Martyn Hayes
Comms & Photography expert
Olympic and Paralympic Games
Surrey County Council
Background
In the build up to the London Olympic Games, Surrey was due to host the Olympic Cycling Road Races and Time Trials. As a result, the council faced the challenge of communicating inconveniences amidst a backdrop of public scepticism.
In addition, there were opportunities to bolster the local economy by encouraging foreign Olympic and Paralympic teams to train in the county and spend money locally. There was also the aim to persuade Surrey businesses to secure games related contracts with LOCOG.
The objective was to address the above challenges while generating public hype for the games.
Feedback
Employer:
"I worked with Martyn on the London 2012 campaign and was impressed with how he flourished in such a high profile project! It was a joy to have him on board and I recommend him for any communications project."
Surrey County Council
Role:
Marketing Officer
Denise Saliagopoulos
Elected Councillor
Skills:
Website Management, Social Media
Copywriting, SEO, Graphic design, Project Management, eNewsletters, Video, Production Marketing Research, Photography, Relationship Building, Staff Management, Press Relations, Crowd Management/Entertainment,
Public Speaking
Sample material:
Role: To Plan, design and implement communications for various campaigns relating to London 2012 Olympic events and activities. These projects centred on Olympic Road Cycling, children, culture, businesses, tourism, foreign investment.
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Managed Olympic website of heavy visitor traffic
Oversaw day-to-day maintenance and achieved roughly 10,000 visits per month and over 500,00 during one week in July 2012.
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Improved online visitor journey through organising card sorting exercise
Web alterations were made to ensure visitor experience was comprehensive and hassle free. Successfully reduced average daily inbound calls to the contact centre from 300 to 70 as a result.
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Built and managed relationships with local Olympians
Utilised relationships for endorsements, appearances/speeches at events and interviews in online and offline publications. Endorsements helped to achieve more Olympic teams to train in Surrey than any other UK region (47 teams in total).-
Successfully saved Council over £1,000 through self-led research of said athletes.
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Demonstrated strong copywriting skills
Skillfully edited wording from political/academic styles to fun and engaging content appropriate for segmented audiences. Examples include:-
Content targeted towards foreign Olympic teams was written in plain English and helped to secure achievement mentioned above.
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Contacts for guest blogs and interviews were regularly sought to feature in campaigns.
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Supervised video production for school sports activities on YouTube
Helped to secure 50% increase in school participation as a result.
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Developed eNewsletter to inform the public of Olympic related news
Performed A/B testing for different calls to action and optimised results for future campaigns. Grew subscriber database from 20 to over 2,500.
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Generated publicity for high profile events
Integrated cross channel and departmental projects to help build hype and sway public opinion for the Games. Example events include Olympic Cycling Road Races, school sports, Largest Human Olympic Rings, meetings with royalty and business conferences.
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Implemented strategy for social media channels
Created and designed attractive material and regularly updated the content calendar and Hootsuite. Ensured content was interactive for followers.
COPYWRITING SAMPLES
eNEWSLETTER SAMPLE
SOCIAL MEDIA SAMPLES
VIDEO PRODUCTION SAMPLES
Above: An example of a video project to promote the Surrey School Games (a cross county, multi sports event for children). Footage was completed externally via the Surrey Community Film Unit through supervision during storyboard and editing process. The production team were kept informed of key events involving press and celebrity appearances.
Further YouTube shorts are as follows:
Also collaborated closely with the press team and introduced them to local athletes who appeared in the following:
RELATIONSHIP BUILDING SAMPLES
Relationships were built with Olympic and Paralympic athletes (often direct, through agents or with their parents). Relationships became so close that the same athletes were called upon to appear in multiple projects. These include speeches at events, endorsements, interview articles and more.
Library cards featuring Surrey Olympians and Paralympians. These were published prior to the 2012 Games to help build public interest.
Athletes were introduced to press department through cross team collaboration.
A further reminder of articles featured in hardcopy and softcopy publications. The above examples were featured in the Parent's Pages magazine.
Austin Playfoot (1948 Olympic Torchbearer) with Emily Randle (Team GB Synchronised Swimming) exhibited in the 'Surrey Sporting Heritage' Tour.
EVENT PHOTOGRAPHY SAMPLES
PRESS COVERAGE SAMPLES
Olympic Cycling Road Race and Time Trials
Hollywood style Olympic Rings on Box Hill
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The Guardian - Olympic rings around UK
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Olympic.org - Giant Olympic Rings unveild in Box Hill
Surrey School Games
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Your Local Guardian - Mark Cavendish backs Surrey School Games
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Your Local Guardian - Surrey school kids to compete in P&G athletic finals
World Record Attempts
London 2012 Business Contracts
Local businesses were encouraged to obtain LOCOG contracts via digital marketing and seminars. These articles feature the success of mar-coms activities.
Visits from Seb Coe
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BBC - Coe fuels Olympic Games excitement in Sussex and Surrey
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Get Surrey - Lord Coe visits Olympic cycle route
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Your Local Guardian - Double Olympic gold medalist visits Box Hill ahead of London 2012 Olympics
Pre-Games Training camps
Reports on Olympic and Paralympic teams training in Surrey prior to the 2012 Games
SURREY'S ACHEIVEMENTS
Word Record for Largest Human Olympic Rings
The highest number of foreign Olympic and Paralympic teams training in any one county
The highest number of local business signed to London 2012 contracts
The highest number of schools signed to county Olympic style games
Word Record for Largest Human London 2012 Logo
Management of Olympic campaign for Surrey County Council
Re-branding and creation of new website for political think tank in Westminster
Content for supplements detailing countywide
news and activities
Maintenance of online
and offline presence for legal charity
Organising and promotion of arts and cultural events for Surrey County Council
Personal blogs to showcase creative writing and digital communication skills
MORE PROJECTS
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