Junkyard Golf Club, Brand Evolution & E-Commerce Platform
The Situation
The home of crazy golf, Junkyard Golf Club appointed Bert to review its brand ahead of planned international expansion and new venue launches in London and Newcastle.
The leadership team approached Bert as they believed the identity, and especially the tone of voice, was beginning to lose relevance with audiences.
Independent research confirmed this belief and highlighted specific parts of the brand experience that had become misaligned with audience expectations. We paired this insight with immersion sessions at Junkyard Golf Club and competitor venues and explored international trends shaping social competition.
The Change
We used our open creativity methodology to immerse the leadership and wider teams in the entire transformation process.
Open creativity workshops and customer insights highlighted the disconnect between the current tone-of-voice and expectations. Concerns over the relevance of the narrative were also expressed by employees, who felt it was becoming hard to express authentically.
Retro puns were dialled back and outdated abbreviations and fads were removed. The role of language was transformed to better explain, reflect and augment the overall JYGC experience.
The updated narrative then informed the visual identity. Our work centred on customer insights that showed new audiences wanted a stronger feel for the experience before they booked; and that an increasingly competitive marketplace was making it harder for Junkyard Golf Club to stand out.
The old logo’s size and complexity rendered it hard to use on motion-led digital platforms such as TikTok and Instagram. Through open creativity workshops we created an entirely new visual identity system that would overcome these issues. The solution centres on a new logo built to be replicated at any size on any medium, and allows the logo and name to become a centre-point of communications. We stacked the lettering as a homage to pile 'em high junkyards. This also further emphasised each word in the already brilliant name.
The colour system was designed to stand-out, combining vibrant colours to create an infinite set of on-brand landscapes. We also commissioned new photography in a direct response to audiences who had expressed that photography of the experience was key to their decision-making. Models and styling was inspired by user-generated content to help build an authentic view of the brand long-before visiting a venue.
Detailed guidelines and assets were produced with delivery teams trained on the execution of the new brand. The identity was rolled-out across all venues, supported by creative out-of-home, digital advertising, PR and social campaigns.
The Growth
The new brand identity and strategy has helped Junkyard Golf Club's identity evolve from pop-up to scale-up and the new brand essence catalysed improvements across the business. Leading to exceptional customer-centric experiences across its seven UK sites. Sales at Junkyard Golf Club rose by 23.4% year-on-year with over 1.8 million games of crazy golf played in that period.
The rebrand won silver for Best New / Improved Visual Identity at the Restaurant Marketer & Innovator Awards.
Lauren Cassells, Head of Sales & Marketing said “We are going through an exciting transition and have created a brand that better reflects our customers and improves their experience. I can’t wait to see how they immerse themselves in the evolved brand concept.”
See the work: www.junkyardgolfclub.co.uk
