Run Communications launches dedicated women’s sport practice – Run x
15 May 2024
Run x is a dedicated area within the business which will work with brands to help create more equal opportunities for women and girls within sport.
Run Communications’ new team will be led by senior communications expert Jess Arnold and former FA’s Director of Women’s Professional Game, Kelly Simmons OBE.
The move builds on Run’s recent successful campaigns in women’s sport including the FIFA Women’s World Cup and UEFA Women’s European Championships.
Leading sports communications agency, Run Communications, has today launched ‘Run x’ - a dedicated practice offering strategy, PR & campaign delivery and social to brands & organisations who want to connect in a more meaningful way with women & girls through sport.
Industry expert Jess Arnold will lead the dedicated team working closely with Kelly Simmons OBE, former Director of Women’s Professional Game at the FA.
Coming from the sport consumer and charity sector, Jess has vast experience working on campaigns for major brands including McDonald’s, Jaguar Land Rover, the NHS, Wilkinson Sword, The National Lottery and Invictus Games/Help for Heroes.
Jess said: “We believe everyone has a place in sport. There’s been huge strides made within the women’s sports landscape but there’s so much more to do to ensure genuine, equal opportunities for women and girls, both on and off the field. This provides so many untapped opportunities for sports, brands and organisations to connect with new audiences and make a genuine impact on women & girls' everyday lives instead of short-term, tokenistic gestures. We want to be a part of driving that change.”
Jess has been instrumental in the creation and delivery of The National Lottery’s major sports campaigns at Run for the Olympic & Paralympic Games (Tokyo), Winter Games (Beijing) and Commonwealth Games (Birmingham) working closely with UK Sport, Team GB & ParalympicsGB, to drive awareness of National Lottery players’ role in supporting GB’s athletes.
She also provided senior support to Run’s recent campaigns around the Women’s Euros & Women’s FIFA World Cup contributing to significant results for The National Lottery and inspiring more girls to get active.
Kelly Simmons said: “This is a brilliant team who will play a significant role in transforming the sporting landscape for women and girls and driving equality. I’m excited to be working with Run to help open up new opportunities for National Governing Bodies, purpose driven brands and other stakeholders to maximise this huge growth area and deliver impact.”
Run Communications Founder Steve Chisholm said: “This team are the best. They are talented, inspirational people who will play a significant role in driving greater equality and opportunity for women in sport by working with clients who want to make a difference”.
The team is joined by Anna Heslop, who comes from The Change Foundation where she created and managed content for their media channels and was the lead for their ‘Women’s Safety’ campaign and ‘Let’s Talk Football’ mental health programme. Anna also worked on launch of their ‘Change The Game, Not The Girl’ campaign which adapts sports to engage and empower marginalised women and girls and the creative lead on their Ukraine Refugee Sports Project - supporting Ukrainian child refugees and their families displaced by the war.
A key element of the new division will draw on valuable insight from Run’s unique network - Run Represented – which allows brands to gain genuine insight from people with diverse backgrounds and help ensure campaigns delivered are real, honest and authentic and actually connect with the intended audiences.
Run Communications has today also launched their brand new website. Visit runcommunications.co.uk to find out more.
