Events like the 100 metres, 1500 metres, Relays and Marathon will capture the lion’s share of media attention during the London 2012 Olympics later this year. But it’s important not to overlook the huge effort that has gone into making the Paralympics a core component of the Olympic movement. By providing a high-profile competitive platform for athletes with disabilities, the Paralympics has undoubtedly played its part in countering the casual discrimination that many of us are guilty of in this arena.

While the Paralympics is the pinnacle of achievement for disabled athletes, a great deal of excellent work also goes on at national federations, international federations and NGOs. And increasingly there are opportunities for brands to play their part as well. A good example is Typhoo's partnership with the English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS), which recently won the Corporate Social Responsibility category at the 2011 PRCA Awards.

Creating awareness

The partnership, entitled Typhoo Sports For All, was activated by PR agency Cirkle, which said in its entry that the project was carefully created to make sport accessible for as many people with disabilities as possible. The client wanted to create nationwide awareness around the project, so generating widespread coverage in the national and consumer media was of paramount importance. It was crucial to promote the charity link and highlight that every pack of Typhoo Tea purchased would contribute to the cause. Typhoo also wanted to appeal to those working within the fitness industry to recruit 500 coaches.

In terms of strategic delivery, Cirkle decided that a high profile, relevant celebrity would help deliver the campaign's key messages and generate interest amongst the British public. After extensive research and media audits, 1966 World Cup football legend Sir Geoff Hurst was selected as the campaign ambassador.

Media coverage

Cirkle secured primetime positions on GMTV and Sky News then whisked Sir Geoff off to West Ham United’s Upton Park for a photocall with the GB disabled team, GB amputee team and a number of children from Everton's disabled football team. The photocall was attended by most of the UK national newspapers.

To support its core strategy and raise additional funds, Cirkle also enlisted support from celebrities such as Jonathan Ross, Alan Carr, The Saturdays, Chris Moyles and James Corden who each decorated teapots for free which were auctioned to raise money for the EFDS via www.typhootea.co.uk. Again, Cirkle liaised with the media to generate coverage. It also worked with celebrity agents to generate coverage on fan pages, blogs and Facebook.

Results

An impressive set of campaign results explain why Cirkle walked off with the PRCA Award. The campaign achieved a total of 163 pieces of editorial coverage, all of which included the Typhoo brand name and most included a link to the English Federation of Disability Sport website to drive support. Key pieces of coverage appeared in The Sun, Heat magazine, Daily Mail Weekend, The Daily Telegraph and on Sky News, and in total reached a circulation of 179,559,340. Other highlights included a six minute feature interview on GMTV with Sir Geoff Hurst and coverage on Talk Sport and Sky News. The campaign delivered a ROI of 20:1.

Commenting on the campaign: Keith Packer, CEO Typhoo Tea Ltd said: “The Sports for All initiative was a huge success, in not only raising awareness to drive consumers in store and encourage them to support the campaign, but also to enable us to recruit a vast amount of coaches. We are delighted with Cirkle's ability to generate widespread coverage from the start of the campaign”.