10th February 2009

THE "UKA" REBRAND

10 February 2009

Article by Claire Furlong as seen in Athletics Weekly Magazine

You may have noticed that things looked a little different when you watched our first indoor event of 2009, the Aviva International Match on Saturday. After ten years of looking the same, UK Athletics has undergone a makeover and will now be known simply as UKA resulting in a new look and new website design.

Over the last 18 months we have made real changes to UKA, our structure and the way we operate. As we move forward in partnership with the Home Countries to secure the future of athletics beyond 2012, we thought it was important that our image changed with us.

But it’s about so much more than just a logo, a strong brand for the sport is important to our commercial partners and the BBC all of whom invest significant sums into the number one Olympic and Paralympic sport. It will also help us attract new partners who recognise the value of an association with UKA.

We have taken the opportunity to tie in our new look with that of Norwich Union, who are uniting under the single global brand of Aviva. This ensures a cost efficiency as both new brands will be rolled out alongside each other over the coming months, meaning UKA monies can be invested in the sport and not print or design work.

The website, which includes a new address www.uka.org.uk will carry multi-media content, including footage of the Aviva major events series on UKA TV, as well as blogs and interviews with athletes and an updated photo gallery. In the coming months there will be an enhanced grassroots section, fixture database, live webchats and interviews.

Ahead of the outdoor season, the Aviva GB & NI team will get their new adidas kit and our various grassroots projects will also get a new 21st century image. Our first grassroots scheme to represent our new look was Parallel Success, a talent ID programme to identify and support talented disabled people to take up athletics for the first time.

It was particularly satisfying to see our new image rolled out at both levels of the sport during the same week. At Kelvin Hall in Glasgow the red, white and blue of UKA reflected the Aviva GB Team athletes competing for their country. Whilst on teachers desks, Parallel Success books were landing letting them know the part they can play in creating the next generation of Paralympic Champions.