It’s been an exciting period for the RBS team here at Synergy, with a roadshow tour that has brought Judy Murray’s Set4Sport initiative to life for parents and children all over the UK. Created by Judy Murray and supported by RBS, Set4Sport is a programme inspired by Judy’s years of experience as a tennis coach and parent, which showcases easy and accessible ways for parents to play with their children and develop the skills required for playing sport. The activities featured are based on the games Judy played with her sons Andy and Jamie when they were growing up, and can easily be recreated at home using everyday items.

At its core, Set4Sport is all about helping parents to find active ways to play with their children, and it has been really inspirational to be part of a programme that will make a tangible difference to how children develop sporting skills. Judy’s own games such as “Jumping the River” and “Double Trouble” not only give parents a fantastic example of an activity they can replicate in their own homes or back garden, but also spark off their imagination to help them create games of their very own.

In June, Synergy managed the programme media launch with Andy, Jamie and Judy Murray, raising awareness of the free Set4Sport book and website. The next stage of the roll-out saw a series of roadshow events showcasing many of the suggested games and ideas. So off we headed, on a journey that took us to communities throughout England, Scotland and Wales.

To date, we have hit six venues, starting with a rainy South Shields in August, and most recently visiting Glasgow’s Riverside Museum on a chilly day in late October. The events have proven a big success, with Judy Murray present at each location, and hundreds of families descending en masse to get their fill of the Set4Sport action.

Synergy embarked on an awareness-driving PR campaign, with the aim to boost attendance at the different roadshow events up and down the country. Ahead of each event, Judy was on hand to speak to local newspapers and radio, building up buzz and excitement prior to the roadshow coming to town. As well as in-depth Set4Sport campaign features with national media, Synergy also proactively targeted press event listings and local “days out” guides, helping to generate strong numbers at each location.

For each location, Synergy identified an area of high footfall specifically positioned to attract young families to a free event, with Judy and her team of coaches setting up a number of different game stations. Prime venues were secured including Brighton Beach, Manchester’s Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI), and the Riverside Museum in Glasgow, all free facilities packed with families during the summer and half-term holidays. After registering their details, parents and children worked their way around up to eight different game rotations, all designed to develop skills in agility, balance and co-ordination, as well as being great fun!

On February 11th the show returns to Scotland, as the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh plays host to an event during the half term holiday. For more information on Set4sport, stay tuned to www.Set4Sport.com and Facebook.

By Donald Parish on December 6th, 2011

Tags: Andy Murray, Default, grass roots sport, Sponsorship, Synergy, Tennis

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The inaugural Set4Sport Roadshow, supported by RBS took place on the 10^th August in South Shields, South Tyneside.

The brainchild of Judy Murray, Set4Sport was launched in June, with the help of Jamie and Andy Murray, and showcases games that Judy played with both of her sons when she was looking to improve their coordination and agility, whilst also providing some essential parent / child bonding opportunities.

With the British summer living up to its reputation, we had to put our wet weather plan into action and move from South Marine Park, to a covered area on the Seafront.

Whilst a smaller turnout was therefore expected, we were pleased to see the hardcore British Holiday-goers still come to the beach, no matter what the weather!  Immediately upon opening, we had families queuing to take part in ‘Double Trouble’, ‘Race ‘n’ Chase’ and ‘Jumping the River’, to name but a few of the activities. Our brilliantly enthusiastic coaches took the families through the games, all of which could easily be created at home with items such as cereal boxes, baked bean tins, cuddly toys, cushions and jumpers.

Judy led her team of coaches throughout the day and was never far from the action with a ball or hula hoop in hand, except for a quick radio interview or to chat to families as to how they could incorporate these games into their home life.

We are looking forward to the next event in Halifax on the 16^th August where we will be at Eureka! The National Children’s Museum.

By Samantha Pillage on August 17th, 2011

Tags: Andy Murray, Brand marketing, Celebrity, community, Event management service, Experiential marketing, grass roots sport, Judy Murray, Sponsorship

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It’s Wimbledon fortnight! Time for the nation to dust off their tennis rackets, get behind Andy Murray and enjoy frolicking in SW19 drinking Pimms and eating strawberries.

Always one to fully embrace the sporting event of the moment the Betfair team at Synergy has had a week to remember – well, particularly the boys!

