Publicising Orienteering (/European Orienteering Championships)

[ruth]

Becks is right – that is definitely not what I am saying Oldman – it’s very important to realise that commercial sponsorship is the absolute priority. The attitude should be that British Orienteering are responsible for earning their income through sponsorship and any extra hand-outs from the government is a bonus. What is interesting therefore is to look at the ratios of income for triathlon (not necessarily the amounts as we know there are a few differences between the sports) it is obvious that sponsorship is their priority.

Regarding triathlon, there is nothing to say orienteering can’t follow a similar strategy. Yes the Olympics is a bit of an anomaly this year and is taking absolutely every inch of column space (we’re struggling to get even good Olympic stories in the press), but I would ignore it and look more long term with orienteering. In 6-9months time press will be back to normal and gagging for an interesting/out of the box/something new story.
Do all the people that do triathlon do it because it’s an Olympic sport? No. Blaming not being an Olympic sport is defeatist and completely untrue.
PR is all about persistency – have a story, write it well, make the effort with personal relationships with journos and then don’t give up until they’ve printed your story.

Aiming off is exactly right “The key determinant of whether you receive sponsorship is can you market the sport effectively and get it into the media spotlight? So has orienteering done the very best it possibly can here?” No it hasn’t.

Oldman also said ‘I have to disagree, I'm afraid. "Big bucks sponsorship" requires media (and particularly TV) coverage on a regular basis’
Yes and No…
Firstly, no – because there is a level of sponsors out there that are interested in the participation audience – ie those that DO orienteering and those who would be interested in doing orienteering – there are definitely companies out there that want to target outdoor sports participants. It’s likely to produce smaller fees than spectator based sponsorship market I agree, but it is there and its not being used.
Secondly, yes - the very very big bucks come from TV, but it’s a very negative attitude to say we can’t get on TV so we’re not going to do any publicity at all. There is a whole world of print, online, radio media at national, regional and local level that’s waiting to be tapped into….

Bottom line is that funding (sponsorship), good PR/comms/marketing, high participation all come hand in hand to make a thriving sport. Its difficult because each relies on another (sponsorship comes from good PR and increase participation, but you can’t afford to do good PR with no money etc). Some risks and big decisions need to be made to make publicity a huge priority, you have to speculate to accumulate – and it will have the biggest long term gain and hope of keeping our sport alive.

[Oldman]

Ruth, I have much to say to your long post because it makes erroneous claims and tries to ascribe attitudes to me that are incorrect and don't follow from my postings. I will however restrict myself to a few points.

PR is not about about getting stories in the press - that is more correctly called publicity.

Nowhere have I said seeking sponsorship should not be a high priority (not responding to Gross's e-mail within 4 hours is not evidence of Mike Hamilton's priorities).

Significant sponsorship (as I think you now concede) only comes from TV coverage or mass participation (at levels way beyond what orienteering currently offers).

Thinking that orienteering can secure significant sponsorship (say £25K+) without TV or mass participation shows a lack of experience in the sponsorship-seeking market.

You seem to suggest that getting more orienteering stories in the press will enable orienteering to secure significant sponsorship - it will help, but is very far from enough, so yes get it done more, but how will the seed money to pay to get it done be found? And if we were finding money to do more in the quest for sponsorship, there are more important matters that need attention.

[ruth]

Thinking that orienteering can secure significant sponsorship (say £25K+) without TV or mass participation shows a lack of experience in the sponsorship-seeking market.

Oh the irony…

I’m bowing out. I’ve said my bit, but this stress is bad for my health and I have real work to do.

[Mrs H]

You seem to suggest that getting more orienteering stories in the press will enable orienteering to secure significant sponsorship - it will help, but is very far from enough, so yes get it done more, but how will the seed money to pay to get it done be found? And if we were finding money to do more in the quest for sponsorship, there are more important matters that need attention.

....and as you very well know Oldman, there was a time when I offered to

get it done more

for free and the response was spookily similar to your comment above

if we were finding money to do more in the quest for sponsorship, there are more important matters that need attention.

along the lines of "if we thought it was a good idea we'd get some one in" Well those times are past now and so it is left to me and Ravinous to try and get people out publicising the sport in what ever way we can - because let's be honest - it simply isn't a priority as far as BOF is concerned and you have confirmed as much.

[Kitch]

I tell you what though

its good to know that Ralph Street can cook a veggie risotto

[mikey]

Out of interest does anyone know what sponsorship from the past has brought in - i.e Youngers' sponsorship/involvement in WOC in 1976 (oh happy days), Peter Dominic and the ranking list sponsorship in the 80s, Fosters who I seem to recall sponsored a BNC at Bradgate Park in the late 70s? Think Rank Xerox and Guiness also played a sponsorsship part too at one stage?

Fairly small amounts I would guess relative to overall income at the time?

That is not, of course to say that seeking sponsorship is not worth the effort, but it is a competitive market out there.

