Our brand identity was a springboard for success

The task at hand

With a mission, vision, and values already in place, our task was to take these brand elements, expand them into a brand positioning, brand personality, and tone of voice, and from there, create a visual identity worthy of the biggest and best world championships yet.

Breaking down barriers

We started the project by hosting some incredibly insightful brand strategy workshops with the marketing team and key external stakeholders to help expand the discussion around what gymnastics means, their ambitions for the event itself and what it means to the city. These workshops also helped us to build a better understanding of the audience groups we were targeting. One key aspect that surfaced was the perception of gymnasts themselves who, due to their superhuman abilities, can be seen as elitist and unrelatable. Those who love gymnastics understood the dedication and passion needed to a world-class gymnast, but these die-hard fans were just a small section of a large audience we hoped to attract.

It became clear we needed a brand positioning statement that would work not just for the uber fans, but for spectators who simply enjoy attending large events. Welcome to our World did just that. Wanting to make gymnastics more open and inviting to a wider audience, this gave us a fantastic starting point on which to build the brand and acted as flexible platform to tell the all-important stories of the gymnasts. Welcome to our World worked on another level by also capturing the friendliness of Liverpudlians and their city – a key factor for the city’s tourism – which was waiting to greet people with open arms.

True colours

Something we had to take into consideration before starting the project were some colour restrictions. Liverpool is a city divided when it comes to football, which meant we had to steer clear of the reds and blues of their opposing teams. Historically gymnastics events overuse pink, and Liverpool City Council had splashed its corporate purple around the city, so these colours were off limits. Throw in stiff competition from other major sports events in England that same year – the Commonwealth Games and Rugby League World Cup, who both had their brands out in the public domain – and the options were tighter than a too-small leotard.

A flexible visual identity

Sports events logos need to work harder than most, having to be immediately recognisable and memorable. Our logo incorporated togetherness, motion and movement, and the iconic Liverpool motif, the shape of the liver birds. We called it the Worldpool, a simple but meaningful mark that would look just as good as a pin badge as it would on huge screens at the event itself. Beyond the logo, branding needs flexibility, even more so when it’s a sporting event. We used the Worldpool as a graphic device, emphasising the fluidity and beauty of their movements, or simply use it as a framing device. While we cheated a little with the colours of the logo itself – there’s a bit of red and blue in there – the overall branding colour palette stuck to the promise of standing out and being distinctive. Working alongside colour were unique textured backgrounds – reminiscent of clouds of chalk dust – easily generated to create as many different versions as our client needed.

Teamwork is everything

As the lead agency, we were delighted to support the client as brand guardians over the 18 months we worked together in the lead up to the event. We’re good listeners and love collaborating, so worked closely with a number of other agencies on the run up to the World Gymnastics Championships. We supported the Marketing team and their bank of freelancers, and worked with suppliers to design uniforms for the staff and event volunteers. We even helped choose flooring colours for the venue itself.

Breaking records

The World Gymnastics Championships 2022 brand was seen by millions, with over 900,000 in the UK alone watching Britain’s men’s team picking up a bronze – with even higher viewing figures reported on the closing weekend. Our campaigns helped to sell over 35,000 tickets, which surpassed all targets. Volunteer applications in response to our campaign were double the target, delivering a truly multicultural group with 35 different languages being spoken between them. Our contribution to the client’s Instagram posts helped them to achieve more than three times the average followers from any of the previous five FIG World Gymnastics Championships events. We helped welcome the world to Liverpool, and Liverpool delivered. Perfect 10s all round.