Bowls England are looking for an agency to develop a brand identity for a new, casual format of the game.

Casual Lawn Bowls (CLB) is being developed as an exciting, new shorter game format aimed at new bowlers – motivating them to pick up a bowl, ensuring they have a great experience and are retained in our sport.  With the Commonwealth Games this summer, it is an ideal time to launch a new product and attract a new audience.

Below is a short overview of the project. For a full brief to enter the tender process, please email katy.shilladay@bowlsengland.com.

Project Background (Purpose/Background/Strategy)

Our insight tells us participation growth will come from people playing bowls more casually. We know, from experience in other bowls nations the wider sporting landscape, that some of these people will go on to play more competitively.

The new product will reverse the current perception that bowls is ‘old, slow and boring’ by presenting a fast-paced, colourful version of the sport that is attractive to all and delivered within one-hour to better meet lifestyle needs in the 21st century.

We have identified the following values of this new product:

FUN: A sociable session for all participants; lots of smiles; always in the action; every bowl counts; players leave feeling better about life; camaraderie between players

AUTHENTIC: It’s still a sport, our sport.  The bowling activity will be authentic and the intrinsic challenge of getting closest to the Jack remains i.e. biased bowls; closest to Jack scores most points; best player wins

ACCESSIBLE: Easy to participate, breaking down some of the ‘man-made’ barriers

• No prior knowledge of the sport is required
• Limited ‘rules’
• All basic equipment is provided
• No dress code
• In built flexibility for different numbers of players
• Viable for clubs to manage

INCLUSIVE: Players of different abilities and ages can compete; no sense that anyone will embarrass themselves; players always feel involved;

The format for CLB could also be adopted for competitive play both locally, nationally and internationally, and in support of other Bowls England participation and visibility initiatives – most notably pay and play/experiential activity or the development of a new broadcast product.  This is the Twenty20 of bowls but we’re starting bottom up.

We are looking for a creative agency to bring this new product to life by developing a brand and supporting content and resources.

The Tender Process

If you would like to pitch for this work, please send us –

• Credentials with examples of similar projects
• Concepts for brand identity and an idea about how to explain the game through a 30-60 sec video
• Costs for the following for comparison purposes –
  • Development of brand identity
  • Development of basic brand guidelines
  • Development of 30-60 sec video explaining the game
  • Marketing assets
    • HTML template
    • 1 by 1 social graphic
    • 9 by 16 social graphic
    • 2 sided flyer
    • Portrait A5 programme advert

 For a full brief to enter the tender process, please email katy.shilladay@bowlsengland.com.

Please send to katy.shilladay@bowlsengland.com by 5pm on Friday 11 March.  A shortlist will be drawn for meetings on 21-22 March.