Universities inspiring Saudi youths through sports promotion

For the past decade, sports marketing and promotion in Saudi were mostly about generating revenue to increase sales. However, since the announcement of the Vision 2030 reform plans, sports marketing started to take another perspective, and a very challenging one. The goal became developing a “vibrant society with fulfilling lives” by promoting physical, psychological and social well-being for all citizens and residents.

As the famous quote by Bill Gates goes: “Content is King!” But we could use the version where Mari Smith adds, “but engagement  is queen.” Why? Because now if you are promoting and marketing sports for society, you need to get them engaged to get their input. 

And that is what the president of the Saudi Sports for All Federation Prince Khaled bin Al-Waleed did through the challenge. The new initiative designed to support the Vision 2030 goal to increase the number of individuals exercising at least once a week from 13 percent of the population to 40 percent by 2030. This is taking a new approach, through engaging Saudi universities and students for the first time.

The Sports for All Challenge program is sponsored by the Saudi Sports for All Federation, managed by EdVenture Partners. The federation invited Saudi universities to participate and according to Mary Scherer, project manager at EdVenture Partners, there are currently 18 active teams, who created local campaigns, products or tools that aim to increase interest and participation in community level and grassroots sports. 

The participating universities are: Dar Al-Hekma University, Majmaah University, University of Prince Mugrin, Prince Sultan University, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, Taibah University, Umm Al-Qura University, University of Ha’il, Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University and King Saud University. She said some universities have multiple programs to accommodate male and female sections.

Time is ticking and the top three finalists are scheduled to be announced on Dec. 20. Students are competing to attend the final presentation ceremony in Riyadh to present their campaign findings to the Sports for All Federation.

This event shows that the youth are becoming more interested in taking part in sport because the key to their imagination and creativity to come up with an idea remains in their hands. Believing in the role of corporate social responsibility here is crucial in making this happen. 

From my point of view, I don’t see it just as a challenge, but on a bigger scale, I see it as an uplift to help increase awareness among society. Hopefully, similar initiatives will continue to ensure health and fitness within our society.

For the curious minds, you can follow up on the challenge news through the program hashtag in Arabic (تحدي_الرياضة_للجميع#).

• Dr. Razan Baker is a member of the board of directors at the Saudi Bowling Federation, a specialist in corporate social responsibility in sports, and a sports columnist and journalist. Twitter: @RazanBaker