London Borough of Sutton: Team Sutton

We have recently been working with the London Borough of Sutton, helping them with their version of Towards 2012 – Team Sutton.  

As well as showcasing the Borough’s sporting talent, Team Sutton is also aiming to:

• Enthuse Sutton residents about the Games;
• Inspire Sutton’s young people to take up sport;
• Provide a focus for Sutton’s schools to incorporate activities around the Games;
• Encourage businesses to support local young sportspeople; and
• Support local sports clubs and volunteers to fully prepare for the interest the Games will generate.

It’s been an ideal assignment for us as we have been able to combine many of our skills in the course of the work, with the starting point being to compile a set of key messages for each of the different audiences, which provided the basis for copy for all communications to ensure the messages going out were consistent and at the same time tailored for each of the audiences.

The Council were aware of many of their potential Olympians, having always supported young sportspeople, but they also wanted to encourage Sutton’s residents to get involved so we wrote some press releases for the local newspapers encouraging people to tell their story (or that of a friend or relative) about their aspirations and potential to compete in the 2012 Olympic or Paralympic Games. We then put together a campaign to go to all the schools and sports clubs in the Borough asking for similar information regarding their pupils and club members respectively.

Once all the information on the athletes had been checked and verified as to their potential to make the 2012 Team, we then interviewed the chosen athletes over the phone and compiled profiles which will appear on the soon to be launched Team Sutton website over the next few months. And for a relatively small (180,000 people) local authority, Sutton can boast an incredible wealth of sporting talent, including two current Olympians and a Paralympian, as well as at least half a dozen extremely talented potential 2012 Olympians.

An additional aspect of the project was to produce a Roll of Honour of past Olympians and Paralympians, also with a local connection, through their home, club or school, so we undertook desk research, and talked to local sports clubs to uncover some interesting stories and connections. For example one of the local swimming clubs can boast seven Olympians including three Water Polo players who represented Great Britain in Helsinki in 1952 and Melbourne in 1956, and Adrian Parker who was a member of the Gold Medal winning Modern Pentathlon Team in Montreal in 1976. In addition, double Olympic Gold medal winning Decathlete Daley Thompson was born in the Borough and Rebecca Romero who won a Silver medal in the Quadruple Skulls Rowing in Athens and then followed it up by winning Gold in the Cycling Individual Pursuit in Beijing attended both primary and secondary school in Sutton. 

Having experience in incorporating film into marketing communications work for many clients, led to the production of a short video on one of the potential Olympians which was used to engage young people in schools. The resulting DVD, sent to all the Borough’s schools for them to use during National School Sport Week at the end of June, explains the benefits of sport from a young person’s point of view, and encourages them to participate.  

We also coordinated a schools’ Design a Logo competition producing a promotional poster, a PowerPoint presentation and a creative brief that all the Borough’s schools could then respond to. With over 100 entries, the competition was a great success and the competition winner then worked with a professional designer, and will see his finished logo all over the Borough.

Sutton Sports Development Officer Beverley Rand noted that, “It was great to work with Coussins, using their expertise in this field to good effect, whilst retaining control of the project. Team Sutton has already achieved more than we thought would be possible in the timescales, thanks to our partnership with Coussins Associates.”