Creating the first national membership programme for the nation’s squash community.

Insight

At its core, the project’s success would rely on effectively communicating three critical elements. Firstly, that membership is not just a transaction of benefits, but the chance to be part of a community. Secondly, the pure joy and intensity that players experience when they play the game. Thirdly, a compelling case for existing members to transition to the new scheme.

Through careful consultation with players, we found a deep-seated love and appreciation of the game. Whether players had been enjoying the sport for a week or 30 years, they were all unified by the central idea that the game made them feel truly alive. For many, those 45 minutes in a square box gave them purpose, focusing their minds and bodies.

This sat nicely with the insight we gathered from staff, who expressed a desire to create a campaign that truly reflects the power of the game, on an individual level and to connect communities of people. They wanted a campaign that would show how membership can act as a gateway for new and existing players to discover this power, including those from diverse and under-represented communities into the sport.

Our opportunity was to develop a membership brand that positioned England Squash as the only organisation offering the best all-around squash experience, one rooted in joy and love for the game.

Ideas

This led us to the idea of firmly establishing squash as the game of your life, and the campaign would show membership as the vital gateway to that.

We built the messaging on strong and meaningful beliefs that would underpin and carry the campaign forward. Beliefs members could all sign up to; ideas that would inspire staff in their work every day.

• Squash as a sport has the power to connect and engage communities
• Squash as a game has the power to fulfil people’s emotional and physical needs by improving health and well-being
• With an active and engaged membership, England Squash are better able to support members, however they choose to play.

The greater, happier and more diverse the squash community is, the more able the sport will be to create an impact, today and for future generations.

A new brand campaign proposition, The Game of Your Life, encapsulates squash’s impact on people’s lives; their health, well-being and sense of social connectivity, and where membership is the Beating Heart of the Game.

Reflecting this through every aspect of the campaign, the visual identity centres on bespoke photography, showcasing a diverse set of players all united by the pure joy of playing the game. Using the dimensions of a court as inspiration, flexible layouts allow perspectives and focus to shift depending on the story being told. A fresh, vibrant colour palette and eye-catching typeface elevates key messages and breathes new life into the existing brand identity.

Impact

The England Squash membership programme now has its own unique identity that encapsulates what so many love about the game, whilst also cementing the supportive and guiding role of England Squash as the overseer of this new national membership.

It is part of the wider goal to increase participation and encourage more people. Sport is seen as more than athletic performance; it has a wider role in community and individual health and well-being. It can be fun, relaxing, inspiring, and supportive.

A paid digital campaign was launched on META and TikTok in August 2024, just in time for the first wave of membership renewals. The campaign resonated well with membership renewal audiences.
It achieved a CTR five times higher than England Squash’s TikTok benchmark, the caption used on TikTok ‘Giving Back to the Game’ was the top-performing message, showing that brand positioning resonated with younger audiences. Ads that used the copy The Game of Your Life and Beating Heart of the Game coupled with the new creative palette and imagery were the top performing ads in this wave.