Nine Yards, formally known as Plywood Constructions, is a company that designs and builds custom skateparks. In the course of time, they have grown to become one of the biggest players in their market. These days, their team includes professionals from all different fields, ranging from designers, architects, metal workers, professional skateboarders and ambassadors. They have build up an impressive portfolio of permanent skateparks all around the world, both indoor and outdoor. And where plywood would be their main material in the early days, their skateparks today contain wood, stone, metal and concrete. It appeared that their name just didn’t do it anymore.
Together with marketing agency Parlor, we were challenged to come up with a new name for the organisation, a name that would justify the companies’ essence. We were talking with the owner of the organisation and we found out that they are way more than a bunch of skateboarders that build skateparks. Their mission and vision goes far beyond just that.They mediate between local skateboarders and city municipalities. They have a rental program with prefabricated skateboard obstacles used for events and contests. They organise skateboard related events. And every now and then, they pick up construction projects for skateboard related retailers. In other words, they just go the whole nine yards!
Their new name Nine Yards seemed to suit them well. But next to a new name, the organisation also needed a new brand identity. The aim was to design a logo system that would be applied to a wide range of communication items. We decided to go for a variable approach; not just one logo, but various version and layouts of a brand image.nThis variable identity was used on t-shirts, sweaters, patches, lighters, vehicle graphics, flags, and so on. It was really great to work on such a big merchandise program. Seeing the organisation come to live again made it well worth the effort.