To celebrate the launch of Betfair’s Wimbledon Doubles game we got identical twins Bryony and Katherine Frost to strike a pose recreating the iconic 1976 Tennis Girl poster, but this time with a unique twist. The blonde duo bared their derrieres to mark the launch of Wimbledon Doubles – a smashing online game served-up by Betfair (see what we did there!)

We dodged a few downpours to get the shots and with a bit of ankle and racket repositioning, not to mention a few carefully placed hands, we cracked the shot. Check out the game for a bit of Friday afternoon fun!

By Caroline Ayling on June 24th, 2011

Tags: Andy Murray, Betfair, PR, Public relations, Sport, Tennis

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Team Synergy has been rather busy this week – and for the last few weeks actually – helping Judy Murray get a brand new family activity programme off the ground ahead of Wimbledon.

Set4Sport, supported by Andy and Jamie Murray’s long-term sponsor, RBS, is a programme inspired by Judy’s years of experience as a tennis coach and parent, which showcases easy and accessible ways for parents to play with their children that develop the skills required for playing sport. And it was our job to announce this new venture to the UK press.

So while the rest of the nation watched Andy’s fantastic victory at Queen’s on Monday, the RBS team at Synergy were busy bees, effectively re-planning our media launch in less than 24 hours – as the rain delays from Sunday meant best laid plans for a Monday launch in Regents Park ground to a sudden hault. Instead, we prepared to move Team Murray, the media, the event and all associated logistics (not least including 16 willing parents and children to take part) to a 10am start on Tuesday.

No longer able to set up in central London due to the boys’ hectic playing schedules this week, the action moved to Singlegate Primary School in Colliers Wood, near Wimbledon, who willingly offered up their lovely school grounds (and parents and children) to host the event.

Judy, led by a trusty team of four coaches, had designed the perfect sample event, showcasing four of the Set4Sport activities, and providing all the attending parents and kids with some great inspiration for fun and effective playtime games. (To find out exactly how you play Jumping the River, Beat the Goalie, Double Trouble and Dodgems, check out the website, where you can download them all.)

The nation’s media were obviously leaping at the chance to speak to a Queen’s Champ and Set4Sport offered them something fresh to focus on ahead of Wimbledon, though both boys naturally found themselves fending off questions around winning the British Grand Slam (or in Jamie’s case, winning again). Singlegate Primary had never seen so many cameras with crews from BBC, ITV, Sky and PA all clustered around their playground, with features running from Tuesday evening through yesterday’s news agenda.

Even the tennis writers – most of whom had spent the last 8 days following Andy’s progress at Queen’s – all rocked up on the day for a chat with him and Judy, and gave Set4Sport a great show in the press yesterday morning, with feature pieces in the Daily Mirror, Daily Express, Independent, Metro and City AM to name a few.

And while the coverage started landing, Synergy and Judy’s work was not yet done. Yesterday morning started at dawn with a slot on the ITV Daybreak sofa, and onwards to the BBC for eleven interviews with radio stations around the UK, making sure all the regions know about the programme in preparation for the Set4Sport Live roadshows hitting cities this summer.

As if that wasn’t enough, the Murrays had found time on Tuesday to sit down and chat with some of the leading national feature writers, with highlights published today including a front page cover shot in The Times’ T2 supplement, a double page spread in the Daily Mirror, and an upcoming column in The Sun newspaper.

Set4Sport marks an exciting new venture for the Murray family, but also for RBS as it is the perfect representation of their new approach to sponsorship. All of our work with them is focused on investing in and supporting their customers’ local communities and Set4Sport fits that new ethos perfectly. Check out www.Set4Sport.com and have a look yourself.

By Lucie Bartlett on June 16th, 2011

Tags: Andy Murray, Celebrity, Communications, Event management service, Experiential marketing, grass roots sport, Public relations, Sponsorship, Sport, Synergy, Tennis

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Last month, team Synergy headed down to a tennis club in leafy Chiswick, West London for a day planned to give the media a taste of The RBS Murray Experience events to be held in London and Edinburgh at the end of the year.

These unique experiential events, run by Andy’s sponsor RBS, will give some lucky RBS customers and their friends the chance to take part in a unique on-court day with Andy and Jamie Murray – and the rest of their team – where they will be taken first hand through their tough training regime, from fitness drills to the perfect serve.

What better way to promote such a great experience than to let journalists taste it for themselves?

