Today’s presentation intention is for comprehension and understanding of the following three concepts towards building bright, sustainable future and powerful school sport brand:
1.
School Sport – if branded and marketed correctly school sport can be a power brand, BUT it is going to take unified “Global” thinking and action
2.
Respected Authority – we need to position ourselves as the authority on school sport, not just an administration - i.e. cultural change in unified thinking and action (no extra workload)
3.
Brand Separation Strategy – by separating our administration and team brands we can consistently articulate our purpose and embed our key messages - i.e. this is not about simply changing logos, it is about taking a position as an authority in school sport and everyone teaming towards achieving a shared vision.

Maximising our value and appeal to internal stakeholders and prospective external partners.
Ultimately everyone should be the beneficiaries.

By 2020 it will be accepted that participation in school sport is vital to achieving better outcomes for students.

To build a powerful QSS brand that unifies stakeholders’ efforts towards building a positive profile for school sport.

Some of the notable elements of a power brands include :
• Becoming the respected authority in their space
• Charismatic and compelling to the point where people want/ need to take notice
• Renowned for best practice operating principles
• Are positively referenced ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ of their core business sector
• Are innovators and the market leader – survive trend shifts and change
• Live values that are meaningful and unique
• Enlighten, encourage and empower key stakeholders
• Instil stakeholder unity behind a singular vision
• Are always one step ahead of the game (competition)
• Successful and sustainable.

By 2020 the membership of Queensland School Sport will be the noted authority on school sport.
Especially with the following key stakeholders:
 Sport specific committee executive
 Regional school sport councils
 Regional school sport officers
 Queensland School Sports Unit
 QSSMG
 QSSC

This means that by 2020 Queensland School Sport should be recognised as the thought leader for school sport in the world
By the way of:
 Unifying our thinking and actions towards achieving our vision
 Quality research methodology
 Models for developing sporting success
 Criteria that we use to monitor progress and milestones

By 2020 we are aiming for the following goals:
• To achieve 90%+ of Queensland School Principals opt-in to active involvement in school sport long term
• To articulate and embed the short to long term virtues of school sport
(backed by reliable research)
• To motivate teachers and energise their continued fight for sport to hold a position of importance in Queensland schools (armed with the best information available on sport)
• To ensure parents and students positively influence their schools to participate in school sport activity

By 2020 we are aiming for the following goals continued:
• To engage government in endorsing the positive roll of school sport within the fabric of school communities and society as a whole
• To tell a compelling story consistently – i.e. great news told on a regular basis
• To create a product / service that corporate Australia believes in and may wish to partner with.

1.
The benefits of school sport - the positive role it plays in student outcomes is articulated and embedded
2.
The positioning of the Queensland School Sports Unit and Regional School
Sport Councils – i.e. reputation for Authoritative Leadership and
Professional Administration
3.
The notion of brand separation – the Administrative Unit V the Team brands as singular valuable brands in their own rights
4.
The importance of segmenting our market and using research to build a powerful school sport proposition – for buy-in from everyone
5.
The introduction of appropriate measurement criteria and quantitative and qualitative results are essential - to rationalise the “why” for every strategic decision made going forward
6.
The involvement of corporate Australia to partner with School Sport
Queensland long term.

What do we want people saying about QSS in five years time?
Administrators who manage
OR
Authoritative Leaders who influence and administer

Thinking and acting strategically is based on the following five key questions:
1.
What’s important to us?
2.
What seems to be happening?
3.
What opportunities exist?
4.
What are we going to do about it all?
5.
How are we going to monitor progress and measure success?
(We are at the strategy stage of the project)

• Can QSS stand alone as a powerful brand in its own right?
• How do we build a valued, effective and highly respected brand?
• Why does there seem to be a lack of attention for the great work that we do?
• Can we better articulate:
• who we are and what we stand for – the leaders of all facets of school sport?
• our achievements - why our work should be valued?
• that we are an authority on school sport?
• Is our level of service delivery of a consistently high standard?
• What is the ‘risk’ of standing still? i.e. If we keep doing what we are doing now?

