National Athlete Career and Education Communications Campaign

Communication strategy

Client Australian Sports Commission

The brief

The National Athlete Career and Education (NACE) program was developed to provide a range of vocational education and personal development services to assist elite level athletes in bridging the gap between a career as a professional athlete and a career post sport. The program was facing a series of communication and awareness issues, including a general lack of awareness about the program and the benefits the program can deliver to athletes and the community. There was also a negative perception that the program diverts athletes attention away from training. Additionally, the program was also found to not have a unique look and feel that resonated or communicated with the target audience.

Our work

Through a review of the existing communication plan and material for the program, our team developed a communication strategy focused on an awareness building  communication campaign directed at athletes and Australian Sports Commission staff. Part of this strategy included an entire rebrand of the existing program, as well as the production of a suite of collateral to promote the program.

A key part of the campaign was the involvement of nine elite level athletes from around the country to be the faces of the NACE program. The stories of these nine individual athletes, which were documented through interviews and photo shoots, formed a central part of the campaign and the content for a series of resources that were developed and rolled out nationally including:

• 12 minute promotional DVD (including nine individual athlete stories)
• A 32-page book detailing the stories of athletes who have been involved in the program during their career
• Posters (which also folded down to form the cover of the DVD)
• Brochures (one national and eight state based)
• Banners (one national and eight state based)
• Fact sheets
• Media kit
• New content for the Ausport website including the nine athlete videos
• A communications tool kit for each state based institute of sport, containing a fact sheet, PowerPoint, letterhead and business card templates, photo library, media kit, web buttons and nine athlete videos for use online.

Results

The communication strategy was considered to be highly successful. The Australian Sports Commission used the promotional collateral to send to their counterparts around Australia. More athletes are now aware of the NACE program and what it can do to assist them in their quest to strike a good balance between study and training.