The Campaign

In Hong Kong where classroom learning dominates, resources for leadership development are extremely scarce. Opportunities are always reserved for a few academics, whose successes are always assumed. However, we realized there are even more potential leaders on the football pitch, where young people naturally demonstrate their leadership charisma. So why don’t we leverage on Football to cultivate the city’s future leaders? As Hong Kong’s largest social and welfare contributor, The Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) missioned itself to breed the city’s future leaders. Instead of traditional classes and lectures, we came up with the Jockey Club Youth Football Leadership Scheme, a first-of its-kind programme of leadership and community service training to Hong Kong’s youth, which better fostered and nurture leadership qualities in young individuals! Our campaign was an all rounded effort in nurturing young talents, focusing on technical, mental, and social aspects. It stressed on the importance of communication and experience. By teaching and inspiring them to communicate and appreciate, we transformed young football players to young football coaches, each shining their own and giving back to the society! Engaging them even further, we provided an once-in-a-lifetime experience that motivated them to learn even harder and equipped them with the cross-cultural exposure they needed as future leaders. With zero media spend, not only was our campaign successful in building affinity for our brand as a social benefactor, it also kick-started a sustainable project in growing and strengthening young leaders, bringing long-term impact to the society!

The Brief

Youth leadership development could only happen through shared experiences in which young people learn by doing. More than lectures, they needed to be involved in activities that could enhance their competence, communication skills, confidence and exposure. Most importantly, leaders need followers. We aimed to give youths a chance to apply their knowledge and self-reflect, through building their own team!

Results

The project groomed future leaders and won applause from the mass media! With ZERO media spend: - Generated HKD 12M free PR from local media with an estimated reach of 4.35M audience - In 3 months, the campaign generated over 8,000 shares/ likes on Facebook and our fanpage gained over 1,200 fans Most importantly, young leaders were equipped with essential skills that help them to shape Hong Kong’s future! Post campaign research showed that: - 98% participants enjoyed and had fun in the program - 100% agree that they can reapply leadership skills acquired - 100% will recommend the scheme to their peers - 95% believe the experience will benefit them lifelong “I really enjoyed it. It would be my dream to go to Manchester United. I want to learn how to be a good leader from the programme and to trust myself,” Vincent Li , 19, Youth Leader

Execution

54 youths aged 16 – 19 were selected to receive training in three specific areas – physical, mental and social. During the 3-month programme, they learnt elementary football coaching with our strategic partner Manchester United Soccer School. Unlike conventional training focused on “technical skills” and “discipline”, they learnt to “communicate” and “appreciate”! Also, in personality workshops conducted by renowned mentors like HK’s Olympic Gold Medalist Lee-Lai-Shan, participants were inspired to have faith in their own abilities and rise to the challenges. In subsequent community program, youth leaders went back to their home district and organized football activities for kids even younger than them. Applying what they have learnt, they demonstrated how they put their best foot forward – a self-reflective social learning experience! At the end, 6 best performers were awarded a trip to UK to participate MUFC’s community service, a truly eye-opening experience equipping the future leaders with global exposure!

The Situation

In Hong Kong, academic achievement determines the future of young people. Dreams are left for fictions and sports are merely leisure activities. Young people have no choice but to spend all their time preparing for exams. In fact, many of them may not be gifted to be world-class players but they possess the leadership charisma that could turn them into great leaders. However, in a society that strongly emphasizes on classroom learning, resources and innovative ideas for leadership development are extremely scarce. There was thus an opportunity for us to leverage on football to cultivate the city’s future leaders.

The Strategy

Our target audience is everyone in Hong Kong who is looking for inspiration to cultivate the cities’ next leaders. We also want the stories to be spread among young people as they realize there are chances that could see them flourish out of classrooms. Introducing “JC Football Leadership Scheme”, we delivered a first-of its-kind programme of leadership and community service training to Hong Kong’s youth. Combining football coaching, knowledge sharing, community servicing and cross-cultural exposure, we equipped youths with multiple leadership attributes that could not be taught in classroom or any conventional football training. The scheme also motivated HK youths to work hard for a dreams-come-true opportunity and be aspired to be future leaders! To engage even deeper, we would reward the best performers a trip to UK. In the new cultural setting, youth leaders would see how football could break language barriers and connect people from different cultures.