Sportsbeat & News Associates
PR PRAISE FOR PRESS AGENCY'S REGIONAL CONTACTS
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Sportsbeat reporters file from events around the world and closer to home - providing over 12,000 stories per year.
Sportsbeat/News Associates have been hailed by PR and event organisers for their innovative editorial service for regional newspapers.
Sportsbeat – one of the UK’s largest and most trusted suppliers of sports news - uses its network of newspaper titles and online clients to place tailored copy, free of charge,in order to generate extra coverage for events, brands and sponsors.
Sportsbeat's journalists already provide regional press services for the Tour of Britain, Isle of Man TT Races, JP Morgan Round the Island Race, Skandia Cowes Week, UK School Games, Paralympic World Cup, British University Sports Championships, British Superbikes Championships, Brit Insurance Super Series Squash and the Skandia RYA Sail for Gold regatta.
In addition we provide a full press service for the Tesco Cup - a UK-wide football tournament for junior club teams – and the Minute Maid Schools’ Cup, the largest schools football tournament in Europe and the Gillette Cup.
We also increasingly work with sports governing bodies – working alongside the ATP Tour and England and Wales Cricket Board to gain coverage for their events and teams in our client titles.
In addition, Sportsbeat used their press contacts to help maximise Eurosport's coverage of the World Touring Car Championships, Aberdeen Asset Management's sponsorship of the British Seniors' Open, Volvo's partnership with the ISAF World Youth Sailing Championships and the Formula BMW Championship, McDonald’s National School football festival initiative, HSBC Wee Wonders junior golf programme, Robinson's sponsorship of the BBC Sports Personality Unsung Hero Award and Splenda's endorsement of world heptathlon bronze medallist Kelly Sotherton.
We also work to provide our regional press clients with updates from Norwich Union's athletics initiatives, including 'On Camp with Kelly', 'GirlsActive', 'Join Our Team' and the ‘National School Sport Week’ and ‘School Sport Matters Awards’.
2012 official partner Lloyds TSB have also engaged Sportsbeat and we provided our title with news and updates from the numbers of their Local Heroes campaign, which funds Olympic hopefuls in the build-up to London 2012.
For recent press coverage of this service, click here and here.
Case Study - TOUR OF BRITAIN CYCLING
Since 2004 Sportsbeat have acted as the official press agency for the Tour of Britain, with a brief to generate in UK national and regional newspaper clients, including The Herald, City AM and Daily Post.
"We retain Sportsbeat to act as the official news agency of the Tour of Britain. They completely blew us away with their professionalism and, most importantly, the superb editorial coverage they generated for the race."
Hugh Roberts, Chief Executive, Tour of Britain
Case Study - ISLE OF MAN TT RACES
Sportsbeat provides a regional press service to the organisers of the Isle of Man TT Races, one of the most famous events in motor sport. Sportsbeat reporters provide our regional titles with a tailored words and picture service from the event and assist organisers to leverage individual race sponsorship and provide readers with signposts to television coverage and the official event website. See sample coverage published in the Norwich Evening News, Hull Daily Mail and Huddersfield Daily Examiner.
Case Study - BRITISH UNIVERSITY CHAMPIONSHIPS
Sportsbeat provided a regional press service for the first ever British University Championship, a multi-sport Games held in Sheffield for universities and colleges across the UK.
Client editors were provided with tailored news and pictures, with coverage published in more than forty newspapers.
A key message – published as a boilerplate on all copy – leveraged the involvement of regional development agency Yorkshire Forward and Sheffield City Council’s major sports event unit in staging the Championships. See sample coverage in the Coventry Telegraph, Lincolnshire Echo and Sheffield Star.
Case Study - ENGLAND AND WALES CRICKET BOARD
Sportsbeat provides as news distribution service, on behalf of the England and Wales Cricket Board, to increase the coverage and profile of the England womens team.
Coverage took the form of previews and coverage and not only focused on players within the senior set-up but those graduating through the junior and academy ranks.
Our reporters produced more than 70 individual items of coverage were produced in season 2008 - across a range of client titles. See example coverage from the Cambridge Evening News, Sheffield Star and Bucks Free Press.
Case Study - UK SCHOOL GAMES
Since their inception in 2006, Sportsbeat have provided a news distribution service for the UK School Games – a high-quality multi-sport event for the most talented young people in the country of school age.
For the athletes competing at the UK School Games the unique atmosphere provided by this event encourages the highest levels of performance.
At the 2007 Games in Coventry there were 99 personal best performances in athletics, including one world junior record. Click on the links to see sample coverage - provided by our reporters - in Swindon Advertiser, Salford Advertiser and Athletics Weekly.
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Case Study - PARALYMPIC WORLD CUP
Sportsbeat provides a regional press service to event organisers Fast Track. The Paralympic World Cup is the biggest disabled sport event outside the Paralympic Games, drawing elite competitors from around the world. Sportsbeat's brief is to produce a news and picture distribution service with tailored editorial provided to all our regional titles - that has resulted in a number of back page and page leads for the event - all with prominent copy and picture branding - click on the links for examples from the Exeter Express and Echo and Colchester Gazette.
