Run knows well the remarkable power of sport to change lives for the better, and deliver positive social value for our communities. 

Every Olympic and Paralympic Games, much is made of ‘legacy’ and the wider societal benefits of championing elite sport - and more still must be done to ensure everyone reaps the rewards of major sporting moments. 

2024 has been different. The social consciousness of sport swells alongside national pride as Team GB and ParalympicsGB athletes inspired thousands back in the UK, and these same athletes are now being supported to do even more to make a difference. 

ChangeMakers is an incredible partnership between the new operator of The National Lottery, Allwyn, UK Sport, Team GB and ParalympicsGB - to support athletes who want to help social impact projects they are passionate about. 

To showcase the breadth and scale of this project, as Olympic and Paralympic athletes begin to go out into their communities to make a difference, Run was tasked with working with Team GB, ParalympicsGB, UK Sport, and The National Lottery to support and amplify an ambitious project of mapping returning athletes from the 2024 Paris Games to social impact project for good causes they are personally passionate about. 

Alongside narrative development, we were responsible for launching the project to athlete and consumer audiences to drive athlete sign ups and reinforce the connection between the public and socially conscious Olympians and Paralympians. 

Run worked closely with the BBC to make it their lead sport story for BBC Breakfast, News at One, Sportsday, and BBC News Online. We have had the privilege of working with Team GB Weightlifting star Emily Campbell who embodies perfectly what it means to be an athlete who cares about making a difference, delivering over 120 further media features including BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4 Today Programme, Daily Mirror, Star and Express across print and online, Metro, and The Independent. 

Launching the project we knew it had fantastic potential to make real waves and hit home with a wider consumer audience who will have spent their summer falling in love with Olympic and Paralympic sport, with new heroes created from Canoe Slalom to Climbing, from Swimming to Skateboarding. Our work has focused on driving positive brand association for The National Lottery, highlighting the pivotal role they play in supporting sport at both elite and grassroots level across the UK. 

To take it one step further after Games time that delivered outstanding brand visibility for The National Lottery, Run took ownership of creating and delivering 7 social impact media events across the UK following the Olympic and Paralympic Games, with the objective of highlighting the support from the National Lottery’s new operator Allwyn in enabling the project.

We first capitalised on the immediate buzz of the Olympic Games post-closing ceremony, taking a number of Team GB athletes from a diverse range of sports to an exemplary social impact iniative funded and supported by The National Lottery in North Paddington Youth Club. Offering multi-sport that is fully inclusive to children with and without disabilities, providing a safe space for children to be ‘fit and fed’, and going far beyond sport – whether subsidized driving lessons, community gardening, or sensory room spaces for those who need it. 

We are grateful to our fantastic Team GB athletes – Max Whitlock OBE, Lola Anderson, Joe Clarke, Noah Williams, Lewis Richardson and Freddie Davidson who got involved with great enthusiasm, helping articulate the power of The National Lottery to change lives and transform communities. 

 

The next day the Run team split off to Manchester and to Scotland, delivering breakfast and drive time media respectively to ‘own’ the day and push hard our narrative of Team GB athletes out en masse, empowered by Allwyn’s support via the ChangeMaker initiative.

Manchester connected us through British Cycling to the fantastic Manchester Bike Kitchen, a community iniative focused on mental health and sustainability through a shared love of bikes. Run engaged with Team GB Cycling stars from Paris to deliver BBC Breakfast coverage for the campaign for a second consecutive morning, alongside media features with BBC Newsbeat, Sky News, and BBC Radio 5Live. 

Scotland turned to the pool and the nation’s most decorated Olympic athletes, 8 x medallist Duncan Scott, out in his local community in Stirling supporting ChangeMakers with an OB at the PEAK Leisure Centre, a community venue supported by The National Lottery. After a brilliant morning delivering in key English media titles, the afternoon saw Run achieve coverage across both Scotland and UK wide broadcast, also featuring prominently across all major Scottish print and online titles.

Our Olympic week was capped off coming full circle with Emily Campbell at her gym in Alfreton, announcing the launch of a ChangeMaker fund for athletes to apply for financial support to activate their own ideas around social impact. It was fantastic to welcome the incredible members of National Lottery funded community group Her Spirit – who are continuing to do remarkable things supporting women and girls to get active and addressing the barriers that exist to physical activity in communities across the UK. They were able to take part in a lifting masterclass with Emily, a double Olympic Weightlifting medallist, with media in attendance to highlight Emily’s passion for making a difference and how athletes like her continue to be supported to be ‘more than medals’. 

After delivering a number of Games-time media events and ongoing reactive activity during the Paralympics, we then concluded our activity with a dedicated focus on social impact via a Paralympic ChangeMaker week. Quite literally fresh from the Eurostar, we brought a number of Paralympic Champions to Coram’s Field community park to champion sport’s capacity for wider social impact and support ChangeMakers – this delivering extensive broadcast coverage across both national and regional media outlets, including Sky News, BBC Radio 5 Live, ITV News and Times Radio. 

This supported the additional activity taking place with Aquatics GB and at Brighton Table Tennis Club – finishing with a flourish closer to home for Run with remarkable role models in Will Bayley and Bly Twomey at a club that has completely changed the game for what sport can do for local communities.

In line with this narrative, Run targeted trusted regional news outlets to support national activity, including BBC London, ITV Meridian and BBC South East Today. Alongside authentic media coverage, each event delivered compelling and authentic social impact content disseminated across all athlete, ParalympicsGB, UK Sport and partner channels.

 

A project of scale and one we are proud to be a part of. At Run, we are convinced that sport can be transformational for communities and unites like nothing else.

The work on ChangeMakers, and broader advocacy for sport’s capacity to add social value will continue. Our exciting challenge is to support athletes, sports, governing bodies -  and The National Lottery as a primary driver of remarkable community contribution – to maintain momentum and deliver sustained, positive social impact.