Locked In & Levelling Up

When it comes to redefining leisure experiences, The Axe Factor and LevelUp Escapes don’t play small. And neither do we.

Recently, we partnered with both these brands to sharpen their digital presence, energise their identities, and launch them into the spotlight as Shrewsbury’s go-to destinations for truly immersive entertainment.

From high-tech axe throwing to mind-bending escape rooms, these are not your average day (or evening)-out venues. And they certainly didn’t want average support.

Enter Player One

Just months after finishing school, budding local entrepreneur, Nathan Green, established LevelUp Escapes. What started originally as an Indiana Jones-themed experience, has since grown into a business that offers multiple immersive games to thousands of players, and been nominated for several impressive accolades.

Following this success, Nathan then took this one step further. Along with his childhood friend and business partner, Viktor Severdov, he launched The Axe Factor (right next door!). Adding another dimension to the entertainment landscape right here in Shropshire.

Beyond The Game

Originally, The Axe Factor came to Reech with a mission: to facilitate easy bookings, encourage repeat visits, and – ultimately – become the place in Shrewsbury for adrenaline-fuelled axe throwing.

But its website was merely a blunt tool, and its branding needed realignment.

Because they offer much more than traditional axe-throwing. It’s a full-hour, tech-powered, safety-first, Axe-Master-led thrill ride, backed by Champ Throw®️ integrated targets and expandable gameplay options. So, to showcase the business’ unique edge and support with driving leads, we assisted with a comprehensive digital identity overhaul to match this level of sophistication, excitement, and uniqueness.

Its sister brand, LevelUp Escapes, had different but equally pressing needs. The existing site was clunky, hard to navigate, and lacked analytics. Worse still, it wasn’t clear that both were part of the same family. So, it needed clarity, cohesion, and a visual upgrade.

From First Throw to Final Puzzle

For The Axe Factor, the timeline was intense – we kicked off at the start of August and wrapped by November. In a few months, we delivered:

• Brand Refresh

We refined the existing brand, giving it a modern and cohesive identity packed with energy and edge – specifying everything from colour palette and fonts to tone of voice.  

• Website Development

Allowing the full-throttle experience to begin online we designed and developed a slick, 10-page WordPress site that made booking simpler and more intuitive.

• Content Creation

Every word written reflects the thrill of the throw while clearly communicating safety procedures, gameplay, and the booking process.

• Organic Social Media Toolkit

To ensure all future content remains perfectly on-brand and geared for engagement, we shared Canva-ready templates for the in-house team at The Axe Factor to update and upload across social media.

With LevelUp Escapes, the brief was simple: enhance the business to bring it in-line with The Axe Factor and make the connection obvious.

First and foremost, we looked at the brand. Nathan initially asked to honour the existing concept, but just further align it with The Axe Factor – so our specialist designers shared this. But to really whet his appetite, our creative team also proposed a fresh idea: conveying the escape room experience in a contemporary and dynamic way.

He opted for the latter.

Of course, brand synergy with The Axe Factor was still a core priority – achieved by using a complementary colour palette and the same typeface to create the wordmark. It felt familiar, consistent, and intertwined but had its own place and personality.  

Excited by this new prospect, sign-off was achieved in just a couple of weeks (with no amendments needed), allowing us to move onto the website.

While still a work-in-progress, it’s shaping up to become a UX-first site that showcases the team, clears up confusion around finding the venue, and positions LevelUp Escapes as a prominent player in the escape room market. Building the foundation for serious visibility and conversions, our support extends from design and development of the site to content creation and SEO.

Plus, we hosted a one-day media Level shoot, capturing over 200 premium images as well as a high-impact, one-minute hero video for ongoing use on the website and social media platforms.

Two Brands. One Unified Experience

Over the past 12 months, we’ve been proud to support The Axe Factor and LevelUp Escapes. The unified visual identity, future-proofed websites, and ready-to-go content strategies mean both businesses are now locked in and ready to take it to the next level. 

Want to stop playing games and ‘level up’ your marketing strategy? Let’s talk.