"Sportsbeat provide a first class service for the VISA PWC, supplying a top quality news feed to target international, national and regional media."
Steve Chisholm, Fast Track
Case Study - NORWICH UNION COMMUNITY ATHLETICS INITIATIVES
Sportsbeat provides a range of news distribution services to Hill and Knowlton on behalf of Norwich Union/Aviva - the principle sponsor of UK Athletics.
Focused on a number of initiatives - including Dame Kelly Holmes's 'On Camp with Kelly' scheme, in which talented middle-distance runners are mentored by the double Olympic champion, the School Sport Matters Awards, the Norwich Union Community Sport Fund, National School Sport Week and GirlsActive, which aims to get more school age girls involved with physical education.
From personality led columns with Dame Kelly and Olympic gold medallist Darren Campbell and tailored news stories - more than 200 individual cuttings were produced across a range of Sportsbeat's daily and weekly client titles in 2008, including Coventry Telegraph and Northampton Chronicle
Case Study - SKANDIA SAIL FOR GOLD REGATTA
Sportsbeat provided a regional press service to our newspaper clients on behalf of the organisers of the Skandia Sail for Gold regatta, the UK's major Olympic classes regatta.
Held at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, venue for the London 2012 Olympic regatta, the week-long event draws together Olympic sailors from around the UK and world.
Editors are provided with a bespoke words and picture package - mixing up event previews and reports with features and news stories.
More than 40 papers subscribed to this service in 2008 when the regatta followed a hugely successful Olympic campaign by Britain's sailors.
Case Study - LLOYDS TSB LOCAL HEROES/LONDON 2012
Lloyds TSB, the first sponsor of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, is funding 250 aspiring athletes every year on their personal Olympic journeys.
Coverage on each 'local hero' is syndicated to Sportsbeat's network of regional and local newspaper clients.
In addition access to ambassadors, such as Jonathan Edwards, Mark Foster, Ade Adepitan and Chris Tomlinson, is used to produce additional coverage.
See examples of our reporters coverage in the Middlesbrough Evening Gazette, Shropshire Star and Cambridge Evening News.
Case Study - TESCO U13 CUP
Sportsbeat provides a regional press service to PR agency Red Point. Our journalists followed the tournament from area, to regional, to national finals - with a brief to provide our client editors with copy relevant to their readership. See selected coverage in the News and Star, Lancashire Evening Post and South Wales Argus.
"Sportsbeat journalists delivered great results for the Tesco U13 Cup. They worked tirelessly to generate angles of interest to their client papers and their reporters and editors were buzzing with ideas to assist our coverage. The standard of their work can be measured by the size and quality of the cuttings book I was able to present to my clients."
Simon Crellin, Red Point
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Sportsbeat was retained by leading sailing PR specialists Into the Blue to provide an official events news service for the one of the biggest mass participation events in the UK sporting calendar. We produced coverage across a range of our regional and local titles, such as this interview exclusive with double Olympic champion Shirley Robertson in Scotland on Sunday.
"Sportsbeat are now part of any media planning we put in place for our clients in the future. Their excellent working relationship with national and local newspapers throughout the UK shows in the results they deliver. I was impressed with their efficiency and pre event planning. This added to their 'on the day' ability to both spot and react to breaking news and additional opportunities deliver outstanding results time after time."
Jo Grindley, Into the Blue
Case Study - SKANDIA COWES WEEK
Skandia, sponsors of the world's oldest sailing regatta, Cowes Week, wanted to reinforce their event title sponsorship across the regional press. As official press agency, Sportsbeat generated coverage in a raft of local and regional papers across the UK, including a number of front and back page stories.
"They not only did Sportsbeat met the objectives of the brief but they added value through developing additional opportunities. I have already signed them up for next year and I would have no hesitation in recommending them to others."
Jo Rimmer, Skandia
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Despite not being a title sponsor, presenting sponsor Aberdeen Asset Management, wanted to reinforce their links to the European Seniors Golf Tour's blue-riband event.
Sportsbeat supplied coverage to over 30 client papers and secured page leads in several leading titles, including Scotland on Sunday, Wales on Sunday and the Sunday Mercury. The branded service reached over five million readers.
"We contracted Sportsbeat to work across two major event properties and on both occasions the service generated significant branded press coverage for our clients.
"Sportbeat are a professional outfit with exceptional media contacts and an impressive stable of experienced sports journalists. I wouldn't hesitate to use them again on future projects - or recommend their service to others."
Tom Maidment, WSM Sport
Contact Details
News Associates / Sportsbeat
Tuition House
St George's Road
London
SW19 4EU
News Associates / Sportsbeat
111 Piccadilly
Manchester
M1 2HY
Tel: + 44 (0) 870 445 0156
Fax: + 44 (0) 870 445 0157