The British Canoeing brand is going from strength to strength and we’re proud to have recently worked with them on another significant brand project as part of the implementation of their Stronger Together Strategic Plan.
Increasing participation and developing a strong and loyal membership base are key focus areas for the Paddlesport organisation so understanding exactly what people want to get out of their time spent on the water is critical in achieving this.
Feedback from members brought to light the need for a better way to gain recognition for participation linked to the development stage and specific needs of individuals. Evaluating the current offering, British Canoeing realised the need to evolve their recognition and reward program for members and non-members alike.
Working closely with the marketing team, we developed the brands, together with full roll out collateral for 2 new separate Awards Programmes which would recognise, on a wide scale, the diverse range of skills level, involvement, and experience of all paddlesport participants.
The Personal Performance Awards cover the 12 disciplines of paddlesports and progression through each of those specialist areas. We designed a brand mark which carries 12 coloured canoes, as a nod to their ‘Stronger Together’ mark and to represent each discipline equally, arranged in a laurel wreath (traditionally a symbol of victory and achievement) surrounding a paddle blade at the heart. Icons for each discipline were also created to ensure clarity, of not only the individual specialisms but also to reflect the program as a whole, and the inclusive ‘access for all’ approach.
The Paddle Awards, aimed at beginners, are designed to help learning and development, as well as to encourage continued involvement in paddlesports. The brand needed to reflect the family friendly, fun, inclusive nature of the program and align with their overall introductory participation programme, Go Paddling. We created a simple brand mark, based on that of the Personal Performance Awards but using just one colour to reflect the entry level focus, and used bright, vibrant colours combined with family focused visuals.
Following a review of our coaching and leadership qualifications, we were delighted to work with the team at Ruddocks to develop two powerful brands for our new Paddle Awards and Personal Performance Awards.
Robert went on to say:
“The new brands, alongside engaging marketing collateral created, will support the delivery of the new awards and help us encourage more participants into paddlesport”.
Launch was early 2019, delivered through various advertising and marketing campaigns and we’re very much looking forward to seeing the positive results forecasted, building on the continuing success of the last 12 months for British Canoeing.
Read more about our work with British Canoeing in our case study