The 76ers have unveiled their new integrated brand campaign for the playoffs, "Phila Unite."
The playoff logo features a snake.
The Sixers' press release explained the logo:
“Phila Unite” builds upon the team’s season-long “Spirit of 76” initiative by combining the bell logo, inspired by imagery from Philadelphia’s 1976 bicentennial celebration, and the segmented snake, a hidden feature on the City Edition uniform that is derived from Benjamin Franklin’s historically-significant political cartoon of 1754.
In 1754, Benjamin Franklin illustrated the political cartoon “Join, or Die” with a segmented snake in the Pennsylvania Gazette, a Philadelphia-based newspaper, in an effort to unite the colonies. In the 18th century, the severed snake was thought to possess the ability to be resurrected if its separated pieces were put back together before sunset.
Eleven years later, Franklin revitalized “Join, or Die” as “Unite, or Die” as an effort to bond the colonies together. Now, 250-plus years later, the 76ers will carry Franklin’s rallying cry to present day, evolving it to “Phila Unite,” and making it exclusively authentic to the city of Philadelphia.
The 76ers playoff logo now showcases “Philadelphia” in cursive script, representing the signing of the Declaration of Independence.