Key questions in relation to wide spread Regional participation and buy-in:
• Why aren’t all of the regions involved in all sports offered by the
Queensland School Sports Unit?
• How big an issue is remote location and cost for some of our schools and their families?
• With such diversity among the 12 sport regions how can we consistently support individual schools that participate regularly in district school sport programs? (i.e. the HUB of school sport)
• Could more be done to build equity (value) into the regional sports brands?
• Is representation in regional sport teams as valued / more valued than similar rep club teams? (Should this be a marker anyway?)
• Why is it that we receive very little major outlet media coverage when so much good news is produced each year ?

Key questions in relation to Principals – the gate keepers:
• Why are some Principals withdrawing from school sport? And why are fewer staff volunteering to coach teams?
• Why is there a range of buy-in from Principals i.e. some are right on board and some aren’t
• How do we get Principals to take notice of our key messages when they have so much on their plate?
• What are the best communication tools for sending considered, effective and consistent messages to our Principals about the positive virtues of school sport?
• How sustainable is District School Sport and the current school sport structures in general?

Key questions in relation to research:
• What positive school sport research outcomes should be performed, referenced and how can it be used most effectively?
• How can we better utilise research to promote the ‘cause ‘ of sport for kids and school sport in particular?
• Why is it that school sport programs have not changed in the past 20 years, except for the inclusion and removal of small number of sport specific committees?
• Why is it that schools and the outcomes they are seeking have not been clearly defined?
• Can or should schools consider becoming more outcomes based when it comes to assessing the effectiveness of school sport?

Key questions in relation to strategic partnerships:
• Are there any major benefits in aligning with club sporting organisations? i.e. local and state
• What can we do to keep ‘firing up’ our teachers that take sport and motivate them to keep going?
• How can we best leverage from the support that school sport enjoys at the DDG and
ADG level?
• How can we benefit from working with cross government departments? i.e. Health,
Sport and Recreations, Communities, Local Government Councils etc.
• Would corporate Australia be interested in aligning / partnering with Queensland
School Sport and if so how restrictive might this be given the barriers associated in dealing within the government sector?
• Can we leverage further from the alignment of the three educational systems?
• Can we partner more strongly with independent bodies such as Future State Greats to ensure that all students have the opportunity to play their preferred sport?

What are the key questions in relation to communication and promotional tactics?
• What are the best communication tools for reaching our primary, secondary and tertiary markets? (Principals, internal stakeholders, families and the general population)
• How do we cut through the clutter and be understood and heard?
• If we do invest resources promoting the virtues of school sport, what are the key messages and how do we measure success to see if it is making a difference (cut through)?
• Why do we seem to keep great news silent?

Key questions in relation to sustainability:
• What role can we collectively play in embedding the benefits of school sport into the wider community so that it gains traction back into our schools?
• How do we measure the outcomes of the good news stories and their potential to build value (equity) in the Queensland School
Sport’s brand?
• How do we tell if we are on the right track and achieving the right results both for the student and the school sport cause?
• What are our markers for assessing continuous improvement and success?
• How do we know if we have the right selection of sport programs?

Key questions in relation to resourcing new direction, ideas, concepts and activities:
• How important to our future is building a powerful Queensland
School Sport brand?
• It is one thing to have great ideas and possible solutions but how are these going to be resourced?
• Are our current resources adequate or do we need to consider additional resources/ skill sets / restructure of the unit and regions to achieve our outcomes?
• Where ultimately does the responsibility for developing strategy and implementing tactics lie?

What paradigms are restraining the position of QSS?
• Data is king!
• School sport just doesn’t fit in when academia should be the priority e.g.
NAPLAN is the focus
• Departmental priorities do not include school sport which can lead for an easy opt-out for school Principals
• Why do we even need school sport when Club sport is an option?
• There is too much time spent out of the classroom!
• Taking sport is to risky, costly, etc.
• Not enough teachers want to take school sport anymore
• Representative sport only appeals to kids that are good at it
• School sport appears to run a poor second to data from a government priority perspective.

What paradigms are driving forward the position of QSS?
• School sport can improve self confidence
• Promotes pride in the school
• Often school sport is the only sport a child might experience
• Offers variety where student can see what they like and are good at
• Offers balance to support the notion of the holistic child
• In many cases sport is the reason that many kids like coming to school
• School sport is the best and most memorable sport most people ever play
• School sport offers a release from the grind (for teachers and the child)
• Sports success is often good marketing for the school
• Sports success is often aligned to improvements in behaviour, building resistance, discipline, respect for self and others, operating within structures etc.

