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Raptors fans, marketing experts scratching their heads over logo launch

By Net Income
Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports

Raptor fans are not happy with their teams' new logo and marketing experts in Toronto say its rollout has been "amateurish."  Why?  Oh a lot of reasons, but the chief one is that the new, black-and-white version of the clawmarks-on-ball logo looks too much like a division rival's, one about 400 miles to the southeast.

Who can blame them?

As the Toronto Star notes, the black-and-white logo is one of several versions of the Raptors trademark. The others feature various colors, including Drakes' favorite, gold, but the club decided to release only the black-and-white at the launch last week. Fans are not pleased. Heh, heh.

A story in the Star's business section dealt with the Brooklyn connection...

It drew heated criticism from many fans, who thought it looked a little too much like the logo of the Brooklyn Nets, who bumped the Raptors from the playoffs last spring. While the colour version makes it less like the Nets’ strictly black and white logo, it’s the Raptors’ own fault for the misunderstanding, says GTA-based logo expert Chris Creamer, who runs SportsLogos.net. For one thing, they should have released the colour versions at the same time.

"The fans made the connection to Brooklyn (because of the black and white version), and they won’t let it go. The Raptors botched this launch," said Creamer, who said he was underwhelmed at the redesigned logo when he saw it. It’s kind of like mashed potatoes."

And over in the sports section, Doug Smith, the long-time Raptors beat writer, described it as simply, "fail."

I can’t figure out if:

Number one: It’s an arthritic claw.

Number two: It’s a weird Rorschach test.

Number three: It’s a bad knock off of the Brooklyn Nets look.

Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders says he gets the Raptors' rationale.

What's next? Irina Pavlova thinks she knows.

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