Doncaster Rovers / Club Doncaster
From 2016 I worked closely with major national news organisations while also developing strong partnerships with local print media, radio and TV to drive the media relations for Club Doncaster. I oversaw a team maintaining four websites and more than a dozen social media channels across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube – all maintaining their individual tones. The highest profile work was with Doncaster Rovers, but the group also includes Doncaster RLFC, Club Doncaster Foundation, Club Doncaster Sports College and the iconic Doncaster Belles. We also had events ranging from the annual firework display to concerts with The Killers due to play at the Keepmoat Stadium.
I had a 100 per cent record of winning trophies for Rovers at the EFL Awards – considered the highest honour in the field – through applications I managed. The awards are: EFL divisional Community Player of the Year winner in 2017 (League Two and overall), 2018 and 2019 (League One), Supporter of the Year 2017 (overall) and Family Club Of The Year 2019 (overall).
And I did this while maintaining a commercial focus – our digital income in the 2019/20 season was double what we earned in 2017/18.
Doncaster Belles
The Belles are pioneers of women’s football in the UK, but when they joined Club Doncaster in the summer of 2019 there was a need to completely overhaul their media relations and in-house publishing in order to reconnect fans with the club. Under my strategy a new website was built, replicating the design used by Doncaster Rovers, to provide regular content and provide opportunities for commercial and marketing. News stories followed a regular pattern, with a professional photographer at every home game.
After taking a more hands-on role in the summer of 2020 I was able to create a number a bespoke social media graphics to boost engagement with fans, while the new website provided more coverage for commercial partners which proved vital against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic and halting of the football season. The social media tone was intentionally playful and light-hearted, leaning into the positive relationship most supporters now had with the club and help drive attendances which were above target and the highest in the division.
Ashes Playing Field Trust
The APFT are the charity who run the Ashes park in the centre of Howden. I started working with them after an arson attack on a beloved cricket pavilion in 2015, when there was a real surge of interest. I helped shape the messaging in the immediate aftermath and steer a long-term strategy to raise awareness the park is run by a charity (and therefore reliant on fundraising and grants), unifying the website and social media under one brand – HowdenAshes. I became a trustee and helped launch a fundraising sub-committee which massively increased money raised from supporters, pushing a strategy that included a shift to online fundraising. An idea that friends and I discussed over a meal one evening became Howden Monopoly and raised tens of thousands of pounds for the charity and became a must-have item for every household in the town. The profile of the charity has never been higher, with a significant online presence and regular mentions in the local newspaper and on the local BBC radio station.