CLIENTOceania Swimming Association – FINA World Swimming Championships

BRIEF

The aim was for Oceania Swimming nations (American Samoa, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Guam, Marshall Islands, Northern Marianas, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tahiti & Tonga) to be supported throughout the World Swimming Championships, by a co-ordinated approach towards matters relating to PR, marketing and media awareness throughout the event.

FORMATS

 Radio, written, online

APPROACH

Our crew attended each race to interview every Oceania swimmer post competition in mixed zone. Results were written up, audio interviews and photos edited then sent back to TRA HQ to be distributed. TRA Barcelona team would then organise afternoon and evening filming sessions with swimming teams. Oceania media, sport federations,  websites, and social media were updated daily. A 42 page media guide (containing details on each swimmer, photos, information about Oceania Swimming Association, a map of the region and competition schedule which was distributed to all teams and media across the nations ahead of the competition.

IMPACT

Over 6 days, a total of 65 press releases containing audio files and photos were distributed to all nation’s media after each swimmer competed. Correspondence to media outlets contained relevant photos, quotes, results, details of Personal Bests or National Records, information about the race and personal history. 40 local media outlets across Oceania used the content in their publications, TV stations and newspapers. Social media and news websites were populated with results and photos provided by The Reporters’ Academy. The Oceania Swimming Association and swimming federations websites were updated daily. A Twitter account was established in order to share results and photos in a new social media sphere. Behind the scenes films were produced focusing on the teams’ experiences at the World Championships and around Barcelona. A total of 7 films were produced. Increased number of islanders joined local swim clubs as a result of seeing reports in the local press from Barcelona. The next generation were inspired by hearing about their national teams. Swimmers gained additional interview experience at a major championship, they were aware of the media support and would practice their interview amongst the team before their competition.

QUOTE

“Islanders are a very unique kind of people and don’t normally like to talk to media personnel, especially, because of their, usually, pushy and “in-your-face” kind of journalism. We are very appreciative of the very positive angles you provided in your news articles which acted not only as an encouragement to our swimmers but a great way to report our performance to our stakeholders and people back at home…. It’s immediate effect is an increase in the interest in the sports of swimming in our country. Our Tonga Swimming Secretary had reported that they have already received a number of interest from several readers in Tonga wishing to put their children into our swim programmes.”

James Panuve – Team Tonga

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