Marketing & Communications: 2021 Round Up

MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS 2021 ROUND UP

INTRODUCTION 2021 was another challenging year due to the impact of Covid19, but our key marketing and communications objectives remained the same: o Grow attribution - increase recognition of Funding Partner investment and the impact it makes, particularly amongst Local Authorities. o Unlock Partnerships – support the pre-application, application and post award process. o Support the Grassroots Football community – make every engagement with the Foundation as easy and possible and ensure clubs and teams are aware of all funding opportunities are available to them.

As we navigate the Covid-19 crisis, clubs and organisations were supported to return to football following the easing of restrictions, thanks to the funding from the Premier League, The FA and Government, through Sport England.

This funding, in addition to the already full funding cycle, created a real opportunity to amplify the crucial work and investment of the Funding Partners, particularly amongst community organisations not previously eligible for Foundation funding.

Football Foundation — Yearly Report Football Foundation — Yearly Report

2021 KEY ACHIEVEMENTS This round-up give a snapshot of the strong marketing and communications activity this year.

Here are the key achievements: o

With a programme of direct engagement and meetings with MPs, we not only drove awareness of our Funding Partners’ investment, we also secured £205m additional Government funding as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review.

o

The Marcomms teams across the partnership have worked collaboratively with more Football Foundation content shared on partner channels than ever before.

o

We helped clubs across the pyramid by supporting the delivery of three Emergency Covid Relief schemes through social media, content creation, targeted email campaigns and media outreach.

o

The Football Foundation celebrated 21 years of unlocking the power of pitches to help transform lives.

o

We supported the delivery of the Premier League Defibrillator Fund to install AEDs and/or storage cabinets at thousands of grassroots organisations currently without a life-saving device on site.

o

We celebrated the impact of Football Foundation investment with the creation of bespoke graphics for CFAs, Local Authorities and MPs, leaving them in no doubt about the ambition of the Foundation and the benefits of investing into their communities with us.

o

We refreshed our ambassador strategy and announced freestyle world champion, Liv Cooke, as the first official Football Foundation Fan.

o

We launched our Power up Your Grass Pitch campaign to help revolutionise the landscape of grass pitches across England.

o

We produced the Football Foundation and FSIF Annual Reviews as films for the first time.

o

We reviewed our work as part of the Foundation’s EDI action plan and continued to create diverse and inclusive content.

o

Our media reach has grown hugely, with meaningful broadcast coverage featuring for the first time.

o

Our digital offering continues to improve as we better understand the needs of our applicants.

o

Our social channels have grown and had engagement from clubs, MPs, volunteers, local authorities and beyond.

Football Foundation — Yearly Report Football Foundation — Yearly Report

MEDIA COVERAGE

FOOTBALL FOUNDATION MEDIA REACH HAS GROWN

274m

2171

308

100%

Media reach (+20% on last year)

Media articles (-32% on 2020*)

Pieces of broadcast coverage (+3% on 2020)

Positive sentiment

*Higher quality coverage in 2021 due to national pieces in titles including The Times, Sky Sports, BBC Radio 4 etc.

Reduction in number of articles due to fewer covid-relief funds delivered in 2021 compared to 2020.

Football Foundation — Yearly Report Football Foundation — Yearly Report

NATIONAL MEDIA

REGIONAL MEDIA

DIGITAL & SOCIAL MEDIA

FOOTBALL FOUNDATION DIGITAL REACH HAS GROWN

+17.9%

+20%

4.8m

+37.1K

Increase in Twitter followers

Facebook page likes

Twitter impressions

Increase in number of retweets

Football Foundation — Yearly Report Football Foundation — Yearly Report

FOOTBALL FOUNDATION WEBSITE ENGAGEMENT HAS GROWN

+78%

+33%

+76%

+22%

New site users

Avg. time on page

Website impressions

Organic search

Football Foundation — Yearly Report Football Foundation — Yearly Report

(1.1m+ impressions in the last 3 months)

(Increase in the last 3 months)

WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT IN 2021 Enhanced ‘Contact us’ section to get enquires to the right area of the Foundation so we can help applicants faster.

Improved News, Impact and FAQs design.

New search function to support applicants find key information faster.

Football Foundation — Yearly Report

New navigation to help users easily locate the pages they’re looking for.

Ongoing SEO best practice implementation and PPC ad campaigns to increase the quality and quantity of website traffic.

