WADM (formerly: Waal aan de Maas) has helped the Rotterdam first division football club Excelsior with its corporate identity. The matching new house style, including a restyle of the old logo, was presented to the public on June 28 by Daan Bovenberg, General Manager of the club from Kralingen.

Uncovering the identity and in particular the matching core values ​​was a fundamental step for Bovenberg in the route that should make the club future-proof and bring it back to the highest level of Dutch football – ambitious with respect for the past.
Excelsior looks ahead
Bovenberg: “We were relegated a few years ago and this year we played, mostly without an audience, only in the middle of the Kitchen Champion Division. That does not match Excelsior’s ambitions. That is why we as a club, in close consultation with supporters and sponsors, have outlined a roadmap that should make Excelsior a stable premier divisionist. We want to do this in a structured and well-founded way, based on our core values. That’s how we ended up at WADM, with their BrainSells approach. An approach that has revealed exactly what Excelsior stands for and what makes us different from other clubs in the region.”

Neuro-marketing methods
Erwin Oskam, Strategic Director of WADM, agrees with Bovenberg: “To put it bluntly, that is what we do: position organizations. Using neuro-marketing methods to dissect an organization and bring its true nature to the surface. And translate that true nature into a corporate identity, a message and ultimately a house style with which Excelsior can distinguish itself from the competition in its own way. And in this case you have to see that competition much broader than Sparta, Feyenoord and other sports clubs. Also think of Netflix, the pub and the gym. We don’t make that distinction by just inventing something; it must be really true.”