Not into school sport – BUT can appreciate its benefits
Into school sport and truly believes its value
Not into school sport and believes that data is king and school sport just gets in the road
Into school sport but is feeling the pressure to perform

Greta - Likely Barry – Advocate
Advocate
Barry Believer
Likely
Greta Gettable
Bill Buckle
Unlikely
Ima Impossible
Bill - Likely Ima -Unlikely

The following groups would be considered internal educational stakeholders and the secondary target market:
• Minister’s Office
• Office of the Director General and associated officers
• School staff – teaching and non-teaching
• Students
• Parents
• Community partners
• Other

The following groups would be considered to be the tertiary markets:
• Community and the general public
• Universities
• National school sport bodies
• International school sport bodies

1. The Principals (the Referees)
– the principle of “Thought Leadership”
2. The Brand Refresh (separation strategy)
- Administration V Teams
3. The Participation and Buy-in (from all stakeholder)
- Ensuring people want to and can
4. The Strategic Partnerships
– internal and external

The following projects should give us greater insight into the motivating and responding to the imperatives of school principals:
A. Value of Sport Research project
B. Principals’ Conferences agendas
C.
Principal Communication protocols
D. “Thought Leadership” Campaign
E.
Minister and DG Buy-in
F.
Contemporary Communication tools
A.
Social media
B.
Queensland School Sports App
C.
Variations to the websites
D.
Dedicated limited access portal
E.
Etc
G. Sport Successes and Excesses weekly and monthly blogs




The importance of brand separation to clearly delineate what makes
QSS V Representative Teams unique and valuable in their own right:
• Charter and mandate of each brand defined
• Functional benefits
• Emotional benefits
• Symbols
• Values
• Personality
• Uniqueness of the entity

“Using the corporate image management process as a catalyst to drive change often results in a opportunity for the entire organisation to rally around the new identity and for all the organisation's stakeholder’s to develop a sense of belonging and engagement with the new entity.”
(Howard, 1998, Corporate Image Management)

QRU Administration QLD Teams and Ground

The following projects are necessary to develop this brand re-birth project:
• QSS Brand wheel – to define the major elements of the brand
• Separation of brands – to build equity in both
• Defined Identity – articulate each brands story and do so consistently
• New logo design brief – to review and refresh
• QSS brand architecture and style guide – the rules for design
• State and Regional Sport team Nicknames – for the kids and to add personality (remember this should come from the teams)
• Mission “THE MAROONS” for school sport state teams – shared with the
SOO team and symbolically presented to QSS by the FOGS / QRL
• New nickname designations - for regional sport teams

Think Global

This means that the School Sport Australia brand architecture could look like this to represent the national leadership and administrative arm of the organisation.

SSQ brand architecture could look like this:

OR for consistency the QSS brand architecture 12 administrations could look like this:

This would be designated by sport .

Each state team would be designated with MAROOONS nickname and sit beside the administrative logo as per the case study presented.

Each regional team would be designated with its own nickname and sit beside the administrative logo as per the case study presented.

Some of the benefits of doing this include:
• Gives the QSS unit and regions their own unique identity – thought leader
• Clear distinction between the administration and the teams so that a position and value proposition can be defined and articulated for both
• Visually refreshes the image of the brands
• Engages kids in fun ways and defines the personality of the region
• Strategy aligns with major sporting organisations
• Greater chance of appealing to corporate Queensland and Australia from a partnership perspective
• Represents a unified, strong, powerful organisation.

The notion of brand separation – the administrative and team brands are singular brands in their own rights for which we can build equity (value)
BUT
This relies heavily on the notion of UNIFIED thought and actions

The following projects would be explored in relation to participation and buy-in
A.
Market Segmentation Project And Communication Alignment
B. Quality Client Product & Service Delivery
C. Regions’ Websites Uniformity and Consistency
D. Annual Sports’ Appreciation Day – launch 2017

 The importance of segmenting our market and using research to build a powerful school sport proposition – i.e. for buy-in from everyone
 The introduction of appropriate measurement criteria and quantitative and qualitative results are essential - to rationalise the “why” for every strategic decision made going forward

