Award-Winning Digital Growth for UK's Most Successful Women's Sports Team

Platinum Winner of the Hermes Creative Award 2022

Sheffield Hatters stand proudly as the UK's most successful women's basketball team, boasting a rich heritage steeped in community, dedication, and sporting excellence. Founded in 1961 by the inspirational Betty Codona OBE, the club has consistently championed women’s basketball, breaking barriers and creating opportunities for female athletes in South Yorkshire and beyond.

Betty Codona, a trailblazer in women’s sport, established the Hatters with a vision of empowering women and girls through basketball. Over six decades later, her vision continues to flourish, thanks to tireless volunteer efforts and community support. The Hatters have won numerous national titles, setting a benchmark for women's basketball in the UK and making Sheffield synonymous with the sport’s highest standards. Their home games are held at All Saints Sports Centre, where the team regularly delights a passionate local crowd, fostering a vibrant sporting community.

The club prides itself on inclusivity and opportunity, welcoming players of all ages and skill levels into its ranks. Sheffield Hatters is not just a basketball team; it's a beacon for aspiring female athletes, fostering personal development, teamwork, and sportsmanship, along with elite basketball training. Its programmes range from grassroots initiatives and youth coaching to high-performance teams competing in national leagues. This dedication ensures a strong foundation for future generations of talented players.

The Challenge

Despite their impressive legacy and success on the court, the Sheffield Hatters recognised the importance of a strong digital presence in today's highly competitive sports landscape. The club needed to significantly enhance its online presence and modernise its brand identity to better reflect its achievements, heritage, and ongoing ambition. Additionally, improving the brand's digital appeal was crucial in attracting more charitable donations, which are essential to support the club's community programmes and operational expenses.

Hydra Creative’s personal connection to the club added a meaningful layer to the partnership. One of our directors, Ryan, previously benefited from coaching by Betty Codona herself and her assistant, Neil Lovell, during his youth basketball days in the 1990s. Recognising the Hatters’ immense contribution to local sports and community spirit, Hydra Creative enthusiastically partnered with the team to deliver a transformative digital project, proudly featuring our own Hydra logo on the Hatters' 2021/22 kit as a sign of our support.

What We Did

Our primary focus was to deliver a visually appealing and highly functional website that encapsulates the Hatters' vibrant history, achievements, and community ethos. The site had to strike a perfect balance, ensuring stylish aesthetics without compromising on usability. Clear navigation was prioritised to ensure visitors, whether seasoned supporters or new enthusiasts, could effortlessly find essential information, donate, and buy merchandise and game tickets.

We structured the website with the user journey at its heart, creating intuitive navigation with prominent calls to action strategically placed throughout. The donation functionality was specifically highlighted, encouraging visitors to easily support the club’s ongoing community projects and activities. Furthermore, quick access to ticket purchasing and the merchandise store was integrated seamlessly into the website’s design, ensuring supporters could easily engage with and support their favourite team.

The website’s visual elements were meticulously crafted to reflect the team's identity and rich history, combining striking photography, engaging player profiles, and compelling storytelling. Our design team added layers of interactivity and engagement to the overall user experience. This approach not only modernised the Hatters’ online presence but also ensured the site became a central hub for community engagement and interaction.

To complement the new website, we worked closely with the Hatters to create the club’s special 60^th anniversary logo and sponsorship brochure. The special logo incorporated the signature Hatters’ orange, and was implemented into the team’s brochure, which gives potential donors a background to the club and details ways they can become a part of the historic team’s future success.

" We are super excited about the new Hatters website, which has been developed by Hydra Creative. This will give us an opportunity to share more club information, stories, news, and much more about the Hatters. "