O.C Register June 23rd 2006

 ANAHEIM Bob Wagner's last year of labors -- the daily e-mails loaded with new graphic designs, the weekly meetings to discuss the hockey team's identity and the countless think-tank sessions regarding the feathered duck, a player's look and the fans' tie to tradition -- all took flight Thursday with a curtain call and a confetti shower.

In the darkened Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim, on a stage lit for a rock concert, franchise owners Henry and Susan Samueli unveiled the new logo and uniforms for the Orange County-based National Hockey League team that will now be known as the Anaheim Ducks.

This was the extreme makeover that the Samuelis hinted about June 20, 2005, when the Orange County couple bought the 13-year-old franchise from Disney.

"Creating a new identity for a team is a huge task," says Wagner, the Ducks' senior vice president and chief marketing officer who oversaw every step of the transformation.

"This wasn't a change the team was doing to make money but rather to turn the page to start a new era."

Almost everything but the players themselves on a team formerly known as The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim would need to be overhauled: the name, logo, color scheme, uniforms, fan merchandise, club letterhead, the Web site, even the home team icon beneath the ice rink.

Wagner knew the Samuelis were sensitive about letting everyone involved with the team have a voice. He became the man handing out microphones to fans, players, the NHL, the team executives, the uniform makers, merchandisers and the merchants.

The Samuelis desired an update. Fans and merchandisers wanted a classic but distinctive design. The NHL needed the uniform to appear sharp on TV. The players pushed for a look that's competitive, aggressive and strong -- a departure from the club's more cartoonish roots as a Disney-owned team and "The Mighty Ducks" movie spinoff.

"It was a painstaking balancing act trying to get everyone involved," he says. "We wanted to have a lot of support so that we're not back here in five years doing this all over again."

The first change: the name.

Paine Public Relations conducted phone surveys of Orange County residents and local hockey fans about a possible name change. The research showed an overwhelming desire to keep "Ducks" but to drop the movie gimmick "Mighty," which invited plenty of ribbing after losses.

The second change: the look.

Wagner solicited five design firms for their ideas for the Ducks' makeover, each pitching 50-100 concepts of hockey- playing ducks.

"I showed about 60 digital illustrations: iconic ducks, strong ducks, animated ducks, duck faces, full-body ducks, ducks with pucks, ducks with sticks, ducks in letters and then a duck foot as a `D,' " said Bill Frederick, the managing director and brand development director for the Montclair, N.J.-based Frederick & Froberg Design Office.

"The Samuelis really responded to the black and gold, and when they saw the foot in the `D,' I knew to run with it."

Wagner says Frederick began sketching out an abstract of a duck foot and footprint in the meeting while the redesign committee watched. By October, Frederick was awarded the contract.

Every day Wagner checked his e-mail to find a subtle twist on the design. Every two weeks, Frederick flew from the East Coast to make a presentation at the Samuelis' Corona del Mar office.

Each time Wagner gathered a committee that included the Samuelis and their daughter, Jillian; CEO Michael Schulman, General Manager Brian Burke; COO Tim Ryan and two players -- captain Scott Niedermayer and alternate captain Teemu Selanne.

By November, the collaboration lent direction to Frederick. In his 20-year sports portfolio, Frederick has developed brand identities for the NHL's Colorado Avalanche, the NBA's Boston Celtics, Major League Soccer, and Major League Baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates and San Diego Padres.

"I listened," said Frederick, 48, who attended Thursday's unveiling. "They wanted something more than an angry-looking duck. They wanted a classic but sophisticated update on the ducks, with a color scheme that showed the competitive toughness that's important in a sport like hockey and a tie to Orange County."

Once the committee approved the color palette of the black, gold and orange, Wagner worked with the NHL's licensing division and Reebok's hockey uniform designers.

By January, Frederick was working with a logo very similar to the one that hung beneath the black curtain Thursday, the one that has been Wagner's most guarded secret for the past year.

"We didn't want the wrong information to get out and the people start reacting to it," said Wagner.

The "Mighty" had fallen. And the familiar icon of a goalie mask bent into a duck's bill and the motif of jade, purple, white, black and silver has also vanished.

Replacing the old is a bold typographic logo of the black, block- lettered "ANAHEIM" atop the metallic gold and black "DUCKS," accented with orange in tribute to Orange County. Anchoring the logo is the "D" formed from a stylized, left-turned duck foot.

Frederick showed the committee applications of the design on a wide variety of merchandise, including a uniform, T-shirt, ballcap, polo shirt and sweatshirt. Wagner conferred with Selanne and Niedermayer about the comfort of the new uniforms and solicited the opinions from local merchants who sell Ducks apparel.

"The response was unanimous," Wagner says. "Teemu said, `I love it. Can't wait to wear it.' "

Ducks center Todd Marchant and right wing Corey Perry modeled their new uniforms with "Anaheim Ducks" streaks across their chests.

Marchant says he feels as if he's been traded because the jersey looks so different. "It just looks new and bolder," he said, wearing the black home jersey while Perry wore the white travel jersey.

"Hopefully the tougher look will translate onto the ice."

Already the new-look apparel had Ducks fans lined up by the hundreds outside the Pond's Team Store and checking the new team Web site, www.anaheimducks.com .

Six choices in ballcaps. Dozens of T-shirts, golf shirts, shorts and sweatshirts. Shelves of flags, pennants, pins, pucks, license plate holders, golf balls, shot glasses and coffee mugs. Everything black and gold and orange and all Anaheim Ducks.

After the unveiling, two kids wearing the old Ducks jerseys race up to the store. "Awesome," shouts Courtney Tell, 11. "Cool," exclaims her brother, Jordi, 13.

"I love the new stuff," says Craig Houser, 52, of Fountain Valley. "It separates us from the Disney movie. Kings fans used to tease us about that."

Jenny Klein of Laguna Hills walks with her arms full of merchandise to the cash registers, which are whirring wildly.

She says her daughter, Whitney, 17, "is the biggest Ducks fan, so I just had to be here. It's a big day."

Wagner has to agree. He joined Thursday's audience of 1,000 invited season-ticket holders for applause that lasted longer than the rocket blasts of fireworks streaming from the stage.

Wagner smiles at the sound of approval, having just helped raise the curtain on Orange County's coolest team.

714-796-2259 or masmith@ocregister.com

The "New Era"

New name: Anaheim Ducks

New colors: metallic gold, black, orange, silver

New logo: typographic "Anaheim Ducks," with a stylized duck foot as the "D"