French sports equipment manufacturer Decathlon has officially unveiled its new visual identity, and is undertaking a major transformation to position itself not as a white brand, but as a brand in its own right.
Decathlon adds a pictogram to its logo
Since 1976, the Decathlon logo, or rather typography, with its ligature between the C and the A, has undergone few changes.
First black, then green, in 1990 the Decathlon name appeared as a white reserve in a primary blue cartouche, a blue so recognizable that it became known as "Decathlon blue".
In 2020, a first attempt at a pictogram went almost unnoticed.
Gone is the slightly faded, very dated blue, replaced in 2024 by a dense, very slightly violet blue, dubbed dynamic by the brand, for signage, sales vests and so on. The change made to the typeface is imperceptible: the letters are spaced a little further apart, the C and A are still glued together, but the upper stroke of the C no longer follows the slope of the A.
Decathlon now wants to become recognizable as a brand by placing a pictogram in front of its name. The logo, called l'Orbite, expresses, according to Decathlon, "... the spirit of the brand movement, ambition to reach new heights and circularity". Oval in shape, leaning to the right, this picto evokes a mountain for some, a wave or even a sail for others, the arc-shaped trajectory of an object, a rugby ball, and some even find a resemblance with another brand.
The famous jingle "tululututu" and the slogan "à fond la forme", present since 1982, have disappeared. From now on, Decathlon invites us to have fun with its new "Ready to play" tagline.
From 80 to 12 brands, a necessary refocusing
The equipment manufacturer is eliminating dozens of brands, leaving just 12 dedicated to mountain, water and wind sports, outdoor cycling, fitness, snowshoe sports, nature, urban gliding and mobility, precision sports and team sports.
"With 80 brands, our customers and sales staff were lost. We had spread ourselves too thin, and there was duplication between products. The same cap could be sold under several names" indicates, in Le Parisien, Fabien Brosse, Product and Sports Manager.
Decathlon, which employs more than 100,000 people worldwide, reports in the columns of the Parisian that the rollout of the new identity across all products will take place progressively in its 1,700 stores (including 327 in France), over a three-year period.
