If, on the road to the college bowls, you’ve noticed the red-black-and-gold logo for ABC Sports’ first college football championship, you’ve seen the work of Providence design firm Lukens, Boostrom and Clark, Inc.
ABC Sports last summer commissioned the Dorrance Street shop to create the symbol for what will be an annual event to determine a national champion. The “Bowl Championship Series” differs from the original Bowl Alliance in that it will guarantee a match-up between college football’s top two teams.
LBC came up with a football-shaped BCS logo that debuted Thanksgiving Day on the screens of televisions tuned to the ABC-TV network. It is front and center on the ABCSports.com Web site and ultimately promotes the national championship at the end of the 1998 regular season.
Asked to design something that would appeal to millions of sports fans and introduce a high-profile event, LBC went to great lengths to ensure it had a winner.
Teaming up with Providence’s BRW Group, the firm sent a pair of researchers to a Michigan State football game to intercept fans in the parking lot and stadium. Of the 500 people surveyed, more than 400 selected the logo that was settled on, said LBC Partner Kenn Boostrom.
“It’s important to test your assumptions with research,” Boostrom said. “We went to the source — fanatical college football fans at one of the big games of the year — and came away with a research validation in the high 80 percent range. That’s a tremendous number of positive responses.”
The logo will be seen for the next seven years in which ABC-TV owns the rights to the event. LBC has worked on other projects for ABC-TV, including the development of the ABC Sports logo, several football bowl logos and the World Cup Soccer promotion.
