LOVB Houston Rebrand: An Exclusive Behind-The-Scenes Look Into Their Rebrand Process, Team & Player Collaboration, and How You Can Participate!
- The Ballers Magazine
- 24 hours ago
- 4 min read
Earlier this month, the League One Volleyball (LOVB) Houston team announced plans to rebrand for the first time since the league’s inception in 2020. Coming off a stellar 2026 season—where the team won the LOVB regular season title and made it all the way to the semifinals—, and at a time where women’s professional volleyball is rapidly growing in America, the stars could not have aligned more perfectly for this announcement.
Ballers Magazine spoke exclusively with LOVB Houston Chief Business Officer Lisa Walker and Houston Texans Chief Marketing Officer Doug Vosik about the process of this rebrand and received a behind-the-scenes look into the collaborative approach the organization is taking.
“Volleyball is growing rapidly across Houston and across the country. Participation is strong, fan interest is growing, and the level of play continues to rise. So when I think about momentum, it's actually part of our vision. Volleyball is now and in the future. We think we are building momentum: one that rallies our city, elevates our athletes, and inspires the next generation of girls to see volleyball because now there's a platform for it. We want them to believe in it, go be inspired, and go chase it,” Lisa Walker shared when reflecting on the momentum women’s professional volleyball is having in the United States, the individual success LOVB Houston is experiencing, and why now is the perfect time for this rebrand.
When diving into the unique brainstorming process the organization took for the initial phase of this rebrand, Doug Vosik—who spearheaded the Houston Texans’ top-to-bottom rebrand which debuted in 2024 and marked their first major uniform overhaul since 2000—, emphasized the organic process and high-level engagement from players through it all.
“I'd say we probably had over 100 names written on a spreadsheet. We started with a really creative brainstorming process and we did it through two streams. You obviously have a bunch of marketers who are professionals in their trade and marketers are going to say, 'Let's go create a brainstorm around names that this team could be, but we're going to give some guidelines. We're going to say those guidelines are four different things that a team name could be.’ One, because this team is owned by the McNairs—just like the Houston Texans—should one stream of thought be ‘How does a name be relative to the Texans? Not call it LOVB Houston Texans, but should it be related?’. The second brainstorm is, ‘Hey, in Houston, we're really proud of our space heritage—of Space City—, so what's a bunch of names that fall under a space category?’ We're also very proud of being the energy capital, right? Oil and gas. ‘What are a bunch of names that imply energy?’ And lastly, should we just call it H-Town because of the culture. Whether it be music, our Gold Coast, (or) other things like that, how does that inspire a set of names?' So marketers went and brainstormed 100 names.
We actually then went to the players and asked them to do the same process. We didn't show them anything that marketers came up with. To show you how engaged these players are, the players themselves came back with about 50 names. We then took the two lists—and we hadn't even been in person yet to actually talk about the project—, merged the two lists, and said, ‘Hey, what's in common?’ There were actually about 20 to 30 names that were in common between the marketing people’s brainstorming and players’ brainstorming. That was the time when Hannah came with us, Hannah McNair, we met with the players, we met with the coaching staff, and we showed them all the names. It was ultimately just an hour-long session there of players saying, ‘Oh, I really like that one. That one's awesome. I'd be proud to wear that on my jersey and so on and so on.’ The process was so organic because of that. We took two separate work streams, we brought them together, we showed everyone what they had in common, and the players kind of took over from there.”
As part of the rebranding process, LOVB Houston will also connect with local volleyball clubs and bring them in on this rebranding journey. “Coming up, we are going out to local volleyball clubs to continue to get their input and their feedback on what resonates for them. I think what this really does and the purpose of that rebrand going back to involving the community, it really connects us with our fans so that they feel like they're part of what we're building here for the future. Because of that, what we want to see happen is that when the season starts in late December with the idea that the rebrand is happening—and things are changing, ultimately with the jersey—that throughout the season we'll be building upon the launch and the announcement of the new names. So that creates excitement, a connection to the franchise and to the city, and (a way) where they feel like they're a part of it for years to come,” Lisa Walker highlighted.
LOVB Houston is also inviting fans to vote for their favorite team name and suggest their own, helping shape a brand that embodies the passion, energy and ambition of both the organization, its fans and community, and the city it represents.
Fans can vote for one of the following team names:
Houston Hype
Houston Halo
Houston Heights
Houston Hive
Houston Charge
To cast your vote, visit: https://web.lsse.net/h-town-faves-lovb.
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