Design updates to LFFP Exec Summary.

3G Pitch Register development.

KEEPING UP WITH THE NEWS AGENDA ON SOCIAL Euros 2020

Pride Month

World Mental Health Day Black History Month

SUPPORT FROM THE FUNDING PARTNER CHANNELS Sport England

England Football Premier League

DCMS

The FA

HOW WE’VE DEMONSTRATED IMPACT

IMPACT ASSETS – FOUNDATION AND FUNDING PARTNER CHANNELS We created graphics to showcase the incredible impact of our Funding Partners’ investment since 2000.

WORKING WITH COUNTY FAS Throughout the year, we have worked closely with our partners at local County FAs. We produced bespoke impact graphics to demonstrate the investment into each County FA since 2000, as well as end of year summaries. County FAs then shared these assets on their various social and digital channels.

Graphics to be refreshed End of Year summaries

Impact Graphics

YEAR IN REVIEW Rounding off 2021 with a Year in Review video to bring to life the impact of our Funding Partners’ investment, this piece of content amassed over 210K impressions, 95 likes and 41 retweets.

CASE STUDIES Over the last 12 months, we’ve produced a range case studies to demonstrate the positive outcomes from partner investment and inspire a broad range of applications.

BLAGSS

Gainsborough Trinity Foundation

Harvesters FC Nottingham Forest Community Trust

Yateley United FC

Staveley Miners Welfare FC

FOOTBALL FOUNDATION AND FSIF ANNUAL REVIEW FILMS For the first time, we created video annual reviews, reflecting upon the work carried out and celebrating the achievements of FY20 for both the Football Foundation and the Football Stadia Improvement Fund.

‘THIS IS THE FOOTBALL FOUNDATION AT 21’ BRAND FILM Launched at our ‘Unlocking the Power of Football Investment’ Webinar with the Local Government Association, we updated our brand film as part of our 21 years of Football Foundation campaign, setting out our vision for the future and encourage key stakeholders to invest in football facilities in partnership with us. The film was shared on our social and digital channels, gaining more than 21.7K views.

CAMPAIGNS

POWER UP YOUR GRASS PITCH o Launched at the start of November across Foundation and Partner channels. o Targeted emails sent, social assets shared and press release put out. o Aims to transform the quality of grass pitches across the country to reach target of 20,000 'good' quality grass pitches in the next 10 years. o The first goal is 7,312 by 2024. o Grass pitches are essential to grassroots football with 87% of the affiliated game played on grass. o Yet, the biggest issue consistently facing clubs is their pitches o By providing the grassroots football community with the knowledge and tools they need to improve the quality of their grass pitches, fewer matches will be postponed so more people can play more football.

Football Foundation — Yearly Report

POWER UP YOUR GRASS PITCH MEDIA AND DIGITAL REACH

54.6k

2.9k

167k

6.6k

2.6k

Media reach

Emails sent

People served across Foundation’s social channels

Webpage visits

New PitchPower users

Football Foundation — Yearly Report Football Foundation — Yearly Report

(since start of campaign in Nov)

21 YEARS OF FOOTBALL FOUNDATION

Football Foundation — Yearly Report

PREMIER LEAGUE DEFIBRILLATOR FUND

o Launched and delivered the Premier League Defibrillator o An investment from the Premier League to install AEDs and/or external cabinets at grassroots facilities currently without a lifesaving device o 4k launch emails sent o 406k impressions across partner channels on social media o Produced publicity assets for grantees

Football Foundation — Yearly Report

COVID RELIEF FUNDS IN 2021

Football Foundation — Yearly Report Football Foundation — Yearly Report

SUMMARY OF 2021 COVID RELIEF FUNDS

3

9k

53.5k

23.9k

Funds

Covid fund emails sent

Covid fund webpage visits

Teams supported

Football Foundation — Yearly Report Football Foundation — Yearly Report

RETURN TO DISABILITY FOOTBALL

RETURN TO FOOTBALL

GAME ON! THREE FUNDS, ONE BIG KICK OFF WEBSITE NEWS FEATURE

Football Foundation — Yearly Report

ACTIVE THROUGH FOOTBALL o

Innovative place-based programme to increase activity levels and create sustained behaviour change in a Placebased approach

o

Organisations coming together to deliver a plan for their place, placing Community Engagement at the heart of the approach

o

Tackling inequalities through football

o

Sent application outcome emails and produced publicity assets for grantees to celebrate funding success