The following elements would be essential to the establishment of mutually beneficial partnerships:
• Sponsorship Audit
• Sponsorship Model
• Sponsorship Proposal
• Sponsorship Acquisition Plan
• School / Club Sport Alliance
• Future State Greats Partnership
• Funding Raising Events and Opportunities.
• FSG / Queensland Hall of Fame Memorabilia Items
• Health, Sport and Recreation Partnership
• Corporate Partnerships
• Internal and external stakeholder partnerships

 The prospective involvement of corporate Australia partnering with school sport and a unified brand

The following is a summary of the major recommendations:
1.
Build “Thought Leadership” Principals’ Strategy & Research Projects
2.
Segment the market and use communication tools to effectively present our key messages – APP, website, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
3.
Focus on participation and buy-in
4.
Build a model for positive strategic partnerships
5.
Resource correctly – consider a dedicated resource to set up and manage this process.
6.
Separate and build powerful brands starting with the visual representation
1.
New designation – School Sport Queensland to unify with School Sport Australia architecture
2.
Choose the Queensland MAROONS nickname for all Queensland teams (AFL exception?)
3.
Develop a consistent Look and Feel for the regions’ administrations and align with School
Sport Queensland
4.
New nicknames and logo for the region representative teams by 2016 to add the personality and focus on kids

Do something now or risk a decline in the value of school sport.

By 2020 it will be accepted that participation in school sport is vital to achieving better outcomes to students.

Where to start? - Timeline and Milestones
1.
Thought Leadership – initiate the strategies in relation to School Principals in relation to:
1.
School Sport Queensland – align with SSA, accept design and launch SSQ title change - term
1, 2015
2.
Establishing Thought Leadership topics and execution tactics – Social Media inc. YouTube – term 1, 2015
3.
MAROONS nickname – adopt the nickname for Queensland School Sport Representative teams and launch Maroons – term 1, 2015
4.
Research on The benefits of School Sport project – existing and proactive research – commencing – term 1, 2015
5.
Market segmentation model to determine the most appropriate communication strategies
and tactics for each market segments, plus primary, secondary and tertiary targets – term 1,
2015 (School Sport Queensland APP to be considered)
6.
Regional logo and nicknames – begin the decision making process 2014 and first half of
2015 for adoption in 2016.
7.
Core questions – isolate the core strategic questions and build projects around the short list
– term 1, 2015

Today’s presentation intention is for comprehension and understanding of the following three concepts towards building bright, sustainable future and powerful school sport brand:
1.
School Sport – if branded and marketed correctly school sport can be a power brand, BUT it is going to take unified “Global” thinking and action
2.
Respected Authority – we need to position ourselves as the authority on school sport, not just an administration - i.e. cultural change in unified thinking and action (no extra workload)
3.
Brand Separation Strategy – by separating our administration and team brands we can consistently articulate our purpose and embed our key messages - i.e. this is not about simply changing logos, it is about taking a position as an authority in school sport and everyone teaming towards achieving a shared vision.

The following questions have been asked in the questionnaire

1.
Do you agree with the 2020 vision for Queensland School Sport? Yes /
No / Unsure - If no what do you think it should be. Please comment …
(remember we are thinking “global.” To be or To achieve….)
2.
Do you feel the value of school sport is in decline? Yes / No / Unsure –
Comment
3.
Should the school Principals be the primary targets for a School Sport
marketing / thought leadership campaign? Yes / No / Unsure –
Comment
4.
Do you feel that the school Principals resistant to school sport may be
open to a new strategic emphasis i.e. thought leadership? Yes / No /
Unsure – Comment
5.
Do you feel that there is / should be sufficient evidence that school
sport is vital to student well-being? Yes / No / Unsure – Comment

6.
Do you agree with the separation of brands strategy? Yes / No / Unsure
– Comment
7.
Do you like the notion of calling Queensland School Sport teams the
MAROONS? Yes / No / Unsure – Comment
8.
Can you see the benefits of Queensland School Sport aligning with
School Sport Australia, leading with the School Sport entity as the HERO
of the brand? Yes / No / Unsure – Comment
9.
Can you see the benefits of the regions having a nickname to separate the administration from the representative teams, which may have
greater appeal to kids? Yes / No / Unsure – Comment
10. Do you feel that if packaged and sold correctly that school sport could
be offered as a valued sponsorship package? Yes / No / Unsure –
Comment
Other – Please comment further