Indeed it turned out that facing Andy was tougher than any of them might have expected. Press from the Daily Telegraph, BBC Online, BBC Scotland TV and radio, Sport Magazine and the Daily Record arrived with their rackets and tennis shoes full of excitement at the prospect of facing Andy, and all finished sweaty, tired, and all too painfully aware of why he is one of the world’s very best tennis players.

Of course, the day would not have been possible without the involvement of the fantastic Team Murray, including Andy’s fitness trainer Matt Little, Mum (and pro tennis coach) Judy and his hitting partner Dani Vallverdu.

Matt set up the session with some warm-up exercises and on-court drills; Judy coached the group through groundstrokes and volleys. Dani acted as hitting partner for the day, enabling Andy to line up alongside our media for each drill, providing a genuine, first-hand glimpse of the Murray training regime.

The highlight of the day (certainly in terms of entertainment value) was the journalists being given the chance to face the Murray serve. I had thought to myself that it would not look great for Andy should any of the journalists be able to return the serve… but as I cowered out of the way of the balls flashing across the court, I realised this was highly unlikely.

Even the Daily Telegraph’s Mark Hodgkinson, having proven himself to be pretty handy with a racket (so much so that Judy had swapped Andy in for Dani during the volleys to give Mark some greater competition) struggled – the best Mark managed was to smash Andy’s serve back into the net.

We were lucky to get one of the best days of the end of summer, so the day finished with press interviews with Andy on the balcony of the club and the inevitable (and not at all cheesy), shots with Team Synergy.

Team Murray meets Team Synergy

By Jessica Enoch on October 13th, 2010

Tags: Andy Murray, BBC, Brand marketing, Communications, Sponsorship, Synergy, Tennis

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Having lived in London for eight years and been a keen tennis player for most of my life but never experienced Wimbledon, other than through the BBC’s coverage, I decided I should venture down to SW19 to see whether the first-hand experience lived up to the  hype.

Working in the sports marketing and sponsorship world I was looking forward to observing how brands take advantage of their multi-million pound Championship deals (what a geek).  The marathon match between Isner and Mahut provided The All England Club with some welcome publicity in amongst World Cup fever and even inspired some quick off the mark advertisers: ‘Durex Performa.  Take pleasure in coming second’. 

This wasn’t hugely surprising considering Wimbledon’s long history of brand association.  Slazenger became the first official ball supplier in 1902 and Robinsons have been official still soft drink providers since 1935. Both brands have become as synonymous with this particular Grand Slam as strawberries and cream.  This year Robinsons celebrated the 75^th anniversary of their sponsorship by committing to a further five years. Paul Moody, Chief Executive of parent company Britvic, revealed in the Telegraph just how highly he views the sponsorship when he said recently that “You don’t want to be the guy at Britvic who loses the sponsorship of Wimbledon. That would be your tumbleweed moment”. In addition, this year’s tournament has a whole host of other sponsors including HSBC, Hertz, Rolex and Blossom Hill. 

A beautiful day, Centre Court tickets and a fantastic line up, Henin (sponsored by Adidas, Belgacom, Rolex) v Petrova (Ellesse), Hewitt (eSwap, Yonex) v Monfils (KSwiss, Prince),  Federer (Credit Suisse, Gillette, Jura, Mercedes Benz, Nationale Suisse, NetJets, Nike, Rolex and Wilson) v Clement (Adidas), got the day off to a perfect start. 

On arrival at Southfields station I was expecting to be the target of various experiential marketing campaigns with brands trying to capitalise on their sponsorships but I was left a little disappointed.  Having tactically got on the tube so that my carriage would be nearest the exit, I managed to miss the strip of astroturf that Blossom Hill had used to cover part of the platform along with any mention of their £1m “Summer perfectly served” marketing campaign and eventually made it all the way to the gates of the All England Club without even a sniff of brand activity. 

Once through the gates my first impression was of the size of the place. The Beeb has done a great job of misleading me over the years and making it look much bigger than it really is. It was much more intimate and relaxed than I’d anticipated.  This could have been due to the fact that attendance has apparently dipped this year, partly attributable to the World Cup.  After the Bavaria beer girls and their orange outfits I was wondering whether any brands might push their luck with similar ambush activity inside the ground, but the only miniskirts on display were of the white variety (and having now read the ambush marketing section of the Wimbledon website know such activity wouldn’t have been allowed). After the poor performance from the England football team it will be interesting to see whether the Great British public shift their attention to the tennis and support Andy Murray (sponsored by RBS, adidas, Head, Highland Spring) the only British hope left in the competition.

