Australian Sports Anti Doping Authority (ASADA)

Three-year communication strategy

Client Australian Sports Anti Doping Authority (ASADA)

The brief

ASADA is a government statutory authority that is Australia's driving force for pure performance in sport. It is the organisation with prime responsibility for implementation of the World Anti-Doping Code (the Code) in Australia.

To move towards more proactive communications, ASADA engaged the Earlybird team to assist in the development of a three-year communications strategy to set the strategic communication and promotional direction and strengthen ASADA’s position as an influential leader in anti-doping in sport.

Our work

Our aim in developing the strategy with ASADA was to provide a framework that enabled the authority to undertake a planned and strategic approach to all of its public relations and marketing activities.

The strategy aligns ASADA's goal to be regarded as an influential leader in anti-doping in sport and to build and maintain relationships that are based on principles of respect, openness, responsiveness and integrity.

The strategy also aimed to strengthen ASADA’s current Pure Performance brand as a promotional brand that represents the organisation on a commercial front.

Earlybird proposed that the Pure Performance brand serve as a platform to promote all of the goods and services that ASADA provides under its key themes of Deter, Detect and Enforce. In developing the strategy, we emphasised the importance of building the Pure Performance brand and creating greater brand recognition and awareness within key audiences.

As part of the strategy, our team also developed a series of communication activities in which ASADA could effectively promote the Pure Performance brand. These included the recruitment of Pure Performance Ambassadors and the idea that these ambassadors would recruit athletes to undertake the Pure Performance Pledge. These activities were designed to act as interesting hooks that would effectively get the key messages of ASADA into the mainstream media.

The strategy also evaluated ASADA’s day-to-day communication activities, resulting in the recommendation to develop an official media kit for the Authority, the streamlining of their media response process, the identification of key spokespeople and the rebranding of current promotional products such as the annual report and ban list updates.

Results

It is anticipated the strategy will give ASADA greater brand recognition through the strengthening of the Pure Performance mark as a promotional brand and strengthen their position as an influential leader in anti-doping in sport.