TORONTO DEFIANT THIRD JERSEY HONOURS CITY'S LINGUISTIC MOSAIC
OverActive Media and Diamond Marketing team up on a 'love letter' to Toronto
June 6, 2019
JUNE SIX, 2019 (TORONTO, CANADA) — OverActive Media (OAM), the only global esports organization to own teams in the three biggest franchised leagues, released today its Toronto Defiant Third Jersey, as part of an Overwatch League-wide launch.
OUR CITY
Toronto is a scale model of the rest of the world. No matter where one is in the city, on any street, you can hear multiple languages being spoken. For a lot of Torontonians, experiencing those sounds — the coming together of different languages — has become the city’s unofficial anthem.
Toronto — like the Defiant — is many things. It is gritty, its people are persistent, and it is known as one of the most welcoming cities on earth. Toronto's ethnic and cultural diversity is among the broadest and most varied globally. The Defiant Third Jersey was designed with that spirit in mind, anchored on the number six, and articulated in some of the many languages spoken throughout Toronto streets.
"We wanted the design to reflect Toronto in the most authentic way possible. We’re a city of millions, fiercely unique yet undeniably united," said Paulo Senra, OAM's VP of Global Content and Communications. "Putting 30 different languages on the same jersey, and giving them all equal importance is our way of proudly articulating that our differences are what binds us. It’s our love letter to Toronto."
THE DEFIANT EXPERIENCE
In the Defiant's short existence in the Overwatch League, the team has experienced both highs and lows.
From the early Stage 1 playoff run to a challenging Stage 2, the team remains united in its quest for global success. Currently, the Defiant are transitioning to a mixed-language team, recently adding three new players to its roster. Coaches are being encouraged to overcome language barriers to put together a competitive and unified squad, by creating a "new language" used in-game and on stage. So, in many ways, the Defiant are embracing the qualities and the reputation of the city it represents.
VISUAL DIRECTION
OAM worked with its Agency of Record, Diamond to land on a design concept. Together with the talented team at Diamond, who have led the Defiant branding since the team's launch last Fall, the Third Jersey design articulates the city's gritty, persistent and welcoming nature.
"Everyone has a place in our city. This jersey and its design decision is yet another iteration of that value-based thinking and something we were very mindful of in the design process," added Josh Diamond, Partner at Diamond Marketing.
Lent from streetwear graphics, OAM and Diamond looked to create a bold and standout jersey that would contrast with Defiant's bold black backdrop. The bottom third of the jersey showcases the use of "Six" — Toronto's favourite numeral — in 30 of the most common languages spoken by the city's population.
The languages on the Defiant jersey include: Korean, Portuguese, English, Finnish, Japanese, Tagalog, Russian, French, Japanese, Sinhala, Chinese, German, Urdu, Hungarian, Hebrew, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Bengali, Turkish, Greek, Italian, Afrikaans, Punjabi, Polish, Romanian, Hindi, Spanish, Dutch, Swahili and Danish.
