Being an Australian living in London during the recent Olympics has to be one of the most painful periods of my life. Trying to keep your wit flying and your patriotism strong during adversity, without showing any sign of a tear to your opponent should be an Olympic sport in itself. But I do have to grudgingly say, it is a fantastic time for British sport. The recent triumph in Beijing, the government investment in a huge number of sporting initiatives and the lead up to London 2012 has shown Britain has the ability and opportunity to truly perform on the world stage of sport. This is the perfect opportunity to help address a global problem, locally. The increase in obesity of both adults and children is affecting Britain as well as the western world and has to be addressed before it is too late. Britain is the third most obese country in the world behind USA and Mexico.

But the truth is that the consumption of fat has decreased by 25% in the past 30 odd years. The lack of an active lifestyle is a key factor in the growth of obesity. Globalisation of fast food into emerging markets will continue to drive this problem even further across Latin America, Asia and Europe. But I believe, we can counter this in Britain by using patriotic support for Britain’s Olympic hopefuls, the government’s expenditure on sporting initiatives, as well as more brands getting involved in sport, helping us all to be more active.

The centerpiece of the London Olympic bid was a national commitment to engage two million more

Britons in sporting activities. We can already see the social benefits of sports investment

overshadowing Britain’s sports personalities. Major sports brands are starting to recognise that it is more fruitful to get involved at a grass roots level, encouraging ordinary people’s sporting habits. Successful brands in this space focus on truly engaging the audience and adding something to their sporting experience that will motivate active participation.

So how does this affect communications and media planning? We have to start changing the way we think about sporting partnerships. Instead of asking ourselves ‘how do we use sport to make people remember our brand’ we need to starting asking ‘how do we activate people to get involved with our brand through sport?’ Recent work for a sporting brand highlighted that although a large part of the population watched team related sports, be it in television or live, many more people actually participate in individual sports.

A more influence led communication model led us to consider how we could use sport as a platform to drive participation through motivating involvement in an individual sport.

Lloyds TSB, a British bank, is utilising its sponsorship to 2012 as a launch platform for its 250 grants for up and coming sports stars to help support their development. Nike+ understood the motivations of runners, and added to the experience by understanding the role of technology in participation. Not only did they help you to set goals and track your progress, but they also tapped in to our competitive spirits. The recent world 10km run created by Nike brought everyone together across to the world after helping them to train, set goals and finally participate in the event. Runners report Nike apparel taking over the running parks in Stockholm, New York, San Francisco, Singapore and Sydney.

We have to change the way we think about sporting partnerships. The key question is “How do we activate people to get involved with our brand through sport?” That way we can grow our client’s business, and help address a growing social issue.

Michael JohnstonCommunications Planning DirectorUniversal McCann, UK

Michael.johnston@umww.com http://thingsdonotchangewechange.blogspot.com

Can a global event solve the obesity problem in Britain?

September 2008