 caps bearing the new logo to team employees and their friends. Another 800 caps will be distributed during the next two weeks as part of the Rockets' efforts to sell luxury suites in the new downtown arena.

The logo, which resembles a rocket's nose cone at the top and features twin exhaust trails at the bottom of the R, will show up on billboards next week, and it will play a role in the ticket sales campaign that will begin late this month.

And, come September, the logo will be available on caps, shirts, pins, bumper stickers and jackets leading to the uniform unveiling and the tipoff of the 2003-04 season.

"We wanted to come up with something that would be timeless," said Tim McDougall, the Rockets' vice president for marketing. "You'd like to get something like the Celtics and the Lakers have -- a timeless look that becomes our look and can stick around for a long, long time."

It will take time to determine whether the new design meets that standard. But in one regard, the Rockets' makeover is already a smashing success.

Ever since the decision to discard the Rockets' familiar red and gold uniforms after back-to-back NBA titles in 1994 and 1995 in favor of pinstriped cartoon pajamas, Rockets fans have said that red should be the color of their home team's threads. And, at last, the Rockets have listened.

"We did some surveys, and what came back is that people defined red as the Rockets' color," McDougall said. "Some liked it with black or with white or blue or silver or platinum, and they were split on red and gold. But 99.5 percent of the answers mentioned red in some form or fashion."

Execution of that directive fell to Eiko Ishioka, who won an Academy Award in 1993 for costume design in Bram Stoker's Dracula. Ishioka initially signed on to design uniforms but came up with a logo that was adopted by Rockets owner Leslie Alexander.

"What Eiko saw was the amount of upward motion that is unique to basketball and characterizes the sport," McDougall said. "When you look at the logo, you get the same feel of upward motion that the sport gives you."

Once they decided on the logo, the Rockets asked employees to give sample caps to aerobics trainers, bartenders, ex-athletes -- anyone who was out and about enough to give the new design a wider audience.

Joel Blank, the Rockets' director of broadcasting, gave his cap to Mike Shoelen, the director of golf at Tour 18.

"I put it in the pro shop, and a lot of people asked about it and wanted to know where they could get it," Shoelen said. "And then my wife saw it, liked it and took it from me so she could wear it to an Astros game. She stuck me with wearing a golf hat instead.

"I like the flames coming out of the bottom and the fact that it looks like a Rocket ship taking off. I don't know if classy is the word, but it's a refreshing change."

The Rockets also are working with clothing suppliers on logo merchandise. About twice a week, McDougall receives a 250-page stack of proposed clothing designs to accept, reject or return with suggested changes.

Although Alexander was an outspoken fan of the uniform that was adopted in 1996, McDougall said he has taken an active role in the new design.

"Les wants something that people will feel good wearing and something that will look good on television," he said. "He's been great with suggestions with what he thought worked and didn't work from the last time.

"One thing he likes about the current uniform is that when you turn on the TV, within a second you know you're watching the Rockets. He wants to make sure with the new uniforms that people don't spend time figuring out who they're watching -- that they know immediately it's the Rockets."

McDougall said the uniforms are still being modified by NBA officials and won't be unveiled until September. Other than confirming the main colors -- Pantone PMS200 red and PMS 877 silver, with accents of white and black -- he refused to offer details.

"There are no pinstripes," he did offer.

"The R plays a prominent role," McDougall added. "One rumor I heard was that it was going to be just a giant R. That's not true. There is some trim outside the trademark and the logo."

He also broached the possibility that the Rockets could seek permission to wear red uniforms, which by NBA tradition would be limited to road use, at home for special occasions. Meanwhile, team officials said there are no plans to change the Comets' logo or uniforms.

While the Rockets prefer to retain some mystery about their new threads, Tuesday's logo rollout showed that fans are interested in the outcome. The logo was posted on the Chronicle's Web site at 2:34 p.m., and within three minutes fans were talking about it on the fan site clutchcity.net.

In less than five hours, more than 5,000 votes were registered at www.chron.com by fans offering thumbs up or thumbs down on the new design. About 1,500 votes were cast in the first three hours of a similar poll on the Rockets' Web site.

 

58% of the vote for not bad & looks great. The majority at first glance says it is an improvement from the pajamas. That is good results, in my opinion.

 

My money i$ on Tim...

 

When did not bad become a negative thing?

How was your food today, not bad. Could be better, but damn better compared to what I had yesterday! (ie. pajamas for uni's)