THE JOCKEY CLUB

The Jockey Club is one of the largest sports businesses operating in the UK today, with 15 racecourses and multiple other ventures spanning hospitality, breeding, and training. As a historic custodian of horseracing, the business invests all the profit it makes back into the facilitation and development of the sport. 

Beyond custodianship, we saw an opportunity for The Jockey Club to become more of an advocate and endorser. With leading racecourses and huge marquee events like The Grand National and Cheltenham Festival in their portfolio, they are perfectly placed to become the sport’s biggest promoter. But to do this they need a brand and proposition that can compel new and existing audiences. 

Our brand idea ‘Getting Hearts Racing’ allows The Jockey Club to be both the guardian of the sport and its champion. It taps into the thrill and excitement of the sport whilst also capturing the emotion, passion and care that runs through the racing community. 

The previous visual identity felt homogenised, dated, and leaned heavily on a repeated diamond shape that was derived from the previous logo. With the diamond use being engrained across all physical venues, we needed to find a way of retaining it without it being the main focus of the identity. This led us to create a contemporary marque using one diamond that forms the letter ‘J’. This simple, graphic approach enables it to be used as an endorsement and mark of quality across the brand’s channels and outputs. 

The diamond also influences a bespoke display typeface which incorporates the shape into certain letterforms and serifs. This typeface became the basis for all of the racecourse logotypes, and became the common thread that ties the brand's communications and other businesses together. 

To ensure each of the 15 racecourses could more effectively communicate with local audiences, we developed a set of illustrations that showcase the unique aspects of each location. These were accompanied by emotive pieces of boilerplate text that look to capture the tone and unique qualities of each venue.