IIT led a consortium of partners to form a sports equipment exchange scheme that collects donated good quality, preloved sports equipment and redistributes it to Tasmanian youth – mostly in disadvantaged communities and to people with a disability so they can access sports opportunities.
Image above is of 8 year old Lily who is blind and loves to try lots of different sports.
Sadly, often these equipment donation drives are conducted by organisations that send the items to the mainland or overseas, so local people are often excluded from these schemes which compounds the issue of playing sports just because of the lack of access to equipment.
The initiative was pitched to the Sports Minister Nic Street MP and was successful in gaining a grant to launch a pilot.
The initiative was instigated in 2022 by IIT, with three other like-minded organisations coming on board to help realise its full potential, including;
• Variety – The Children’s Charity of Tasmania
• Reclink Australia – Tasmania
• The Salvation Army – Communities for Children
The objectives and benefits of the scheme include:
• Address major barriers: Eliminating the cost of equipment.
• Inclusion and belonging: Enabling participation in sports and connecting youth and disabled people to their communities at deeper levels and in ways that are not possible through other avenues Also expanding support networks on many levels.
• Recycling and environmental sustainability: Kids outgrow their sports gear very quickly, and some explore multiple sports before focusing on one. The accumulation of equipment they no longer need/want is often left unused or disposed into landfill.
• Foster social coherence and awareness: This initiative encourages children to think about others who are less fortunate and/or live with a disability which opens their eyes to appreciate what they have and how the act of donation can change someone’s life.
• Promote an active lifestyle: Both youth and people with a disability gain the social, physical and mental health benefits of participating in sports and recreation.
The brief that IIT helped to realise:
One of IIT’s unique benefits of working in the inclusion space is to launch our own innovations as well as help other organisations, by consulting and producing high-quality marketing and media materials to amplify levels of community engagement in a communications sense.
The need and opportunity with the Game Changer initiative were to create an identity and communications tools for the scheme that looked contemporary, and unique and were engaging to both the youth cohort and the broader sports clubs and organisations in the landscape.
There’s often a major hurdle to getting the target audience to engage, as many have a healthy scepticism to what the intent of so-called ‘give-away’ schemes is and how they will be treated through the customer journey.
So the approach needed to convey an inclusive, professional, and sustainable program so that donating clubs, organisations and individuals we’re confident the scheme would effectively distribute their items to where they would have the highest impact.
Also, from the receiver’s perspective, it ensures being seen and known as a ‘safe’ way to make their request for items while experiencing empathy and understanding both on a sport and recreation, and human level.
IIT not only led the formation of the scheme but employed the skills of a Graphic Designer to take on the brief, which included the formation of:
• Brand & Identity Solution
• Communications Tools (digital and print)
• Signage & Merchandise (for scheme volunteers and donation beneficiaries)
• Social Media Assets (targeting a range of audiences)
The creative strategy and solution:
The overall approach to the branding and marketing materials was to appear like a mainstream sports brand and program, so we saw the quality of the creative work needed to be an essential part of the overall approach.
Hence, the engagement of an experienced graphic designer was a critical strategy to obtain the outcomes needed. The work was required to appeal to youth in identifying with, and being attracted to, a contemporary looking sports identity that gave them a sense of pride, and not feel devalued in the process of accepting donated items.
The creative approach has several key aspects to its overall solution, including:
• A logo and icon that’s ‘sharp’ and confident, while graphically expressing the cyclical nature of reusing items.
• Using bold opposing colours with an energetic, positive sports feel.
• Choosing typography with a sense of moving forward with confidence.
• Selection and colourisation of images to create consistency and identification on a sport, age and gender level.
• Ease of application to a range of materials and media.
• Identification of merchandise items that are both practical and have high visibility (stand out in a crowd) when seen in use across the community.
Impact and contact information:
It’s predicted the scheme will benefit over 100 families each year.
Anyone can contact the coordinating group through the registration page with offers of donations, and the team will assess the best way to obtain the items and then distribute them accordingly.
Visit the registration page here:
