2025

Ascot Embrace ‘Elegance at Play’ on Social Media – saintnicks x Ascot Racecourse

With UK horse racing experiencing lower attendance and viewership in recent years, Ascot Racecourse, one of the world’s most iconic sporting venues, made a strategic decision to broaden the brand’s commercial appeal.

saintnicks embarked on a transformative journey to evolve Ascot from an iconic racing venue into an aspirational lifestyle brand.

We created the positioning ‘Elegance at Play’ and distinctive tone of voice, ‘The Dandy’; blending British sophistication with playful wit. A new era of Ascot began; with social storytelling at its heart.

We created an always-on social strategy to engage new audiences, domestically and internationally; tailored to the unique demographics and behaviours on each channel.

Through five newly developed content pillars that seamlessly united world-class racing and lifestyle, we carefully crafted innovative content plans, identified unique influencer collaborations and amplified inspirational brand partnerships.

Then came Royal Ascot. The jewel in the crown of Britain’s social calendar – which received its own supercharged social strategy that let our creativity gallop.

The results spoke volumes: over 21 million impressions, 280,000 engagements, and nearly 30,000 new followers gained during the event.

By delivering the brand’s new positioning through social media, we ensured that Ascot stayed timeless but became irresistible.

Betway – The Romans

12 years after retiring from a glittering career of Grand Slams and three devastating Wimbledon final losses, Betway gave Andy Roddick the ‘Advantage’ and a shot at redemption…4,018 miles away in Wimbledon, North Dakota. Transforming this tiny town into a DIY tennis tournament, enlisting all the residents as players, officials and fans. The result? Betway’s most successful social-first campaign to date across 12 markets. Plus (more importantly), Andy Roddick finally getting a win at Wimbledon.

Burnley Football Club / Wasserman

Burnley Football Club was facing a challenge on the pitch – promotion back to the Premier League. The marketing and communications team was also facing an off-field challenge – delivering international brand awareness growth despite being a small market club playing in English football’s second tier.

So, we lent on culture rather than sport. We revealed a formerly secret in-dressing-room tradition – the players singings Natasha Bedingfield’s viral TikTok song Unwritten after each win. And through this we created a culturally led international marketing moment.

How? By engaging Natasha to surprise the players in the dressing room for one last rendition of the song at the Club’s final game and amplifying Burnley’s return to the Premier League having achieved promotion. This content was supported with an amplification strategy across social and earned media.

The bringing together of sport, music and modern culture we saw huge impact on our social channels and international brand awareness.
Our video of Natasha singing with the players garnered more than 10m views across social media and we tracked media coverage across 30 different countries worldwide.

Despite finishing second in the league, Burnley won in international talkability to punch above our weight to a global audience.

Formula E x Soapbox – Evo Sessions

Formula E, the all-electric motorsport series, sought to position itself as a culturally relevant brand resonating beyond traditional motorsport audiences.

Formula E launched Evo Sessions, a bold, editorial-first PR campaign designed to reframe motorsport through the lens of culture, lifestyle, and entertainment.

The campaign embedded 11 globally recognised celebrities, including Brooklyn Beckham, Sergio Agüero, and Tom Felton, into a live Formula E environment as active team participants. They trained with race teams, drove GEN3 Evo cars, and engaged with the sport in a way that blended authenticity with spectacle. Rather than defaulting to traditional publicity tactics, the campaign focused on tailored editorial storytelling and strategic media re-engagement, successfully reintroducing Formula E to previously disengaged outlets, including the BBC.

Real-time content syndication, a collaborative approach across PR, talent, and production
partners, and immersive celebrity involvement resulted in a cultural moment that redefined the brand’s media perception. Evo Sessions broke through mainstream and lifestyle media, diversified audience demographics, and laid the groundwork for ongoing celebrity affinity with the championship. It became a landmark campaign, shifting Formula E’s place in culture through strategic PR craftsmanship.

Kodansha x Liverpool FC

In celebration of World Book Day, Liverpool FC and Kodansha – Japan’s leading publisher and creator of iconic manga titles – created a campaign that combined football with the magic of storytelling. With Liverpool’s historically low literacy rates, the initiative aimed to inspire a new generation of readers through surprise, creativity, and genuine emotional connection.

At the heart of the campaign was a powerful content piece, World Book Day Surprise. Liverpool FC Academy children were invited to the AXA Training Centre under perception they were auditioning to feature in an advert with the first team, only to be surprised mid-reading by their heroes Mohamed Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold, and Andy Robertson. The video, anchored in authenticity and joy, achieved 33.1 million organic views and 49.8 million organic impressions across platforms, becoming the highest-performing World Book Day content ever produced by a sports team.

Kodansha also ran literacy workshops with local children, culminating in cross-continental storytelling with their parallel New York initiative – Global Works. The campaign drove double-digit uplifts in brand awareness and sentiment, redefining how sport and publishing can intersect to drive social impact – and proving that books, like football, can bring us closer to our dreams.

M&S Food x The FA

As a proud partner of The FA’s The Greater Game Programme, which uses the power of football to encourage young people to improve their health and wellbeing, M&S Food is on a mission to help young footballers make healthier choices as part of its ‘Eat Well, Play Well’ campaign.

This includes guiding them on the best way to fuel before and after a game – it’s a serious health message we needed to land, but one we wanted to land in a fun and engaging way that appeals to families.

To do this, we teamed up with comedian, Jack Whitehall, and followed him on his journey to England’s St George’s Park training ground to spread the message about Eating Well by ‘joining’ as a health and nutrition consultant for the England men’s and women’s teams.

But Jack being Jack, he wanted to make the greatest splash possible. He wanted to shake things up and change things at the England camp. Little changes that make a BIG difference.

Whilst some of Jack’s techniques were a step too far, he was actually pretty spot on with his nutrition advice – better nutrition means better on pitch performance.

Sunderland AFC

Sunderland AFC’s ‘Til The End campaign was a content led movement that reignited belief across a passionate, global fanbase during the 2024–25 Play-Off run. After a poor end to the regular season, the challenge was clear: reset the narrative, inspire emotional investment, and drive digital and commercial success.

Built on the Club’s strategic platform, Relentless Obsession, the campaign treated content not just as communication, but as the engine of connection. A full digital rebrand unified all platforms, while a high-impact launch video and bespoke player shoot set a bold new tone. Fan-led storytelling, fanzine partnerships, and user-generated content placed supporters at the heart of the story.

Emotionally charged, real-time content from timestamped graphics to raw behind-the-scenes footage created shared moments that became cultural currency. Short-form video dominated, with one TikTok reaching 20M views, 1.6M engagements.

Offline, the campaign took over Sunderland and key locations in London through murals, billboards and guerrilla visuals, blurring the lines between content and environment.

The impact was remarkable: 227M impressions, 11.3M engagements, 383K new followers (213K from TikTok), retail spikes, and a Play-Off ticket sell-out.

‘Til The End turned disillusion into belief, and content into culture, helping power Sunderland AFC back to the Premier League.

beIN SQUAD – beIN Media Group

beIN SQUAD – launched in 2024 – is an initiative with a mission to strengthen grassroots football and promote inclusivity through sponsorship of amateur football clubs across France and Türkiye.

By fostering local talent, raising awareness, and providing direct support to amateur teams, beIN SQUAD has become a vital bridge between community football and professional opportunities across these key territories.

In France, beIN SQUAD has sponsored 50 amateur teams across men’s, women’s, and disability categories, engaging 700 registered players in the 2024/2025 season, and will sponsor 50 new clubs in the 2025/2026 season.

Similarly, in Türkiye, the initiative supports 50 amateur teams selected from over 1,300 applications, representing every region in the country. Applications for the second season of the beIN SQUAD TÜRKİYE started in June.

Destination Sport Group – inspiresport

inspiresport, part of Destination Sport Group, is the UK’s leading provider of youth sports development tours, offering global experiences across football, rugby, netball, hockey, and more. With exclusive partnerships with elite clubs like Real Madrid and Manchester City, Inspiresport delivers professional coaching and cultural enrichment to young athletes.

Post-COVID, the company innovated with INSPIREFEST – an initiative designed to safely reintroduce school and club travel. The inaugural event in Belfast (2022) offered coaching, fixtures, and excursions, despite limited participation due to travel uncertainty.

Building on this, INSPIREFEST Spain launched in 2023, hosting hundreds of participants for a vibrant mix of training, competition, and leisure. Its success led to expanded offerings in 2024 and the introduction of INSPIREFEST Belgium in 2025, featuring hockey and collaboration with Manchester City’s partner club Lommel SK. These events have fostered team bonding, independence, and lasting memories for students and staff alike.

With consistently outstanding feedback and growing demand, Inspiresport plans to expand INSPIREFEST to new destinations by 2027, continuing its mission to inspire young athletes through transformative travel and sport experiences.

DP World – 160over90

DP World’s Beyond Boundaries Initiative is a global mission to grow grassroots cricket through the use of industry-leading smart logistics to deliver access and opportunity.

