How Oakland Roots created a winning brand that rivals MLS & NBA powerhouses

Part of the Roots' off-the-pitch success stems from a strong visual brand that goes hand in hand with Oakland’s thriving arts community. This, combined with the club's focus on a positive social outlook means they’re challenging MLS and NBA teams in terms of merchandise sales.

Arghandiwal explains the thinking behind the Roots' visual identity.

He said: "About six years ago we were building this brand identity. And again, I firmly believe that brands are created intentionally and authentically. They take time and massaging - you don't just wake up and say, 'this is it'. We got together with a multitude of people in the community who had a voice and a perspective.

"We asked them the question: 'if we could create a professional soccer team, what ideals would you want to see in the brand and the identity?' Words that came out of those discussions were blue-collar - coming to Oakland means you can be whatever you want to be. When everyone zigs, we zag. Be unapologetic, pay homage, but be different. And these are just a few of the many concepts that came out of that. From that discussion we realised that the identity of Oakland is obviously the oak tree, and it's played such a vital role in who we are. You need strong roots to have a strong tree, and that's the kind of birthplace of the concept of Oakland Roots.

Oakland Roots

"We thought we needed a crest that transcends the meaning of a football team. Generally, you see a football club have two or three colors, and they abide by those rules. We thought, 'how do we flip the script on this?' Can we allow for black and white to be the foundation of our football club because it's just such a fluid and simple base of colors, but then introduce a multitude of colors that then change the perspective of how people can interact with this identity?

"Merchandising could be a plethora of colors. We can now change the perception of what graphics look like year to year - much like high fashion. High fashion doesn't stick to one palette. It changes every single collection. It changes year over year. And the ideas and concepts are fluid. We wanted to create a club that can adapt to the community, can adapt to the times, and can adapt to culture."

Like most professional sports clubs, the Oakland Roots outsource their lifestyle merchandise. Unlike most teams, especially in the U.S., they've chosen a local store and designer in Oaklandish. The club chose the Oakland-based company because of their shared beliefs and the partnership seems to be paying off, for both sides, as well as spreading the Oakland Roots message and brand values.

Arghandiwal added: "Roots Merchandise does really well. And we're so grateful for the partnership that we have with Oaklandish, which is a local retailer here that is rooted in civic pride. They've been here for a decade plus, and they've created merchandising that is rooted in Oakland, no pun intended, and takes on the identity of the local community.

Oakland Roots

"So about five, six years ago, I went to Oaklandish and I said, 'Hey, Angela and Aaron, I have the concept and idea of doing a fashion forward brand in football'. And they believed me. And here we are. And so we're so grateful for that relationship because partnerships are so much of the success of the commercial side of this business. You have the wrong partnerships and that leads to the demise of commercial business. But for us, having the right partners was key.

"We do extremely well. We've have been in the top three [in terms of merchandise sales] in the USL for our existence. When we joined USL, we joined in 2021. Ever since we've been top three, fluctuating between one and three, depending on the month, how we perform. We perform better than some of the bottom half of Major League Soccer clubs. We do better than some of the lower-tier NBA teams, and the club merchandising has just been an absolute phenomenon.

"The beauty of this is that you don't necessarily have to be a fan of football, or soccer, to wear the merchandise. The merchandise has now become synonymous with the identity of Oakland and often I'll run into someone in the streets and I was like, 'Hey, you know, go roots'. And they're like, 'Yeah, go Oakland'. They're not necessarily tuned into the fact that we're a soccer team, but they wear the merchandising because they believe in the values of Oakland. For me, that's intentional. That's by design. I think once someone has the t-shirt on, inevitably, they become advocates of the brand and identity."

To hear more about the Roots’ story and brand work, listen to the full podcast episode below, or via this link.