The Golf Association of Philadelphia has launched an extensive rebranding to reflect the organization’s recent expansion throughout the region. The initiative includes identifying the Association by its well-known and commonly referred to acronym GAP – an identifier that dates back to 1897 – a new logo and a new interactive and more dynamic website.
The rebranding was done to bring together members spread across parts of three states – Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware – under a unified umbrella. GAP has 270 Member Clubs and 75,000 individual Members in a region stretching from Bellefonte, Pa. to the New York state border to Princeton, N.J. to Cape May, N.J. to Wilmington, Del. That territory was newly defined last year when the USGA selected GAP as one of its 59 Allied Golf Associations.
The centerpiece of the rebranding is the logo. The logo is constructed to express a message of unity and longevity, representative of the oldest regional/state golf association in the country and its place within the community.
“Since our merger with the Anthracite Golf Association and expansion of programming into Central Pennsylvania, we thought this was a perfect time to start fresh with a logo inclusive of all our Members but yet still mindful of our rich history,” said Quinn Spitzer, GAP President. “The story the logo tells is representative of everyone who is a golfer within our region.”
The new logo has four distinctive parts: the shield (reflective of the organization’s steadfast principles and protection of the game in the region); the GAP acronym separated by dots (emblematic of its founding); golf clubs (a reference to the sport) and 1897 (symbolizing its beginning and longevity within the community).
The green and gold color palette is slightly different from the current coloring but within the same color family.
The Association began the logo rebranding process in January 2018. Neff Associates, a Philadelphia based award-winning ad agency, assisted GAP with its logo development.
“Neff Associates was honored to collaborate with the Golf Association of Philadelphia in the design of their new branding,” said Adam Englehart, Neff Associates’ Creative Director. “With such a rich, long-standing history, it was important that we not only honored that tradition, but also positioned GAP for the future and its ever-expanding geographic foot print.”
