This Girl Can Nottingham Activation

Background Nottingham’s population is 308,700, with 151,903 being females. 44% of the female population (67,236) falls within the 14 – 40 age bracket. 81,900 females, are currently doing no sport at all (compared with 67236 males). 31,800 females are taking part in 1 x 30 mins per week (compared with 56,100 males).

Nottingham City have already recognised and acknowledged this inequality and increasing women and girls participation is a strategic priority within their Sport and Physical Activity strategy “Setting the Pace and Building on Success”

In order to maximise this opportunity to kick start the delivery of this theme of the strategy, the priority for the local activation for This Girl Can is to utilise the established relationships with the Creative Industry in order to produce an innovative approach to translating the national campaign into a local “call to arms” to create a movement for women to engage with on several levels that will inspire female participation City wide. To ensure longevity it is also a priority to build a solid infrastructure for further development.

To provide suitable capacity this is a whole team and partnership approach to ensure successful delivery. There has also been consultation with the County Sports Partnership to ensure that the Nottingham offer compliments the wider strategic plan.

The following is an overview of planned work based on the Sport England investment combined with the initial planned work for strategy delivery.

Local marketing and advertising This will take the largest proportion of allocated budget.

Nottingham City have excellent relations with local media, to include television, radio and local press. We aim to use funding to flood local outputs with the “This Girl Can” message, with a distinct local flavour. The primary focus in this section is to make a real impact through a three phased approach with Notts TV to include advertising, funded programming and added value editorial

Notts TV is broadcast on Freeview Channel 8 and Virgin Media 159. The station is run by a consortium which includes Nottingham Trent University, the Nottingham Post Group, Confetti Media and Inclusive Digital. Its nightly news is broadcast from Nottingham Trent University's Centre for Broadcasting and Journalism, where the team of professional journalists are based. Launched in May 2014 the reach of Notts TV is growing on a steep trajectory with current viewing figure in excess of 200,000 with over 70% watching 7 times a week.

The television exposure will be supplemented with more traditional forms of marketing

Jan to March  Investigate legals around national ad’ for play on Notts TV  Work up bespoke local creative for a special Nottm only ad’ with guaranteed min of plays at days/times to suit.  To create a programme in similar style to ‘Men in Sheds’ or Mass Bolero – talking heads/real stories feel , 24 minutes in length (2 x 12 min sections) Played dynamically during the schedule to offer maximum opportunities for the target audience to view Added to Notts TV On Demand – available anywhere anytime. The Programme would appear in listings e.g; Nottingham Post.  Promoted Facebook posts on My Nottingham (10,000 likes) and NCC Twitter (32,000)  Local radio advertising  Key City Marketing Sites – utilizing key marketing sites across the City to promote the Campaign with local signposting for further information

April to September

 Offer a range of no cost editorial opportunities, both live and pre-recorded to link with key milestones and female participation events, over the following output: News – opportunities with seven day a week bulletins The 6:30 Show – feature opportunities; eg, more presenter lead lifestyle elements Channel 8 debate – panellists/topics to support programme of events The Boot Room – special guest opportunities

Influence supply To ensure that we really know and where who our target market are, what the current provision is, Jan to March  Insight – to establish a full and detailed picture of the female population of Nottingham,  Join the Dots – Identify what’s already happening throughout the City and “wrap up” into a coordinated offer for female participation  Plug the Gaps – an interactive Partner Engagement Event to share insight and gaps in provision in order to shape future delivery  Women’s Ambassador Program - women inspiring women. Profile raising, inspiring, motivating and signposting  Consultation – “What, when and where” women want. A multi pronged approach to gathering “street level” intelligence.  Enhance NCC current adult participation FREE Sport program by adding in female specific activities

April to September  NGB Engagement –share insight and influence delivery plans with 10 priority sports  Female Participation Steering Group – keep the momentum going and deliver the Strategy  FREE Sport adult participation program offering free activities just for women  Girls that Do - Recruit and train a core of female “Activators” to grow local delivery  Use high profile local events to inspire activity at a Community level (e.g. WTP International tennis tournament) Communicate with the local system Use strong established networks, both internally and externally to raise profile, engage and maintain momentum. Ensure that the campaign is embedded within education (secondary, Fe and HE), communities, and existing projects (e.g. NCH and City of Football)

Jan to March  Website – “one stop shop” where women go to, to find activities in their local area.  Social media –Facebook, Twitter, Snapshot, Instagram, etc  E-Newsletter –good news stories, new activities, volunteering information, etc  Girls who Don’t - Engagement with existing women’s networks whose primary function is not currently sport or physical activity. Exposure to free taster sessions

April to September  Keep the Ball Rolling –Maintain ongoing comms using both high profile and local female focussed events and activities to reinforce the message and revitalise the campaign

International Women’s Day The aspiration is to use International Women’s day as a “springboard” to engage, inspire and motivate women to join the “Movement”  Virtual Participation Event – Nottingham Girls Can –a city wide record attempt. A coordinated approach, driven and supported by local media, whereby women take part in a range of activities, ranging from mass participation events, sports clubs, fitness classes or individual activities. They would “log” their activity through local This Girl Can media (e.g. “selfies uploaded onto the website / facebook / twitter) in order to set a “record” number of females taking part in sport and physical activity in 1 day. The aspiration is that this would be an annual event that may become competitive between Cities in the future and become a national challenge.  Pledges – women will be invited to sign up to the movement and make pledges for future activity  Free LC Access / Fitness Offer – a one day, female focussed program at all City run leisure centres with free access to activities and a promotional membership offer.

Raising Organisational Awareness Nottingham City Council employs over 8000 people, over half of them women). We have comprehensive internal communication mechanisms to all employees and which would enable us to engage with all colleagues effectively. Internal comms include All Colleague emails, Chief Exec I-News letters to all colleagues, internal plasma screen displays.

In conclusion, Nottingham is perfectly placed to effectively utilise this campaign to really make a huge impact not only to initially engage Nottingham women, but to create a sense being a part of something, where they will feel supported to achieve their aims, that will continue to grow over time.