Sports & Wellbeing Analytics

With debate raging about what action should be taken to protect professional athletes from concussion and brain injury, we helped explain how the use of this cutting-edge piece of technology could make a tangible and important difference to both player welfare and performance.

Sports & Wellbeing Analytics (SWA) is a Welsh-based technology company which has developed a revolutionary solution to measure and monitor all impacts incurred by an athlete to their head.

Through a chip placed in a mouthguard or mouthpiece (so positioned because the upper jaw is the only part of the body that cannot move independently from the skull) it is possible for coaches, managers and medics to receive precise information – in real time – about the intensity of any collision or head impact that occurs on the field of play or during training, and to take action accordingly.

Initially developed for elite rugby and already in use at a number of clubs – including Harlequins, Leicester Tigers, Gloucester Rugby and Ospreys – the Protecht system can be applied to any sport.

With the debate raging in the world of football about how the sport should mitigate risk in relation to long-term brain illnesses, SWA engaged us to help them join the conversation around the management of head injuries in elite sport and to communicate to as wide an audience as possible what the technology does and how it could be applied to improve athlete wellbeing and performance.

We pride ourselves on our ability to help clients become part of conversations that are driving the news agenda and, through an intensive media campaign utilising SWA’s spokespeople and partner clubs, we were able to secure widespread coverage in the national sport, broadcast and industry press.

Interviews across a broad range of outlets were secured to educate media on the technology and demonstrate its readiness for mass rollout, whilst SWA’s partners were used to provide testimony and anecdotal evidence about the benefits of the system.