Red Alert Media hits the target as archery raises its profile

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Client:		GNAS (British Archery)
PR Team:		Red Alert Media
Campaign:		Raise profile of a minority sport
Timescale:		January 2004 onwards

Objectives

"We don't get any Press coverage, yet there's always plenty going on in our sport," said David Sherratt, chief executive of the British archery governing body, the GNAS. The challenge to Red Alert Media was to change that, and - taking on board the success they had with the women's lacrosse World Cup in 2001 - they were ready to rise to the occasion. Said Peter Jones, partner and account executive:

"Archery's an Olympic sport, and in Olympic year there's lots of opportunities. It's our job to exploit those opportunities and make sure the achievements of our leading archers receive the coverage they deserve." Expectation was realistic, but the Red Alert Media team were fired up for the challenge ahead.

Strategy Plan

Initially to work out the best avenues to explore, and to maximise coverage ahead of the Junior World Championships in the summer. The idea was to make the governing body look busy and pro-active (which of course, they are!), and an initial "must" was regular coverage in the UK Sport's weekly newsletter. Getting the sport in the national newspapers and in other areas of the national media was also a goal, but a big part of this project was to raise the profile of archery local, and generate interest in the sport.

Measurement & Evaluation

So far, so good! Peter Jones sought to make the most of the build up to Olympic selection, and spent time at various shoots looking for angles and stories with which to tempt the media.

There was initial success when the Red Alert Media team organised a feature item to be broadcast on Radio 5 Live just days after they were hired. His next "hit" came in the Eastern Region, when local TV, radio and newspapers took up his story of the 8 year old "boy wonder" who was tipped to be a British Olympian, possibly by 2016.

But the biggest success to date coincided with the success of Lord of the Rings at The Oscars. The film included archery, and Peter had word that some clubs had enjoyed an uptake in interest because of it. It was all he needed! The day after the Oscars, Peter was in touch with the national media telling them how archery was "booming" thanks to the film. The Times did a half page spread, the Daily Star did the story, Radio 5 Live featured it, the BBC website carried a feature item, and the story was duly picked up by a multitude of local newspapers and radio stations. Channel 4's Richard and Judy programme also did a feature on archery.

Since then, archery features in the UK Newsletter almost weekly, and coverage of tournaments appears in local papers, and - in some cases copy lines have been spotted on Ceefax and Teletext. BBC Online have been very pro-active thanks to Red Alert Media's enthusiasm. When the women's shoot-off for the Athens Olympics took place at the beginning of April, news was carried on Radio 5 Live, BBC Online, Ceefax, The Daily Telegraph, The Times and the Press Association. The local media in the areas where the qualifiers come from have all been extremely interested in the story, and coverage has been good.

Red Alert Media is now putting together a Press Pack ahead of the Olympics, and monitoring the progress of the male archers, who are still chasing a place at Athens. The Red Alert Media team continue to look for any and every opportunity to raise the profile of archery, and are helped greatly by the enthusiasm and co-operation of everyone involved with the sport.

Said one observer: "You were given a difficult brief, but you've risen to the challenge with enthusiasm, and the results have been very impressive".

Results

So far, so encouraging. Archery, like other "minority" sports, will always struggle to achieve regular recognition, but coverage of the sport this year has been encouraging, though Peter Jones says there is still much to be done - television coverage is a massive challenge, but one that the GNAS and Red Alert Media are determined to rise to. One item on archery on a local radio station, as a result of the Lord of the Rings line, received enormous response from the public. Said Peter: "It's been a pleasure working with the GNAS, they're very keen, very co-operative, and most importantly, go out of their way to give us enormous support and encouragment. Everytime we get a hit I take an enormous amount of satisfaction, because I know how much it means to the archery fraternity to be getting the recognition they deserve."

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