Turning Grass Into Glory: The Bladez Brand Story
You know the feeling.
The electrifying feeling of standing shoulder to shoulder with other fans in a packed stadium, holding your breath in anticipation… right before your team clinches the championship.
If you’ve ever played a sport, lived in a sports town, or grown up in a sports family (or, like me, married into one), then you know the feeling. Or rather, the wide range of feelings that watching live sports can evoke.
Those feelings—excitement, nostalgia, pride—are exactly what the founders of Bladez had in mind when they decided to start a new company.
The kickoff.
The idea behind Bladez (pronounced like “blades”) is simple: give fans a chance to relive their favorite moments with discs made of grass taken straight from the field, fairway or pitch—depending on where you are in the world and what sport you’re following.
The blades of grass, made into a disc emblazoned with the logo or crest of a team or club, become a unique keepsake. Fans can buy Bladez celebrating their favorite club, a winning season, or even a specific game or match.
With roots in both Europe and the U.S., and a huge total addressable market of teams and fans around the world, Bladez was a promising concept, and our team was intrigued.
The Bladez team needed our help creating a brand and website that would set the company up for a win.
The rallying cry.
I’m from St. Louis, so I’m no stranger to passionate, lifelong fans.
And in the U.K., where Bladez was already scheduling meetings with clubs to promote the product, you don’t become a football fan—you’re born into a family with several generations of fandom.
Atomicdust team members discuss Bladez branding
That history, tradition and nostalgia inspired our approach to the brand. We wanted to create an identity that honored classic sports culture, is appropriate across sports and countries, and feels established, despite being a young company.
Long-time baseball fans might remember the special baseball cards that came with a tiny snippet of fabric taken from the player’s jersey—the same jersey they wore during a championship game or record-setting play. Just like those cards, Bladez discs give fans a tangible token of a memorable, emotion-filled moment.
That concept set the stage for the tagline: Own the moment.
With a moodboard and initial brand language, we set out to create the visuals.
The play-maker.
Bladez’s products are made from grass. So it only made sense for the logo to be made from it, too.
Resembling the stripes of a freshly cut field and an abstracted B, the logomark looks clean and simple, but is packed with meaning. The mark can live on its own or alongside the brand name, set in a vintage print-inspired typeface. Written in Roman numerals, the year of establishment alludes to the long history of sports.
Logo explorations for Bladez
A timeless color palette (pitch green, team white, cup gold and glory red) and photos edited to be era-agnostic round out the brand visuals.
We’d shaped the story. Now we just needed to start telling it.
The W(ebsite).
To really claim the win, Bladez isn’t going direct to consumers… at least not yet.
Initially, the company—and the microsite—will target clubs, leagues, teams, stadiums and arenas for partnership opportunities. Bladez will create the discs, and their clients will then sell them to fans through fan shops, pro shops and other avenues.
So the Bladez website needed to speak to both buyers within athletics organizations and the end user.
We created a crisp, one-page website design to tee up the concept. Headlines like “Maybe you were there. Maybe you wish you were. Now you can own the moment.” capture the emotional attachment people have to their favorite sports memories, and invite partners to share in that emotional connection. And excitement-inducing images generate demand, while additional copy explains the process and invites visitors to take the next step.
QR codes printed on the medallion boxes will allow users to verify the place and time the clippings were collected, further solidifying their connection to their memories. Of course, we made sure the website is just as beautiful on small screens as it is on large ones, and the Bladez team can easily make updates as new ideas or opportunities sprout.
Helping ideas get off the ground.
Stepping into the world of sports branding was a thrill, allowing us to tackle a new-to-us industry and flex our creative muscles.
We’re excited for Bladez’s future, and the jaw-clenching, high-five-inducing, core-memory making moments they’ll capture next.
