Hoops, Hype and History: The branding of the Philadelphia 76ers

A look back at the Philadelphia 76ers’ marketing campaigns, both past and present.

The Philadelphia 76ers are one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference, with a 32-18 record, complete with three potential All-Stars. However, on-court success isn’t the only facet of the organization that is at the top of their game. The comprehensive branding of the team that pits the Sixers at the top of league rankings in terms of merchandise, crowd attendance, and viewership.

The branding of the team has many different sections, including court design, jersey concepts, stadium promos/advertisers, team phrases, and overall culture. At first glance, all of this seems pretty basic and expected of a professional sports franchise in a major city. Upon taking a closer look, it becomes clear that the Sixers brand is one that stands out among crowds of professional franchises across all major sports.

One of the most important parts of a sports team in terms of visuals is the on-court design as well as jersey concepts. The on-court design of the Sixers today features a giant “76” blue-and-red logo at center court, as well as a cursive script typeface of “Philadelphia” along the baselines. Along the sides of the court, the word “brotherhood” is written in the same font, and the 13 stars are found at both ends of the court.

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The most visually appealing jerseys get immortalized, as you can still see the most famous throwback jerseys of the past being worn by fans today. Showtime Lakers, classic Pinstripe Yankees, LeBron-Era Heat white flame jerseys, and Kelly Green Eagles jerseys are all prime examples.

The Sixers’ jerseys include meticulously crafted features and attributes. My personal favorite 76ers jerseys of all time were the City Edition ones rolled out last spring for the first trip to the playoffs by the Process-era Sixers.

They were a light cream, or ‘parchment,’ designed to emulate the color of the Declaration of Independence, famously penned in Philadelphia in 1776. The front of the jerseys featured a prominent “Phila” in cursive type face, again emulating the script of the historical document declaring American independence from Britain centuries ago. The theme continues as the jersey features a circular 13 stars, representing the 13 colonies, and a bold 76 emblem. Finally the jerseys are rounded out with red, white, and blue patriotic pinstripes on the sleeves and shorts.

The intent of the City edition was to invoke the rich historical roots of Philadelphia as well as to emulate the cutthroat and “never-say-die” attitudes of the American Revolution. This attitude was carried out by the players in their first round matchup against the Miami Heat, featuring various physical confrontations, hard fouls, and displays of grit and tenacity. They out-muscled the Heat on their way to a five-game series win.

When it comes to team logos, the Sixers have had a number of various iterations of a core concept featuring “76ers,” “Sixers,” “76” and even the Liberty Bell. Currently, the team uses the blue and red 76 logo, with the thirteen blue stars above the 7 arranged in a circle. However, the most thought-out logo has to be the one that was again, featured as a part of the ‘City Edition’ during the 2017-2018 playoff run.

The logo featured a backdrop of a liberty bell outline, along with the red and blue 76, and the word “Phila” in cursive font sitting above it. However, the most compelling part is that there is a snake, or multiple segments of a snake, wrapped around the bell.

This signifies and is a direct reference to the colonial flag designed by Ben Franklin in the 1770s used to drum up support for the 1776 Revolution, featuring eight segments of snake and the phrase “Join or Die.” The Sixers then used a similar phrase, “Unite or Die,” along with the playoff logo as a part of the playoff promos for the team, and multiple murals were painted on buildings in the city and featured on team social media accounts to unite the city for playoffs. The hashtag used for the playoffs eventually morphed into “#PhilaUnite,” and players and fans alike took notice and bought into the movement.

Aside from courts and jerseys, stadiums must use entertaining promotions to interact with the fans at home games. One of the most well-known promos league-wide happens to be one that takes place at every Sixers game at the Wells Fargo Center. Ran by the organization as well as Wendy’s, if an opposing player misses two consecutive free throws in the second half of a home game, every fan in attendance gets a free frosty the following day at any participating Wendy’s fast food chain.

Although it seems like a small frosty costing about $0.99 is insignificant, any Sixer fan will tell you that the Wells Fargo Center has a roaring energy after a player misses a free throw in the second half. The in house announcer, Matt Cord, yells on the mic to drum up applause, and every fan screams their lungs out, stands up, and stomps their feet to try to get the opponent at the line to miss. This promo doubles as an energizer, and the players actually feed off of the spark the crowd gives when these opportunities occur.

Finally, a big part of branding and the image of the Philadelphia 76ers as whole is the culture of the team. There are parts of culture that can’t be created or affected, such as the culture of Philadelphia and the attitudes of players, coaches, and fans. However, a good example of a closely cultivated culture within the team is “The Process.”

If you follow the NBA at all, you’ll likely know all about the phrase, “Trust the Process.” Although the phrase has never been officially coined by the team, players and fans have used the phrase throughout the past three years. Even the team’s best player, Joel Embiid, has dubbed his nickname as, and is announced before games as, Joel “The Process” Embiid.

The Process is an ambiguous term, but for many it essentially refers to the movement put into motion by former GM Sam Hinkie, in which the direction of the Sixers involved trading star players for premier assets and acquiring cap flexibility and draft picks for a chest of talent and opportunities.

This involved losing on purpose for a few seasons, during which the Sixers landed multiple top picks, including Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, Jahlil Okafor, and Markelle Fultz. Some are proven talents and potential superstars, while the others include a player no longer on the team and an injured supreme talent that is expected to return at some point this year.

The result was a 52-win season last year that culminated in the young squad’s first trip to the playoffs, a playoff series win, and a tough grind-it-out Conference Semi-Finals loss to rival Boston Celtics. A year later, many claimed The Process was completed after Elton Brand traded for a third star in Jimmy Butler. However, to many, The Process will never be considered a success unless the team wins the NBA Finals.

Perhaps the most iconic part about this era of the 76ers can’t even be seen on the court or on the jerseys of the team. Sometimes, the most iconic part about these Sixers isn’t even captured by reporters or televised.

After a Sixers win, the player who was most pivotal to the team’s success is congratulated in a way that is unique to Philadelphia, and their coach, Brett Brown. Brown huddles the team up in the locker room, and gives an enthusiastic postgame speech. He then describes what the game’s MVP did to push the team over the edge in a win, and yells a familiar phrase, “(player’s name), ring that bell, brotha!” Brown hands him a miniature, working Liberty Bell, which is then rung by the player of the game, and often showered with water bottles, shouts, and hugs by T.J. McConnell, Joel Embiid, and the rest of the squad.

This gesture is uniquely Philadelphia and a staple of the team’s culture and attitudes. Nothing compares to seeing Landry Shamet, the Sixers rookie sharpshooter that scored 14 clutch points, with a big grin on his face as he rings the bell to put the cherry on top of a pivotal win against the Spurs.

Altogether, the team’s court and jersey designs, the witty Twitter account, the catchy phrases, the fan-favorite promos, the Wells Fargo dance-offs, the “ring that bell, brotha’s,” and the overall brand and image of the Philadelphia 76ers is among the best executed of the sporting world.