Football Foundation — Yearly Report

UNLOCKING PARTNERSHIPS

SECURING ADDITIONAL GOVERNMENT FUNDING

533

9

74

10

333

MPs emailed

Meetings with MPs

Letters to MPs

Letters to Councillors

Local Authorities emailed

Football Foundation — Yearly Report Football Foundation — Yearly Report

STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT o Bespoke graphics created for every MP and Local Authority showing the impact of Football Foundation investment o Shared LFFPs directly with every MP, encouraging them to share on their social channels and requesting a meeting o Letters sent to MPs and Councillors

Horndean Technology College Gunnersbury Park Hub

o Site visit with HMT and DCMS to Horndean Technology College and Stoneham Lane Hub ahead of CSR o Two Cabinet member site visits – Rishi Sunak at Gunnersbury Park and Oliver Dowden at Fleet Primary School o Ed Davey visited Chessington & Hook United

Football Foundation — Yearly Grass Pitch Report Revolution

Fleet Primary School Chessington & Hook United

COMPREHENSIVE SPENDING REVIEW

Football Foundation — Yearly Grass Pitch Report Revolution

MP ENGAGEMENT ON SOCIAL

Football Foundation — Yearly Grass Pitch Report Revolution

CEO ACTIVITY

Football Foundation — Yearly Grass Pitch Report Revolution

GRASS PITCHES

PITCHPOWER o 3 webinars hosted with over 250 attendees o Shortlisted for: o Third Sector Awards - Digital Innovation of the Year o Charity Times Awards - Best Use of Technology o Key element of the Power Up Your Grass Pitch campaign o PitchPower expansion to cricket and rugby in development

Football Foundation — Yearly Report

FOOTBALL FOUNDATION GROUNDSKEEPING COMMUNITY In the last year: o The community has grown by 22% to 2891 users. 80% of these users have returned to the community multiple times. o There’s been consistently high engagement with the learning resources, with over 76k card views across the platform o The community continues to stimulate high levels of conversation – there's been 4000+ posts, comments, and interactions between users o Despite the absence of grassroots football for much of the year, we've seen a strong rise in the number of conversations throughout 2021 with the total number growing +68% vs. 2020 o Overall platform engagement (including views of resources) has grown 77% vs. 2020 o Highly positive feedback received from the user survey with 90% of respondents finding value in the community and 81% having increased their groundskeeping knowledge as a result of being a member

Football Foundation — Yearly Report

FANS

LIV COOKE o Announced as the first of the Football Foundation’s Fans following a refresh of our Ambassador strategy o Serialised video series documenting the end to end journey for the 3G project at Bamber Bridge Leisure Centre, near where Liv grew up o Assets and content shared on both Foundation’s and Liv’s social channels, generating more than 131k impressions o Regional media buzz generated around the project

Football Foundation — Yearly Grass Pitch Report Revolution

LOOKING AHEAD

LOOKING AHEAD We are looking to build on the successes of 2021 and continue driving attribution back to Funding Partners, unlocking partnerships, and supporting the grassroots football community as we navigate the Covid-19 crisis.

Having successfully secured an additional £205m from the Government in the Comprehensive Spending Review, we will be focused on fuelling the delivery of our funding streams and demonstrating the impact of Partner investment, as we scale up our efforts to ensure communities across the country have access to the quality sports facilities they deserve.

We will continue to increase our social, digital and media reach to fulfil the objectives of the Foundation and its Funding Partners.

Notably, 2022 will see the launch of the Football Foundation’s multisport agenda and the expansion of PitchPower to the RFU, RFL and ECB, as we target a commitment of 40% of our investment into projects that host an additional two or more activities by 2025.

In addition to this, we will be adding to our line up of Football Foundation Fans, with the likes of Leicester City FC’s Head Groundskeeper, John Ledgwige, Grounds Manager of Wembley Stadium, Karl Standley and ex-professional footballer Ian Wright.* We look forward to continuing to work with Funding Partner teams to increase the awareness and understanding of their investment into the Foundation and the impact of its work.

Football Foundation — Yearly Report *Shared internally in confidence only. Awaiting formal announcement.

Football Foundation — Yearly Report

Football Foundation — Yearly Report