Squash & Racquetball Innovation - Launching a New Sports Program
Squash & Racquetball Victoria Innovation Quick Win
Through the innovation mentoring support, we helped Squash and Racquetball fast-tracked the program’s development, the pilots and developed the systems, processes and resources to scale up the program across Victoria and Australia
Launching a New Sports Program
Squash and Racquetball Victoria have a passion for getting more teenagers physically active - especially in their sport. Squash and Racquetball GO is a 6-week program to get teenagers introduced to racquetball and squash, and either take the skills on to play socially or competitively.
WHAT IS THE QUICK WIN?
Squash and Racquetball Victoria’s received innovation seed funding to develop and launch a new program, Squash and Racquetball GO, that allows teenagers to get physically active and introduced to squash and racquetball as a social activity.Chase Consulting supported Squash and Racquetball Victoria with twelve-months of innovation mentoring to develop and launch its Go program and build innovation capability and capacity.
In the first innovation mentoring session, we develop the innovation project work plan and set the strategic direction for the program, which had laid dormant for six months.
In the first three months of innovation mentoring support, the GO Program was developed, we achieved the minimum viable product milestone. Plus, we were getting some very insightful market research from our target participants.
In the next three months, Squash and Racquetball Victoria expanded the pilots outside of their club network to include community and social groups. This approach was valuable in testing key messaging to teenagers with little awareness of squash and racquetball.
In the 6 to 12 months, Squash and Racquetball Victoria continued to test and pilot, making alterations to resources, updates to how they ran the program, and how they engaged with new participants.
The pilots provided many customer insights from the targeted participants. These insights were extremely valuable; as we discovered that that the original name was not resonating with the target audience, who were all new to squash. The program name was changed (pivoted) to Go and quickly received positive responses from the 12–17-year old’s in the community.
The new branding of GO! was a success and brought new interest to the program. For the first time, GO! had market pull with clubs and partners. Plus, all participants in the 6-week programs were retained in the sport.
WHAT WERE THE OUTCOMES AND IMPACTS?
In 12 months, Squash and Racquetball Victoria developed, tested, validated and began to scale-up their innovation, as part of the innovation mentoring support, they:- Launched a new innovative program within 12 months, reaching participants who are entirely new to the sport.
- Build a new brand, logo and messaging, which was more appealing to our target audience.
- Grew the awareness of the program across Victoria.
- Created a positive perception of physical activity with 12-17yr old’s in the community.
- Enhanced the focused-on participant engagement methods and the critical touchpoints for new participants.
- Helped change the perception of squash and racquetball.
- Develop new social media channels and matching social media handles which increased their social media reach and followers.
- Developed marketing automation campaigns.
- Created the business model for the GO! program.
- Developed the revenue cost model to ensure the program was financially sustainable.
HOW DID THIS FIT IN THE OVERALL STRATEGY?
Squash and Racquetball Victoria’s mission is to promote the sports of squash and racquetball as fun, healthy and progressive/accessible sports that can be enjoyed for life.The GO Program was co-designed and piloted with many Victorian clubs and community groups over 12 months of the innovation mentoring support.
Squash and Racquetball GO! has been developed as a 6-week social participation program. It’s a fantastic way to get teenagers introduced to racquetball and squash, and either take the skills on to play socially or competitively.
The GO program enables Squash and Racquetball Victoria to broaden its range program offering with an innovative social offering to reach teenagers. Its an exciting innovation to partner with their clubs, schools and facilities and help them grow the sport at the grassroots level.
Through the innovation mentoring support, we fast-tracked the program’s development, the pilots and developed the systems, processes and resources to scale up the program across Victoria and Australia.
“Craig from Chase Consulting helped us build Squash & Racquetball GO! as a viable and innovative product. Together we have been able to challenge the “normal sport program” concept and test our key messages to find the market sweet spot. Right from the start, Craig helped us to focus on the scale-up process with tangible resources and processes – so that now, we have been set up for future success”— MEREDITH HODSON – SPORT PROGRAM MANAGER, SQUASH AND RACQUETBALL VICTORIA
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