Using sports storytelling to raise an institution’s profile

In an increasingly competitive sector, having a unique selling point is crucial. It can enhance an institution’s reputation, attract funding and partnerships, and support student and staff recruitment while enriching the student experience. The University of Stirling proudly holds the title of Scotland’s University for Sporting Excellence, which offers our communications and marketing teams a wealth of opportunities to showcase our institution through the lens of high-performance sport.

This year, Stirling is a finalist for the Times Higher Education Awards Outstanding Marketing/Communications Team of the Year, recognised for a high-profile, celebrity-backed campaign featuring its history-making football team. The student footballers made headlines by becoming the first university side in more than 50 years to advance to the last 32 of the Scottish Cup where they faced Premiership side Dundee United in front of 5,000 fans. 

Our integrated communications and marketing campaign not only delivered significant reputational benefits to the University – with supporter numbers swelling from single digits to more than 1,000 spectators on match day – but, additionally, helped drive a big surge in enquiries about our degree courses and sports scholarships. Here are some of the key strategies which underpin our campaign’s success:

Harness your strongest asset: your people 

Sports can unite people by creating a sense of joy and passion. You can elevate your storytelling by harnessing this energy. Our students, staff, alumni and local community are at the heart of our planning process when promoting sport. The incredible travelling support our student footballers received against Dundee United – the green sea of flag-flying, banner-waving fans – became a story in itself. National media captured this historic moment, highlighting the University of Stirling’s vibrant sports culture as supporters lit up Dundee.

There is no better way to highlight the benefits of sports than by showcasing them in action. Impactful and authentic content with your people at its heart can reflect the unity, the supportive nature of your community and a vibrant student experience. Short, emotive films can drive engagement across social media channels. For example, our recent Instagram Reels from our Scottish Cup campaign and a “welcome home” event organised for our medal-winning Olympians sparked excitement and pride among our audience, generating significant reach and engagement. 

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Promote the benefits of media engagement

A challenge of working with high-performance student athletes is that their diaries tend to be blocked out with training, competition and studies with little time for short-notice media activity. But with promising sporting careers ahead, student athletes are generally eager to learn about media operations, do interviews and build their profiles. By helping them understand the purpose and benefits of media engagement and sharing resulting coverage, we inspire our athletes to support and participate in these activities. Work with your senior leadership team, coaches and athletes to ensure they understand the value of the media work you are asking them to undertake – both for themselves and the institution.

Highlight what goes on behind the scenes

Journalists are often interested in how full-time student athletes balance their training and competition schedules with academic commitments. For instance, the BBC’s The One Show recently produced a five-minute feature on our Olympians ahead of the Paris games. In addition to the interviews and shots we set up of our swimmers and the high-performance programme, we facilitated filming in our library and in different locations around campus to highlight other aspects of student life. Similarly, in the week of the Scottish Cup match, The New York Times sports supplement The Athletic embedded a reporter into the team, offering a valuable glimpse into the lives of student footballers. 

By allowing journalists to spend time with your athletes, you can help them gain a deeper understanding of university sport and offer a human-interest angle that appeals to the public.

Collaborate with others to enrich content

We bring together colleagues from different areas of the institution and work closely with external partners to create our campaigns. Introducing different voices to planning meetings broadens reach and enriches discussions. 

For our THE Awards-shortlisted campaign, colleagues from across the university, supported by our alumni team, reached out to sporting contacts with Stirling connections to invite them to participate in our “good luck” film. While recruiting high-profile individuals for campaigns can be challenging, leveraging existing relationships, providing a clear content overview, and simplifying requests can significantly improve success rates.

The figures we contacted were already known to certain members of staff and/or students, who invited them to send a short clip filmed on their mobile phones to show their support. This resulted in major names such as Sir Alex Ferguson, Lilian Thuram, Craig Brown and Judy Murray publicly backing the team and led to authentic, engaging content that was shared widely on social media and covered extensively by national media.

Institutions can leverage high-performance sports to elevate their brand and reputation, positioning themselves as premier destinations for students and staff. By capitalising on community relationships with sports, fostering connections with athletes and coaches, collaborating across departments, and promoting student life through sports, institutions can broaden outreach and effectively engage the media.

Greg Christison is a communications manager at the University of Stirling.

The University of Stirling is shortlisted for Outstanding Marketing/Communications Team of the Year at the Times Higher Education Awards 2024 #THEAwards. A full list of shortlisted candidates can be found here. 

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