Two silver medals, one bronze medal and 23 Personal Bests was Ireland’s haul from last week’s IPC European Open Swim Championships, but the victories didn’t end there.
It was a valuable test event for the team in the water and also for the media team that will be delivering a gold standard of service from Rio in September.
Media and Events Manager Mary Maguire travelled with the team to Funchal and did so with a plan as detailed as any of the swimmers.
Using social media to reach out directly to 10,000 on twitter and 20,0000 on Facebook the campaign was structured to highlight key moments including the medal performances.
Video was also a key driver with this short interview of Johnny McGrath after a defeat drawing 18,000 views on Facebook, part of more than 60,000 seen in an overall context over the Championships.
Posts were tagged with the campaign slogan of #MorethanSport which will carry through a number of fundraising campaigns and all the way on the Road to Rio for the Paralympians across all codes.
Allianz were tagged as sponsors in the medal moments and care was taken to feature the brand in photography that was taken on site and relayed back to irish media by Sportsfile.
The results were an impressive lift in engagement which can of course be put down to the achievements but which might not have registered as widely as they did without top class storytelling behind the scenes.
Over one million ‘impressions’ on social media is a significant number for a sport reaching beyond the big three and can only be achieved by smart use of the new media tools available. That in turn drives interest from the mainstream media and if they have been given the material to report with interviews and access then everyone is a winner.
This follows through into satisfaction from existing sponsors and interest from ones who are impressed by what can be achieved in terms of brand association to magic moments of sport.
Swim Ireland, Atletics Ireland, Pentathlon Ireland and Cycling Ireland are all delivering similar standards of reporting and raising awareness as they go but in the planning, execution and consistent use of all the resources, from images to souncloud and all points in between, Paralympics have created their own personal best this past week and it bodes well for the future.