[graeme]

Does anyone else find it annoying when these aliases mean you don't know who anyone is and whether they have a b@st@rd clue what they're on about.

[Mrs H]

Good Lord graeme - are you saying there was something that Oldman didn't have superior knowledge on to everyone else round here

[Oldman]

it simply isn't a priority as far as BOF is concerned and you have confirmed as much.

I am not in a position to speak for BOF and I didn't say what you suggest I did.

[Mrs H]

I am not in a position to speak for BOF .

Then why do you keep doing it?

[aiming off]

In my opinion two things need to happen:
1. A realisation of the important of good marketing and PR and a refocus of priorities with current funding to reflect this.
2. A huge drive to increase funding available, focussing on private sponsorship (you can’t rely on hand-outs from the government).
No 1 being successful will make No 2 an awful lot easier and with more money and good PR the participation will follow. Elite performance is still a priority and should be well funded as that is the bread a butter of good PR.

Very encouraged that, in Ruth's view, orienteering could do better in attracting commercial sponsorship.

If elite performance is the bread and butter of good PR: is this the obvious area where you try harder than in the past to offer sponsorship and greater media exposure? Elite performance, junior and senior, is an area which is increasingly being neglected by BOF, (i.e Government) funding, as it doesn't fit the current priorities of the Government Agenda. Unclear whether BOF has the incentive, funding or competence, to pursue this however. And if they won't or can't: who should??

Also for this to work properly, elite athletes would need to be comfortable with the concept of increased media exposure for them, down the success route. Are they?

[graeme]

Out of interest does anyone know what sponsorship from the past has brought in.

Scott Fraser brought in about £33,000 sponsorship for PWT. (others of us would like to take credit, but really it was scotia)

and since the sponsors deserve a plug...
£10000 P&K Council,
£5000 Sportsmatch,
£5000 I&H Brown,
£3000 Perth Common Good Fund,
£10000 Event Scotland

That's the cash, there was also a bunch of "in kind" sponsorship covering Scone palace usage, buffs, sports kit, T-shirts, vouchers, whisky, beer and teacakes. and probably some stuff I forgot.

They got a cracking good event in their city, as you can see here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFUGSapri9g

[aiming off]

And marketing at grass roots, there are unexplored areas. Put Orienteering and Health into Google

From Orienteering Australia

"A form of sponsorship which is starting to bear fruit for orienteering is through state health promotion funds. The low spectator/high participant nature of orienteering which works against it in seeking traditional forms of sponsorship can work in its favour where health promotion is a sponsorship objective. Here the diversity of orienteering in providing healthy exercise for both competitive and recreational participants and its 'Sport for Life' image are good selling points for sponsorship of this type."

From Wiki

"It makes logical sense that orienteering could be superior to many sporting and physical activities in promoting health due to its unique and combined attributes.

Aerobic based exercise - good for many aspects of health as widely as cardiovascular health and mental health (e.g. depression) and cancers and kidney disease as well as weight management and diabetes.

Terrain running is known to promote muscle strength and balance. This is particularly important in ageing.

Cognitive engagement may also improve brain function specifically, activating more parts of the brain helping to stave off cognitive health illnesses such as Alzheimers. In school settings, orienteering can also be utilised to help teach many parts of common school curriculum (e.g. geography, math, environmental studies, physical education) much of it whilst being physically active (which improves learning outcomes)

Orienteering is a highly social sport. Good for mental and physical health and also helps promote adherence to regular activity.

A sport for all ages is another common claim amongst orienteering promoters. Competitions at all levels regularly cater specifically for ages classes from 8 to 80 at the same time. very few sports are able to provide this service in the same place, providing potential health benefits for a wider range of ages than most sports, as well as allowing for multiple generations of families to participate in an orienteering day together."

From BOF

"We will be concerned about the health and welfare of everyone involved in orienteering"

Come on guys, try harder.

[Mrs H]

Malvern Hills District council provided approx £600 of goods and services for the recent Great Malvern Urban Race because we were so thoroughly meeting their targets - not just the socio-demographic ones but also the town centre economic ones - jut had to put their logo on the publicity material and maps

[obody]

Blimey, I'm glad I'm not on the BOF board trying to satisfy you lot.

With membership/levy income supporting something like the equivalent of two staff posts, and Sport England funding in general not being available for anything marketing-related (government rules), it's a tough ask to prioritise communicating elite results AND marketing O as a tough-guy sport AND working on the health agenda AND having a full-on PR campaign AND competing with the best on sponsorship. Oh, and replying to gross' emails. Plus the day-to-day business of running the company. They've got to prioritise somewhere, if you don't like it, get yourself elected.

In my experience of sponsorship in other sports, many sports have tried to generate income this way, few of the smaller sports have succeeded. While you can pick up smaller deals here and there, the time required to build the relationships and honour sponsor commitments often means that it doesn't make business sense to do so.