The Evolution of The Metro Brand
January 22, 2009
One of the most recognizable images for any local poker player today is the logo of The Metro Card Club. To most, it signifies integrity and reliability when it comes to poker tournaments and cash games. When the Metro Logo is on a tournament poster, players know for a fact that it is guaranteed to be a good poker tournament. You can see it on jackets and shirts, and people wear the metro logo patch in major tournaments all over.
But not a lot of people know what it really means, other than being an “M” symbol. And very few individuals know the origins of how it evolved to be the brand we all have come to know and be familiar with. Well, here’s a short timeline of how it really happened…
4th quarter 2006: The founding members of The Metro get together to form the idea of what The Metro is going to be, with plans laid out and deadlines to meet. The mission: give the poker community a place they can call home. Brainstorming for a name and logo follow shortly.
One of the members comes up with the idea of calling this new place, “The Metro”, first of all since they knew it was going to be in Metrowalk, and people will naturally say let’s play poker “Sa Metro”. It was also inspired by the classic casinos and poker rooms found in The Bellagio, The Wynn, The Palms, and others. Everybody soon agrees that it will be a good name, and settles for “The Metro Card Club” as the final choice.
The logo was a process of trial and error in finding the perfect design. The goal was to make it simple but catchy, something easy to remember but also classy and elegant. One person decided to give a proposal of a design based on an “M” symbol that is also the negative image of half a spade that is upside down. This image is the ACTUAL first prototype logo for The Metro:
More refined variations soon followed:
Until the final version finally evolved:
Today, the simple logo of The Metro Card Club is now a brand in itself, recognizable by poker players from anywhere in the country. More so very soon, when the first season of The Filipino Poker Tour airs on television, since almost all the tournaments were hosted in The Metro Card Club.
I hope you enjoyed this little poker history lesson as much as I did writing it! See you at the Tables!
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