British Gymnastics
PHA successfully met three briefs in 12 months to help British Gymnastics achieve strategic objectives
Building the profile of trampolining in the UK ahead of the World Trampoline Championships
The first of these projects saw PHA tasked with raising awareness around trampolining in the UK, ahead of the World Trampoline Championships held in Birmingham last year, with the sport having received little attention across both national and regional media in recent years.
Through our three-part strategy, which involved profiling some of Britain’s most heralded trampolinists to uncover strong human-interest stories, hosting a bespoke masterclass training session for various journalists at British Gymnastics HQ, and delivering key announcements to regional media regarding squad selections and triumphs during the Championships, we were able to secure coverage within leading national news outlets such as BBC Sport, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Mirror, as well as across 19 regions in total.
Following an incredibly successful campaign, British Gymnastics thanked us for ‘giving trampolining more media attention in 10 days than it has received in the last 10 years’.
Positioning British Gymnastics as industry leaders in empowering female athletes
Following our work with the organisation ahead of the World Trampoline Championships, we were tasked with positioning British Gymnastics as industry leaders in empowering female athletes and supporting them in their management of everyday women’s health issues.
Our approach to this brief began with us speaking to high-profile athletes and in-house experts within British Gymnastics’ wider performance team, who had experienced health issues whilst competing or working with gymnasts at the highest level, as we looked to get a better understanding of the issues facing women and girls at all levels across the sport.
Following this, as we looked to break the stigma around these health issues, we set up athlete and expert interviews with journalists we had nurtured strong relationships with, to discuss topics such as pelvic floor health, urinary incontinence and the management of menstrual cycles in gymnasts of all ages.
The three-month campaign saw us secure 34 pieces of coverage in total, including a two-page print feature in which former Team GB athlete, Laura Gallagher, discussed the importance of being open about women’s’ health issues, which featured within Sunday Express, Sunday Mirror, and Sunday People.
In addition to this, we were able to secure an expert commentary feature for British Gymnastics representatives within an article titled It’s Time to Change the Narrative on Periods and Athletic Performance in Women’s Sport, which featured within another national news outlet.
The campaign concluded with British Gymnastics framed as industry leaders in promoting open conversations about women’s health in sport and beyond.
Supporting British Gymnastics ahead of 2024 Olympic Games
Our final campaign involved us supporting British Gymnastics’ UK-based activity around the 2024 Olympic Games, tasked with celebrating the gymnastics community and the impact it has on grassroots members right up to Team GB.
Our strategy here involved securing media interviews for various gymnasts unable to compete in Paris due to injury, who were able to drum up support for Team GB through features within some of the UK’s biggest news outlets. We also arranged for a number of leading broadcast outlets to attend a series of grassroots club visits during the Games, with both BBC News and ITV News in attendance for what one representative described as a ‘dream-come-true-experience and something the young girls will keep with them forever’.
Following the Games, we looked to celebrate the team’s achievements in Paris by securing media attendance at a number of Olympic homecoming ceremonies across the UK, managing up to five back-to-back interviews per event with a mixture of national, regional and broadcast outlets, to deliver an array of coverage in which athletes were able to reflect on their experience at the Games.
This final campaign saw us secure a further 24 pieces of coverage across eight regions whilst successfully managing media opportunities during two dedicated club visits and four Olympic homecoming ceremonies.
120+
pieces of coverage secured over three individual campaigns
60+
athlete profiling features secured across various national, regional, and broadcast outlets
10+
TV/radio interviews secured with leading broadcast outlets
100%
positive sentiment despite sensitive nature of some subject matter
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