Safe Sport 2026 is one of the clearest recent examples of the kind of work Ireland: does best.
Over the last year, we have been working alongside Safe Sport International to support the marketing, communications, content, brand and digital delivery for the conference — from strategy and campaign planning through to designing and building the conference website, creating the supporting content and assets, and delivering live social media support throughout the event itself.
The conference took place at the University of Cape Town from 25–27 May, bringing together global leaders, researchers, safeguarding experts, athletes, practitioners and organisations committed to advancing athlete safety through collaboration, research and global leadership.
Across the programme, the conference welcomed voices from across the international sport, safeguarding and integrity landscape, including organisations such as the IOC, FIFA, CAF, World Rugby, World Athletics, WADA, the International Testing Agency, the African Union Sports Council, SASCOC, the Olympic Refugee Foundation and many others.
It has been a real privilege for Ireland: to play a part in supporting such an important event.
Our role covered the full marketing and communications delivery for the conference — from strategy and planning through to website design and build, campaign development, content creation, print, digital assets and live event support.
That included developing the marketing strategy and plan, shaping the content strategy, building the campaign approach, and creating the written and visual content used to promote the event across multiple channels.
- It included designing and building the conference website, ensuring the programme, speakers, partners, registration information, travel guidance, conference updates and key messaging were presented clearly for both in-person and online audiences.
- It included conference branding and working with the creative team to develop a visual system that could work across a complex mix of partners, supporters, channels and formats — from the website and social media through to print, signage, digital screens, presentations, delegate materials and shareable digital assets.
- It included writing, designing, scheduling and publishing campaign content across LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and the Safe Sport Community platform — not just in the build-up to the conference, but live across the four days of activity, from arrivals and keynotes to panels, awards, partner moments, delegate stories and conference reflections.
- It also meant supporting the practical side of live content delivery: working with the on-the-ground teams from UCT, SSCN and AUSC, helping coordinate photographers and videographers, planning what needed to be captured, managing the use of image and video assets, and helping make sure the right content could be turned around quickly while the event was still unfolding.
Alongside the website and digital work, we also delivered print and physical event assets including banner stands, exhibition stands, delegate name badges and branded conference materials, as well as digital assets including PowerPoint templates, digital backgrounds and supporting graphics.
There were a lot of moving parts.
- Multiple organising partners.
- Multiple supporting organisations.
- Multiple audiences.
- Multiple channels.
- A hybrid international audience.
- A detailed programme, with additional activity around it.
- And a subject matter that needed to be handled with clarity, care and credibility.
That is where joined-up marketing matters.
For a conference like this, the brand cannot just sit in a folder. The strategy cannot just sit in a document. The content plan cannot just be a spreadsheet. The website cannot just be a holding page. And social media cannot just be a stream of last-minute updates.
Everything has to connect — the website, campaign messaging, visual identity, speaker promotion, partner recognition, live event coverage, print materials, delegate experience and post-conference communications.
But none of this happens in isolation.
Safe Sport 2026 was the result of a huge amount of work from Neal Anderson at Safe Sport International, alongside the organising and partner teams across SSCN, AUSC, UCT and the many volunteers, presenters and delegates who brought the conference to life in Cape Town.
Congratulations to Neal and everyone involved on what has clearly been a hugely successful and important conference.
From our perspective, we are simply fortunate to have played a part.
It was a privilege to support work with such purpose — and to help shape and share a conference built around one of the most important conversations in sport: how we build safer systems, safer cultures and safer experiences for everyone.
From an Ireland: perspective, Safe Sport 2026 was also a clear example of the model in action: senior marketing thinking, practical delivery, calm project management and the ability to move between strategy, website, content, creative, digital, print and live event support without everything falling into separate silos.
- Complex enough to need proper thinking.
- Collaborative enough to need trust.
- Important enough to matter.
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