Marketing Sport Relief

From 17 - 23 March, UK consumers and businesses will again participate in the nationwide fundraising event Sport Relief. The money raised by the nonprofit event is spent making life better for people by fighting malaria, promoting maternal and prenatal health and raising awareness of mental health issues. 

Sport Relief relies on a combination of traditional media and social/digital media to attract and involve individuals and organisations in this weeklong fundraising effort. BBC One will air a special night of entertainment on as part of the media support, which also features BBC Radio and other broadcast media coverage. Social media marketing includes a dedicated Facebook page with more than 240k likes, a Twitter account with 774k followers and an Instagram page with 51k followers.

Try doing an online search for Sport Relief, and you'll see that the number of results exceeds 17 million even before the event begins. Many of those hits are from this year and some are from previous years--a mix of social media comments and traditional media reporting about the celebrities, the challenges and the final tally of money raised. Involving celebrities (as opinion leaders) raises the visibility of the fundraising efforts and encourages fans to follow their lead.

This year, consumers are being challenged to walk one billion steps per day, as measured by the new Sport Relief app. The app includes fundraising ideas and tips from celebrity participants to motivate and inspire. Will the nation achieve the goal of one billion steps during each day of the fundraising week? Will Sport Relief break its record for fundraising? Wait and see!

Sport Relief 2012 Goes Social

Ready for Sport Relief? The high-profile fundraising event, put on by Comic Relief, is back next month, all for a good cause. (Last year, during Red Nose Day, Comic Relief raised more than 100 million pounds to help poor people in the U.K. and in Africa.)

The next six weeks will put Sport Relief in the traditional and social media spotlight. Its Web site has interactive games for kids, an online store with logo socks and other products and dozens of ideas for organizing fundraisers in local schools, businesses and communities. Online donations can be made in pounds, euros, US or Australian dollars.

Already, 85,000 people have "liked" Sport Relief on Facebook. Its Twitter account has more than 100,000 followers. Dozens of videos are up on its YouTube channel. A new app has just been released. Get ready!

Here comes Sport Relief

After weeks of planning and advance marketing, Sport Relief arrives this weekend. The high-profile fundraising activities are being promoted by a pantheon of UK sports stars and corporate sponsors.

Check out Sport Relief's YouTube channel, with lots of fun videos to encourage participation and contributions.

Bringing the issues closer to home, Sport Relief offers an interactive map to show where donations are helping people across the UK. The three issues highlighted during this year's campaign are Street and Working Children, Malaria and Local Projects.

So get out your walking gear, pick up your hula hoop or swing your tennis racket and join in the fun!

Marketing Sport Relief

Comic Relief is getting ready for this year's Sport Relief fundraising campaign, which runs from 19 to 21 March.

The main marketing message: Sport Relief is a fun way to get active and join people of all ages in raising money for worthwhile causes.

Corporate sponsors are getting involved, with activities such as the Sainsbury Sport Relief Mile (logo above) and the BT Sport Relief Million Pound Bike Ride.

From traditional TV and radio coverage to marketing via social media such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, Sport Relief is really reaching out to make this year's event bigger and better than ever. Smart marketing!