When an agency specialising in esports marketing needs to rebrand itself, the stakes are particularly high. Your audience is the gatekeeper of authenticity. They can spot corporate posturing from a mile away. They’re the ones who’ve watched countless brands attempt—and fail—to seem relatable through clumsy memes and forced references.
So when Fellowkids decided it was time for a new visual identity, the challenge wasn’t just about aesthetics. It was about proving that the agency genuinely understood fandom, rather than simply exploiting it.
The resulting rebrand, created by Studio Kiln, manages something increasingly rare in contemporary branding: it treats fandom culture as something worth celebrating on its own terms, rather than as a consumer segment to be targeted and monetised. The identity doesn’t try to speak to fans: it speaks as one, and that distinction matters enormously.
Central character
At the centre of the rebrand sits the Fellowkid, a hooded character that functions simultaneously as logo, mascot and physical object.
The hoodie is a deliberate choice. In gaming and esports communities, the hoodie functions as more than practical clothing. It’s a signal of identity and belonging, a visual shorthand for the culture itself. By grounding their entire identity around this garment, Fellowkids acknowledges something fundamental about their audience.
The character’s design, too, speaks volumes. Rather than a static mascot, the Fellowkid is expressive and modular: it shifts through different moods and expressions, allowing the brand itself to move with the emotional tenor of its community.
When fans celebrate, the Fellowkid celebrates. When they commiserate, so does their brand. This might sound like a small thing, but it’s a rejection of the corporate brand voice that demands consistency above all else. Fellowkids is saying that authenticity sometimes means fluctuation, responsiveness and emotional honesty.
Visual language
The visual language surrounding the Fellowkid reinforces this approach. The overall aesthetic is unapologetically Y2K-inspired, drawing on nostalgia from gaming culture: the bright colours of early console games, the visual chaos of a dedicated gamer’s room, the vibrant design language of collectable toys.
There’s nothing trendy or aspirational about it. Instead, it’s deliberately rooted in the specific visual memory of the communities Fellowkids serves. The typography is expressive rather than corporate, the colour palette is bold and saturated, and the entire system is designed to feel alive.
What’s inspiring, too, is how this identity has been engineered as a flexible platform. Too many rebrand projects prioritise a unified, carefully controlled brand expression; the kind of rigid system that makes designers’ jobs easier but makes brands feel sterile and defensive. Fellowkids went the opposite direction.
The modular visual system has been explicitly designed to help the team build presentations, merchandise and social assets with ease and character. In other words, the identity isn’t designed for control but for use, adaptation, and the kind of authentic expression that resonates with creative communities.
Physical form
Equally noteworthy is the decision to extend the brand into physical form as a collectable vinyl art toy. This isn’t a token merchandise spinoff tacked onto the rebrand as an afterthought. Instead, it represents a fundamental truth about fandom culture: fans don’t just want to engage with brands, they want to own a piece of them.
The broader context matters here, too. For the uninitiated, “Fellowkids” references the “How do you do, fellow kids?” meme, which is a joke about corporations attempting and failing to seem relatable. In this light, the name can be seen as a sly wink; an acknowledgement that the agency understands the critical eye turned on inauthentic brand behaviour. They’re essentially saying: we know you’re sceptical, and that scepticism is warranted. But we’re different because we actually understand this culture from the inside.
Rather than positioning themselves as experts trying to “decode” an audience, then, Fellowkids presents itself as a peer: someone who’s part of the culture, not observing it from a distance.
Key takeaways
There are several lessons here. First, that authentic visual identity can’t be divorced from an authentic understanding of culture. In this case, the Y2K aesthetic works for Fellowkids because it’s rooted in genuine community memory, not because Y2K is trendy.
Second, that flexibility and modulation often feel more authentic than rigid consistency. A brand that can shift with its community’s mood will feel more alive than one that insists on perfect uniformity.
Third, extending a brand identity into physical, collectable forms can be more meaningful than traditional merchandise if it’s integrated into the overall brand philosophy, rather than treated as a separate revenue stream.
Finally, the Fellowkids rebrand also demonstrates something important about contemporary brand strategy: audiences increasingly value honesty about what a brand is and what it’s trying to do. Rather than pretending to be something they’re not, Fellowkids has explicitly positioned itself as a cultural participant rather than an external observer.
That’s risk: it leaves them open to charges of inauthenticity if they fail to deliver. But it’s the only approach that’s likely to work with audiences this sceptical and this savvy.
Overall, this is an attempt to build a brand that behaves like the culture it serves rather than simply marketing to it. So whether you’re rebranding an agency or building an identity for a consumer brand, that’s worth paying attention to.