Launched in 2023 by ambassador Sachin Tendulkar, the Initiative has now reached 4 continents and seen 3,000 cricket kits delivered to grassroots clubs via 12 repurposed shipping containers. This has provided improved access and opportunities to thousands of aspiring young cricketers in every corner of the globe.

Alongside the incredible impact of the Beyond Boundaries Initiative, it has also garnered global attention with millions of social media views and broadcast coverage by Sky Sports, CNN, Supersport and more.

Lauded by legends of the game, such as Sir James Anderson, Chris Gayle, Ricky Ponting, Harbhajan Singh, Jemima Rodrigues, Ellyse Perry – the Beyond Boundaries Initiative is the intersection of smart logistics and love of the game.

England Golf – Junior Golf Journey

Each stage of the Junior Journey has its own focus area creating more fun and inclusive experiences for young people in golf. We have highlighted the support available to golf clubs to support them in developing their junior sections, along with initiatives, programmes, resources and guidance to grow the game.

We identified three key areas in supporting golf clubs to create an environment in which juniors can thrive in. England Golf provides support in these areas to build the foundation which the junior section can grow and develop.

SafeGolf and Respect in Golf–Creating safe and inclusive environments and places for juniors to play golf
Providing a pathway–a stepped approach from first swing through to membership
Workforce and volunteers–individuals and a team working to encourage and support the development of the junior section

We are committed to creating more fun and inclusive experiences for young people in golf. Our goal is to inspire the next generation by making the game welcoming, accessible, and enjoyable for all—regardless of background, gender, ability, or experience.

By introducing golf through playful, games-based activities and community programmes that focus on enjoyment and building confidence, we’re helping young people see golf as a sport where they belong.

Everyone In Community Pitches – KP Snacks

KP Snacks, through their partnership with The Hundred, is on a mission to make cricket more accessible to all, by encouraging and inspiring families and communities to get active through the sport.

At the heart of this is KP Snacks ‘Everyone In’ campaign and their commitment to investing an additional £1 million, to build 100 new community cricket pitches across the UK by 2025. The project aims to get “Everyone In” to cricket, targeting urban areas with high deprivation, high ethnic diversity, high population and a cricket pitch facility deficit making it more relevant, accessible, welcoming and enjoyable for everyone from any background to get into cricket

The initiative has had a significant impact on local communities, offering greater access to sport for more people. It reflects KP Snacks’ commitment to investing in local communities to promote healthier lifestyles by facilitating access to sports and encouraging families to become more physically active. This is a fundamental aspect of KP Snacks’ People & Planet responsible business programme and forms part of England & Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB’s) commitment to drive the participation and growth of the game.

 Metro Bank x ECB – Champion of Women’s and Girls’ Cricket

Metro Bank signed a landmark partnership with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) as the first-ever Champion of Women’s and Girls’ Cricket. This 6-year purpose driven partnership is based on a shared ambition to make cricket more accessible, inspire the next generation, and champion a positive future for women and girls in our communities.

The Metro Bank Girls In Cricket Fund directly supports local cricket clubs by breaking down the barriers girls face in accessing sport – providing practical resources, coaching development, and visibility. In its first year, the initiative contributed to a 21% increase in girls’ teams, with over 1,130 hours of in-club coaching and 228 new coaching placements. For the first time, women now make up the majority of participants in the ECB Coach Developer Programme.

The programme is now a blueprint for inclusive, community-led growth – and a powerful example of how sport and business can thrive together.

The 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Kingfish Championship – Abu Dhabi Sport Council

The 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Kingfish Championship, organized by the Abu Dhabi Sports Council, was a landmark grassroots initiative that successfully revitalized one of the UAE’s most cherished heritage sports—traditional fishing—by making it accessible, inclusive, and community-driven. Set across multiple coastal regions including Al Dhafra and Abu Dhabi city, the championship welcomed over 2,700 participants, including hundreds of youth and first-time anglers, many from rural and underserved communities.

Focused on cultural preservation and community engagement, the event introduced a dedicated “Junior Angler” category, free youth registration, and beginner-friendly competition formats. Pre-event workshops provided hands-on education on sustainable fishing, species awareness, and traditional techniques, delivered in collaboration with schools and marine conservation partners. Onsite heritage zones featured dhow displays, storytelling booths, and cultural exhibits, deepening the sense of pride and connection to local identity.

This innovative approach not only grew participation but also inspired the next generation of sea lovers, creating a shared platform where tradition met environmental responsibility. The Abu Dhabi Grand Kingfish Championship 2024 stands as a model for grassroots sports development rooted in heritage, sustainability, and inclusive community spirit.