England Touch reshaping marketing and PR in 2017

England Touch will be changing its marketing and PR operations going in 2017 with a view of increasing the sport’s growth ahead of the 2018 European Touch Championships, which are being held in England.

Touch is already one of the country’s fastest growing participation sports, with nearly 20,000 people playing on a regular basis at either England Touch affiliated clubs or O2 Touch Centres. The new marketing and PR team will enable England Touch to work in this area more effectively, working with clubs, regions and national teams and helping to market tournaments to teams and the sport as a whole to new players, referees and coaches.

England Touch’s marketing and PR will be led by Chris Wearmouth, head of communications at Aviva Premiership club Northampton Saints and an active member of COYS Northampton Touch club, and over coming weeks he will be putting together a team of marketing officers and regional press officers that will help achieve the organisation’s overall aims.

“England Touch has grown massively as an association, with more clubs and more people playing the sport, and we want our marketing and PR to reflect this,” said Gregg Cropper, England Touch CEO. “We want the sport to continue to grow, which means that we need the wherewithal to tell the stories that are at every club across England, to ensure that all of our tournaments receive the coverage they deserve, and that we can build up towards hosting the European Touch Championships in 2018.

“The regional press officers will work to develop relationships with clubs, regional coaches and players, as well as relevant media outlets, while the marketing officers will work with tournament organisers and venues to promote competitions throughout the year, as well as give support to clubs as they look to expand themselves.

“What we’re doing with marketing and PR is just part of our wider development throughout England Touch, and we will be discussing this with our membership at February’s Annual General Meeting, which we encourage all of our clubs to attend.”

Anyone who would like to be a part of the marketing and PR team, especially as a regional press officer, can see the job outline and specification in the Vacancies section of the England Touch website.