The Public Affairs Awards are dedicated to celebrating the best work that the Public Affairs industry has to show. As Media Partner, PubAffairs will be highlighting the entries of finalists in the Consultancy of the Year and In-House Team of the Year categories.
The below entry was Glasgow 2014's submission in the In-House Team of the Year category.
Defining Glasgow 2014
Defining successWith a number of coordinated public-facing campaigns and massive public participation required to make the Games happen – such as the recruitment of Scotland’s biggest peace-time volunteer force, 3000 volunteer Ceremonies cast and up to 4000 community batonbearers, alongside more than one million tickets to sell – it was essential that the general public, the media, and political and other stakeholders were not only engaged and enthused but were inspired to actively embrace the activity and spirit of the Games. All of this was done in the lead-up to the referendum on Scottish independence and with public partners of different political hues. How did we achieve it?
Seeking to engage political stakeholders in all elements of the emerging scope and narrative of the Games, and to create and maintain support and generate advocacy for the Games across all parties, Glasgow 2014 utilised a variety of traditional methods, such as meetings, newsletters and Parliamentary events. There were also some more innovative approaches specific to the Games, such as behind-the-scenes venue visits, our Sport Your Trainers campaign, and even a game of Lawn Bowls – one of the Games’ 17 sports – which pitted cross-party teams of Councillors, MSPs and MPs against one another in friendly competition. Measuring success
Politically speaking, Holyrood magazine noted that the Games passed off “unpoliticised”; a debate in the Scottish Parliament held after the Games saw universal praise for their delivery across the chamber (as well as multiple mentions of the Glasgow 2014 Government Relations team); and a 2013 survey found that Glasgow 2014 was the third most highly regarded participating organisation amongst Members of the Scottish Parliament. Glasgow 2014, as the “standout Games in the movement’s history”, saw many World and Commonwealth records broken and created many ‘firsts’ – in sport, but also in how its audiences and stakeholders were engaged. |
The XX Commonwealth Games took place in Glasgow in the summer of 2014. The biggest sporting and cultural event in Scotland’s history, they featured more than 6,500 athletes and officials from 71 nations and territories, a workforce of around 45,000, in excess of 1.2 million ticket-holders and a global TV audience of 1.5 billion. Glasgow 2014 Ltd. – the Organising Committee – was the organisation set up to deliver the Games.
Glasgow 2014 developed an innovative in-house, integrated marketing and communications solution called the ‘The Game Plan’. The Game Plan identified the key public, stakeholder and corporate campaign themes through which Glasgow 2014 could engage, inform and excite audiences, as well as create the calls to action to generate the ambitious levels of public participation required to make the Games successful. This multi-message, multi-channel plan included a carefully designed approach to political engagement, led by the Government Relations team, across local authorities, Holyrood and Westminster.
The Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games was described by HRH Prince Tunku Imran, President of the Commonwealth Games Federation, as the “best Games ever”; Lord Sebastian Coe said that “these Games have been a fantastic success and should be used as a template”.