The Spectacle of Modern Day Gladiators

THE CHALLENGE
Bath Rugby was an iconic club with a glorious history – but a tired, indistinct brand. Like many Premiership teams, they'd fallen into a formulaic approach, relying on transactional marketing that failed to capture the thrill of the game. With their off-pitch energy falling flat, the brand was no longer inspiring the next generation of fans.‍

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THE INSIGHT
Rugby had lost its spectacle. Sport fans today crave emotion, drama and goosebumps. The same energy they find in entertainment, fashion and gaming. This club needed to stand for more than tradition and gentlemanly warfare. The city’s Roman heritage and Georgian reputation for showmanship offered an ownable truth: Bath is where grit meets grandeur. This became an oozing metaphor for everything rugby should be, an intense heart-pounding display of ferocity, guts and artistry.

THE EXECUTION
We channelled Bath’s Gladiatorial Spirit across every touchpoint. A new design system fused chisel-cut blackletter type with patterns inspired by the tribal heraldry of Bath's past. Movement and texture made it feel alive – like banners dragged through battle, ready to adorn a modern-day Colosseum. Imagery captured players as modern-day champions. Not just athletes, but warriors and entertainers. We turned Bath Rugby into a game of contrasts, where menace meets magic and ferocity meets finesse.
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THE CRAFT
Rugby is a sport best played on the edge, and that’s exactly how we want Bath to sound. Shock, Awe, Charisma, Courage. The drama. The intensity. The passion. Capturing the spirit of Bath's game means never shying away from the unexpected and using commanding language wherever possible. The oomph of an offload, the crunch of a contest. This new voice has a poetic tone because Bath’s story demands it. The players, the people, the city – they have a past, present and provenance that grant permission to elevate language like no other.

This is a club that's built different, in a city that's built different, for people who are built different. And it needed to sound like it.