Birmingham PR firm’s Golden opportunity to Shine

A Birmingham PR agency will be flying the Olympic flag for the West Midlands this week as they play a leading role in the official anniversary celebrations in London.

Lord Coe will take to the stage at the Copper Box Arena within the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on Saturday July 27th as part of the Olympic anniversary celebrations to thank 70 very special volunteers from across England, marking the pinnacle of a 70 day campaign spearheaded by the Jewellery Quarter based agency, Citydesk Sport.

The agency were appointed in 2012 to showcase the Olympic legacy achieved within local communities across England, through an official Olympic inspire marked programme – Community Games.

Originated in the West Midlands – and during the Olympic Year Community Games became a nationally funded programme, through the Social Action Fund sponsored by Nick Hurd, the Minister for Civil Society. Delivered by the County Sports Partnership Network and YMCA, the programme enabled communities across the country to celebrate Olympic moments in their own unique ways from neighbourly picnics in parks to big community festivals.

This year, following a plea from Community Games organisers for the programme to continue, Citydesk Sport created a ‘virtual’ Community Games Relay – a 70 day campaign that revisited the footsteps that the torchbearers took in 2012.

Michelle Leavesley, Managing Director of Citydesk Sport said:

“We didn’t have the budget to close the roads, so instead we used web technology and social media to enable people to revisit the relay route daily and see for themselves one year on, the impact that the Community Games had achieved across the country.

Every day of the relay we asked local communities to select a ‘shining light’ – someone who voluntarily helped to drive Olympic legacy by bringing friends, neighbours and communities together for sporting and cultural activity. We have found that these ‘human torches’ are fantastic at telling the legacy story as they can give you a view on legacy from where it matter most, the frontline - sharing their own personal insight.”

On day 70, the Community Games Relay will reach Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London. All 70 Shining lights will attend a special VIP event at the Copper Box Arena, hosted by Lord Coe, playing their part in the official anniversary celebration in London on July 27th.

Michelle Leavesley continued:

“We are extremely proud of our involvement within the Olympic and Paralympic legacy programmes and in particular Community Games. Being based in Birmingham has given us the benefit of a central location to ensure that we have strong reach both North and South, to manage this national campaign.

We are thrilled to have raised awareness of the Community Games programme, achieving substantial media coverage regionally, increasing web traffic by 114%, with over 1,500 Community Games registered in 2013, just shy of the total number of official celebration events run in the Olympic year itself which is a tremendous result.”

ENDS

Notes to Editor

About Citydesk Sport

• Citydesk Sport was established in 2009 by Birmingham entrepreneur Michelle Leavesley.

• The agency provides communications delivery within the Sport & Leisure sector and specialises in community based social marketing campaigns

• Already in 2013, Citydesk have delivered a number of high profile campaigns including – Give it a Go London (London Mayors Office), Be Proud of Yourself (London Legacy/ Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park), Community Games Relay (Community Games), Taste Tennis (Lawn Tennis Association), Get into Golf (England Golf) and Teepee Golf Clubs for 14-16 year olds (Golf Foundation).

• Citydesk Sport also support the Serco Leisure portfolio of sports facilities across the UK including national sports centres – Bisham Abbey, Lilleshall and the National Watersports Centre in Nottingham.

• Michelle Leavesley is a lecturer on the MSc Marketing Communications Programme at Birmingham Business School and a board member of British Wheelchair Basketball Association.

About Community Games

The Community Games Relay can be tracked on www.communitygames.org.uk

Donna Roddy, Citydesk Sport.

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