SOCIAL MEDIA
On Twitter, #Paralympics became the most popular sporting hashtag of the year in the UK – beating #Olympics and high profile football hashtags A DIGITAL LEGACY
The huge increase in interest towards disability sport after London 2012 prompted ParalympicsGB to appoint a digital agency to help it harness the opportunity
T
he anniversary of the London 2012 Paralympic Games provid- ed another moment to pause and reflect on the truly ground-
breaking spectacle that we witnessed last summer. For many, London was the moment when the talent, dedication and hard work of the athletes of Para- lympicsGB was recognised, alongside that of their Olympic counterparts, whose performances had enraptured the nation just weeks before. The London 2012 Paralympic Games succeed- ed in taking the Paralympic movement in the UK to a new level. The British Paralympic Association
(BPA), the organisation responsible for selecting, preparing and managing the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team at the Paralympic Games, had made it clear in its strategic plan published be- fore the Games that London would not represent a ‘high water mark’ and that they were determined to build on this success over the next Paralympic cycle. Therefore, the organisation tasked itself with maximising the momentum from London and began working in earnest on preparations for the Sochi 2014 Win- ter Games and the Rio 2016 Games.
From a communications perspective,
it was clear that there had been a deci- sive shift in the way that people were consuming news and media throughout London 2012. It wasn’t just the sold-out venues in London that were buzzing. During the build-up to the Games, the BPA’s website saw an increase in traffic of 570 per cent, social media following on Facebook and Twitter rose by 2,726 per
THE INTERNATIONAL
PARALYMPIC COMMITTEE HAILED LONDON
AS THE FIRST EVER “DIGITAL GAMES”
cent and on Twitter #Paralympics became the most popular sporting hashtag of the year in the UK, beating both #Olym- pics and several high profile football hashtags. Such developments led the In- ternational Paralympic Committee to hail London as the first ever ‘digital Games’.
30 Read Sports Management online
sportsmanagement.co.uk/digital
ENGAGING THE AUDIENCE London 2012 demonstrated clearly that the BPA’s digital platforms represented a key mechanism for engaging with the general public and stakeholders. The size of the BPA’s following on social media affirms that it is now its biggest communication route and positions it as the world’s leading Paralympic nation when it comes to digital. Through these mechanisms, the BPA has the power to engage a diverse audience which encompasses not only fans of Paralym- picsGB, but also sports, sponsors and potential fundraisers. The need for further investment in
digital was identified to support the BPA’s objective to build on the mo- mentum from London if it was to be sustained through to Sochi, Rio and beyond. The Purple Agency was an- nounced as the BPA’s chosen digital agency in April 2013 following a rigorous and highly competitive tender process. Jane Jones, marketing and communi- cations director at the BPA, said of the decision: “Between Beijing and London, it became evident that we are operat- ing in an increasingly digital world and that our methods of communication
Issue 2 2013 © cybertrek 2013
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