Whether or not fans swap their vuvuzelas for the silence of Centre Court, brands will of course rightly continue to see Wimbledon as a key sponsorship property.  Wimbledon has spent decades building a brand which successfully treads the fine line between global recognition without overselling itself.  It is this unique position which allows Wimbledon to pick and choose sponsors to fit with its brand and long-term objectives and ultimately lead to the long-standing partnerships it has with the likes of Slazenger and Robinsons. Even the tennis players themselves rate the London leg of their world tour the tournament none of them want to miss. Did my experience (be it lacking in brand activity) live up to the hype? Absolutely.

By Lydia Oates on June 30th, 2010

Tags: Andy Murray, BBC, Experiential marketing, Sponsorship

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When people find out I work in sponsorship, I always get asked two things:

1. Do you have any decent tickets?
2. Do you have any decent gossip?

There was a time when I had plenty of the latter and little of the former. Unfortunately these days my gossip is about as revealing as a Tiger Woods press conference. The reasons for this are twofold due to changes that have happened over the last few years.

Firstly, the lines between sportsman and celebrity have blurred. Any star worth their salt should now be able to change their first name to ‘Brand’ and sound believable – think Brand Beckham, Brand Murray, Brand Schumacher. Could you ever imagine Brand Botham or Best?

The worlds of sport and entertainment celebrity, or ‘Sportainment’ as it’s naturally called in America, are now firmly linked and in more then a few cases by marriage (or separation). This means you become a front page story rather then a back page one, especially if it’s for the wrong reasons.

Secondly, and this is the significant recent change, with the rapid rise of digital and social media our appetite for instant news and our ability to create it has never been so strong.

Sports stars and clubs themselves are in on the act – basketball player, Shaquille O’Neal has a whopping 2.8 million twitter followers, while Barcelona FC has 1.3 million Facebook friends – but the real control lies with the person on the street.

After Tiger’s conference (streamed live on YouTube), we didn’t need to wait for the papers’ reaction the next day to gauge public opinion – in just the hour after there were over 93,000 tweets about it.

The headlines of Messrs Cole, Terry and Woods show us that the sports stars haven’t really changed – in fact the only surprise is that Tiger kept it quiet so long. The change is that now they are considered fair game by both a salivating media and an unforgiving public able to influence and drive the agenda. This means there few secrets that don’t come out eventually – or in other words not a good time to be straying from home.

Oh and before you ask – no I don’t have any tickets to the World Cup, Wimbledon or The FA Cup Final. No change there then.

By Dominic Curran on March 2nd, 2010

Tags: Andy Murray, David Beckham, FA Cup, Facebook, Public relations, Sponsorship, Tiger Woods, YouTube

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There’s been a lot of press over the last few years about the nation’s decreasing sporting ability being matched only by the increasing waist size of its kids. Yesterday, I found myself at a primary school in south London on a visit with British tennis number 1, Andy Murray, as part of an RBS Dream Playgrounds scheme.The tangible excitement caused by Andy’s appearance at the school showed that kids regardless of age, background and interests all loved the chance to just run around with someone they’ve seen on TV.  

Gasps and a spontaneous round of applause greeted his revelation to the school assembly that he started playing tennis at just four years old, but as Andy himself said, getting started is the easy bit – it’s keeping kids interested in staying active beyond twelve that is problematic.

The substantial investment from RBS to improve the school’s playground area will go some way towards improving the chances of these kids to stay active, but while governing bodies battle to corral Britain’s young into their particular sport, the primary challenge for the government is simply to keep kids active – regardless of sporting denomination.

Governing bodies, Sport England and the Department of Health need to work together to build a combined voice with combined facilities that can build on the interest that a three hour visit from a world class athlete can bring.

Incidentally, toughest examination of the day for Andy didn’t come from the gathered press pack but rather from a six-year-old in assembly who looked slightly crestfallen when silence greeted his question, ‘How many Wimbledon’s have you won?’.

By Dominic Curran on June 17th, 2008

Tags: Andy Murray, grass roots sport, Tennis

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