Commonwealth Sport

Transforming an international federation into a global, dynamic, sports movement

The Commonwealth Games Federation, the federation responsible for the direction and control of the Commonwealth Games, identified that a reinvigoration of their brand was necessary to ensure it aligned with their ambitious new strategic direction for the Games, their programmes and the wider Movement.

Insight

Following conversations with National Associations, Organising Committees and Commercial Partners it became clear there was a huge desire to make the brand bolder, simpler and more confident, ensuring that it would perform better in both the physical and digital worlds, and to reflect the essential inclusive and positive spirit of the Movement.

By creating a bold new essence ‘Sport is only the beginning’, we helped the federation refocus on their origins as a progressive leader in sport and social development, demonstrating the power of sport to unlock our human potential and transform lives.

Ideas

We marked their transition from a governing body of a series of quadrennial events, to a sporting movement driving wider social change day-in day-out, with a simple but important change to their brand name. The Commonwealth Games federation becomes Commonwealth Sport.

This new name and positioning translates into a brand that respects the heritage of the organisation while crafting an image that is much more contemporary, open and uplifting, with an identity that echoes the instinctive action of athletes as they celebrate their success.

Impact

The new identity is simple, graphic and modern, capable of speaking the language of contemporary sport and stand out in the field of play, whether that field is at the centre of a 60,000 seater stadium, or at the heart of a small developing community.

With the launch of the Glasgow 2026 games the Celebration Device completes its journey to take centre stage – just as it was always intended to.

The Birmingham 2022 games were incredibly successful in many ways, but not least of which was creating brand value and establishing the Commonwealth Celebration Device firmly in the public consciousness. But the brand hierarchy at the time – using a bespoke emblem for every event was restricting efforts to build that awareness and value.

Soon after the Birmingham closing ceremony, we helped the movement develop a different model where the Celebration Device is retained as the hero from Games to Games but modified every time to become the event emblem.

Moving to this model will more confidently represent the Commonwealth Sport organisation as a global movement, increasing the value and effectiveness of the brand.