Personally I think bat stickers and branding are the most important things to selling a bat online and to the mass market.
If you look at all the big brand and good bat stickers they all have a unique shape to them. Remember when a bat is in use players will often be yards away and spectators even further, so for this reason they need to be instantly recognisable. A unique shape gives it an instant impression. For example you know a Gray Nicolls when you see a bat with 2 bands around the edges. You also know a Newbery when someone comes out with a black splice sticker. It's for this reason we rarely see massive changes in a brands bat stickers and why there's often just a change of colours for their different ranges. Puma are a good example of this producing all their bats with the same front and back stickers, with only the colours changing. This allows the buyer to find a colour that appeals yet also keeps a brand identity going making the stickers and bats instantly recognisable.
We also see a large logo or the company name emblazoned on the front, again making it easy to spot the bat even from the edge of the boundary or on a small TV set. Reebok are probably the best example of a company doing this, despite having relatively boring stickers and a boring colour scheme it is impossible to miss a RBK bat on screen due to the massive logos. With an already established brandname and big names using their bats there is no need for them to do anything more or make the stickers look any better. People will buy it. Reebok's aim is to combat Nike's sponsorship of the India kit and get their own advertising. They have done this very successfully in India with this method of bat sponsorship.
I think there's 2 markets you can aim for with equipment designs, the purists and the jnr's/new generation. The gear aimed at the purists always looks very expensive in my opinion. Bradbury, Salix etc make their cheap bats, look classy with the use of whites, golds, silver and navy. The use of minimalist stickers also adds to the expensive factor. On the other end of the spectrum aimed at junior's there are brands such as Puma. Puma and Woodworm I think revolutionised the Jnr market in the 2005 Ashes with their bright colours and big sponsorships. There's a couple of brands I think who fit into both those markets in both their colour schemes and well designed stickers, Gunn and Moore and Gray Nics are those examples. Slazenger are another who I think have tried to hit that market this season, but with cheap prices and quality in Sports World they're not a choice of purists and with Paul Collingwood the main sponsored player for England Jnr's aren't exactly go for his endorsement with him a seeming boring cricketer.
Taking all what was said into account, I think the best stickers are the Charlie French ones. Unique shape, large logo and different colours offered throughout the range. Their design also reaches out to both markets, the purists with a fair bit of wood on show and the bats handmade in England. Junior's with the option of bright colours and interesting names.
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Topic: What makes a good set of bat stickers? (Read 3167 times)