Kraken name was a winning bet on Seattle identity

Hard to believe it was already six years ago last week the “Kraken” name came into existence. 

Up until July 23, 2020, our city’s future hockey team had been known for nearly two years as NHL Seattle. But that changed with Kraken. Wow, did it ever.  

The pending name decision had been a controversial Seattle topic throughout the COVID-19 pandemic as folks looking for something to do other than staying locked down took up sides on their preferred moniker with almost religious fervor.  

Some loved the Kraken suggestion. Others hated it, preferring “Sockeyes” or “Steelheads” and even “Sasquatch.” Traditionalists wanted “Metropolitans” or “Totems” in deference to past Seattle pro hockey teams, while some questioned whether a sea creature had anything to do with the city or belonged on the jersey of a serious sports franchise. 

Nowadays, that debate has long been settled. Fans may question whether the on-ice team has fulfilled the identity first promised by the name. And truth be told that part remains a work in progress.  

But no one can question whether the name connected with the local sports populace and population in general. 

Children wear the team jersey to school without thinking twice. Opposing fans instantly recognize the logo with the red glare eye. Players speak about what it means to “be a Kraken” as naturally as others do about being a Canuck, King, or Flyer.

In a pro sports landscape with generic team names and safe branding, “Kraken” was different. It sounded and felt like Seattle, which had bonafide maritime roots but also had always been innovative and somewhat unconventional. Even with a late-2000s mass influx of technology industry transplants – many of them NHL fans and future Kraken supporters – the city still embraced its roots and the things that made it different. 

This was never just about a sea monster. The name reflected a Pacific Northwest community defiantly getting off the mat and rediscovering itself in sports; eager to prove it could still support another major pro winter team years after losing the NBA Sonics to Oklahoma City. 

The Kraken gave Seattle something to rally around, and the name became synonymous with that ambition.  

Plenty of naming ideas sound great in a corporate board room only to land flat with the public. But in this case, initial controversy aside; the name quickly took hold and stood the test of time. 

Former team president and general manager Ron Francis would later tell me for my 2022 “Rising From The Deep” book that NHL Seattle didn’t initially even have “Kraken” in its final name grouping. The owners and NHL Seattle executives were instead contemplating different names on a shortlist in summer of 2019 that was sent to a designer for logo mockups of each. 

Francis would eventually get to speaking with Heidi Dettmer, the team’s vice-president of marketing at the time, who told him about her Scandinavian grandparents regaling her with Kraken lore as a child. He found it fascinating and when team CEO Tod Leiweke later asked Francis which shortlisted name he felt was best, the GM replied: “Honestly, you’re going to think I’m nuts, but I like Kraken.” 

Others felt the same. As it had many times previously, the “Kraken” name suggestion refused to die. And when it was ultimately chosen, the biggest reason was that no other name generated such passion — pro or con — among fans. That’s the kind of authenticity marketing teams pay consultants years to help generate. 

Arguments may rage about the team’s roster construction, coaching decisions, lineup usage and all other stuff fans of established pro franchises fret about. But few debate the Kraken name anymore, even those like me who once vehemently opposed it.  

Aaron Wiggan, the team’s vice-president of brand creative, said the Kraken are one of the few NHL squads to develop a “brand narrative” of storytelling to guide the design process and visual identity behind the team’s name and the merchandise and other public facing elements spawned by it. 

The core tenets of the team’s brand storytelling remain the same: Play in the “theater of the mind” by showing the fin and never the shark — just as director Steven Spielberg famously did with his blockbuster Jaws movie in 1975. Thus, the Kraken creature has never entirely been shown; only hints of it such as a glowing red eye and a tentacle here and there.  

But the storytelling around the creature and some of the characters involved with it — such as the ocean and its lore, mystery and nautical life — remain multi-layered and have evolved over time.  

“Before we had a team we wanted to own the idea of the adventure and what awaits so we would lean heavily into maps, and topographic, dark water to build the sense of impending adventure,” Wiggan said. “As we progressed over the seasons we advanced the narrative too — adding more scrimshaw type artwork and details as we shared the stories of adventure and experiences with our fans.” 

Other additions included Northwest textures to show the Kraken team’s connection to Seattle’s gritty, intense, hard-working roots. The team showcased “The Deep” as a place and a mentality, which quickly gained popularity among fans.  

Over time, the narrative added more menacing elements of an all-black third jersey and bioluminescence to create an abyss-like version of the team’s nautical world. This coming season, the narrative will further illustrate connections between the Kraken brand and the local community, portraying “The Deep” as true to Seattle’s core and how the city’s players and people share a kindred spirit.

None of this will win any hockey games. But the strengthening of the brand’s bond with Kraken fans will mean deeper experiences ahead when the team does inevitably return to playoff action. 

Six years after the “Kraken” came to be, the initial connection appears to have held firm. 

My belief of that stems from the fact so many fans are already hanging on every move this team makes. Some have been highly critical of some moves and that’s fine by me. 

I’d rather fans agonize over finer details of Kraken on-ice play than still be discussing the team in generic terms as a cute expansion story from some little-known sport called “ice hockey.” To that degree, the emotional attachment has been made, and there’s no going back to when it was good enough just to have the NHL and a cool team name. 

All new teams evolve from a novelty act and the greater intensity of today’s fan attachment to the Kraken can cut both ways during good times and bad. But the only thing worse than a bad reaction to bad times is fan indifference — not having the kind of attachment that sparks any positive or negative intensity at all. 

The Kraken have that attachment and keep working to strengthen it. And six years later, they still have a rock-solid name reminding us all of a bet made on a city that did indeed embrace being a little bit different.