Jo Foster – Physical Activity Manager, Macmillan Cancer Support
“Make Sport Fun have done a fantastic job. I don’t know anyone else who could have done it. John is the person I go to when I want a problem solved.
“In comparison to other leaders in physical activity social marketing they are the only one who has impressed me. They have delivered beyond expectation, on time and to budget – overcoming difficult obstacles that have been thrown their way.”
Elaine Thomas – Health Development Manager, Chichester District Council
“John’s passion and enthusiasm for the project is what convinced us to buy. His experience and knowledge impressed us, the project was very different to anything we have ever done locally before and after meeting with him, we thought its time to get innovative. As the front man of the organisation he does a cracking job, my contact with the rest of the team is usually by email but my queries are always answered quickly and efficiently so any concerns about Make Sport Fun being at arms length are long forgotten. The regular updates I had by phone at the start of the project left me confident that the project was being delivered well.
“As a public sector body with tight budgets we are under pressure to demonstrate outcomes and value for money so that was and still is very important, but at the same time we have the freedom to try new approaches and evaluate to get the best results. I think Make Sport Fun have demonstrated that we can do things differently and be a bit more ‘scientific’ about how we achieve our aims. I think that the flexibility we have shared in developing the project has enabled us to shape it into something very exciting and effective, especially with the Chichester active work now developing alongside.”
Lorna Leach – Coaching and Volunteering Officer, London Sport
“John is the fountain of knowledge about all things marketing sport to people. When I told the team you’d already done work in the exact area that we were working on they were convinced.”
Paul Jarvis – South East Region Development Manager – Physical Activity
“We know that whatever we offer, it has to be fun, easy and popular, or people won’t take part. The Promoting Activity Toolkit is the key: you can use it to understand who lives in your patch, and what they need, and then put high-quality promotional materials together to make it happen – all in one place. It takes the ‘hit or miss’ out of physical activity promotion”
Simon Badman – Communications and Knowledge Manager, Sport England
(Now Head of communications, YMCA England)
“John has a fantastic ability to mix great enthusiasm with superb subject knowledge. He has a track record for making things happen, firstly with Everyday Sport and secondly with the Promoting Sport Toolkit.
“John is great to work with as he always takes people with him, consulting widely and actively listening to both colleagues and customers alike. It is therefore not surprising that his projects have been so well received and acknowledged by the sporting community.” December 19, 2007
David Whitehouse – Partnerships Development Manager, Solihull MBC
“John is a prolific manager, combining drive and determination with a no-nonsense pragmatic approach.”
Darren Letford – Senior Olympics policy manager, Greater London Authority
“I think it’s incredible what Make Sport Fun have managed to achieve in such a short time.”
Traci Aina – Project Support Officer, Prevention & Wellbeing Commissioning Support for London
“An excellent service, great concepts and very attentive to our needs.”
Harriet Murrell – Go London Physical Activity for Health Co-ordinator-(South)
“Make Sport Fun have consistently delivered higher than expectation with a well developed knowledge and understanding of promoting and marketing physical activity. I wouldn’t hesitate in working with Make Sport Fun again in the future.”
Erica Rogers- PAN-WM Coordinator
“Well organised and thorough. Dealt with any problems that occured promptly!”
Sarah Quilty- Regional Physical Activity Manager, East Midlands
“Make Sport Fun have provided an excellent service and a fantastic tool in the promoting activity tool kit which adds value to the physical activity agenda. They have always works to tight deadlines and have provided first class communication. They are a pleasure to work with and I would highly recommend the service they provide.”
Jackie Brennan- British Cycling Recreation Manager NW Region
“Make Sport Fun have consistently delivered an excellent service in the physical activity and sport social marketing field. John has always been very responsive and adaptable when dealing with us which has made working with him an effective and enjoyable partnership. I wouldn’t hesitate to work with Make Sport Fun again!!”
Peter Ashcroft- Physical Activity Regional Lead, South West
“Like all good entrepreneurs John is constantly trying to improve his products by keeping in tune with what his customers say or do. He has a fantastic ‘can do’ attitude and is great ambassador for physical activity.”
Suzanne Gardner-Regional Physical Activity & Sport Co-ordinator, PAN-WM
“Make SportFun have excelled in providing innovative approaches to the challenges we face in promoting physical activity to organisations, communities and individuals. The promoting activity toolkit and the dedicated training and support that they have offered alongside it in the West Midlands is always appreciated. I wouldn’t hesitate in recommending them.”
Roz Coombs- Regional Physical Activity Coordinator, East of England
“The promoting activity toolkit is a useful resource that has been shared across the region via train the trainer sessions run by John Ainsworth of MakeSportFun and is widely used. Consistent updates to the materials are undertaken and welcomed by users, with user feedback addressed promptly to ensure its accuracy at a local level.”
Vicki Rutland- Business Development Manager, Sefton MBC Leisure & Tourism department
I use the Sport England communication promotional messages on all our marketing . As a result we have scored extremely well on numerous Quest assessments.”
Kaye Scott- Business Support Assistant, Northumberland Sport
“Make Sport Fun supplied us with the design and management of an electronic newsletter. We had used the software before with a previous supplier however always suffered some sort of problem either in the design or delivery. With Make Sport Fun the design process was fast and simple with all our ideas and preferences being taken on board and turned into something that looks good and works well. We have had no problems with any aspect of the enewsletter software. Customer service was brilliant througout, even the final tweaks that needed doing (as with any new template) were done quickly. Thank you for providing us with a product that works and for delivering it with a customer service that is second to none.”
Karen Keohane- National Programme Manager, Street Games
“It was great working with Make Sport Fun as I had every confidence that they would deliver what they said they would and they did -with a bit more!”
Gill Davison- Senior Community Recreation Officer, East Riding of Yorkshire Council
“We have benefited a great deal from the work that Make Sport Fun did for us. We might not have had the response we were anticipating but we have gained an insight into the types of activities over 50’s are interested in and now have a database of people who we can contact with new activities. The marketing workshop John delivered was very well received and hopefully our leisure sites can start to think about how to promote activities to over 50’s and what messages to use.”
Jacquetta Fewster- Walking for Health Project Manager, Macmillan Cancer Support
“John goes the extra mile”.
Testimonials from training workshops
Ann Bewley – City of York Council
“Plenty of practical ideas we’ll take away and put to good use!”
Rachel Davies – North Yorkshire Sport
“Very fun, relaxed and informative”
Rob McLean – Go London Physical Activity for Health Co-ordinator
“The training from Make Sport Fun was educational, fun and interactive. The attendees clearly enjoyed it and left the room with a good all round understanding of the ‘Promoting Activity Toolkit’ and how to use it.”
Andy Pidduck – Marketing & Travel Awareness Manager, Transport for London
“Make Sport Fun ran a copywriting workshop for our team. It was insightful and was delivered clearly and creatively. Top marks!”
Jan Shaw- Physical Activity Manager, Active Gloucestershire
“The workshop really brought the communication plans and toolkits to life. It will help us be more strategic in our future planning for delivery. Thanks – Jan”
Chris Gregory- Physical Activity Manager, Bucks Sport
“Make Sport Fun worked with us to strengthen and support the marketing strategy we have developed for the Reactivate Bucks programme. By making our partners aware of the Make Sport Fun tools and how they aligned with the Reactivate campaign we have been able to demonstrate its value to our partners. The practice examples they have collated from projects across the country bring the ideas to life and will enable our partners to better market Sport and Physical Activity programmes to the residents of Buckinghamshire.”
Hannah Sprake- Sports Projects Officer, Active Surrey
“Make Sport Fun delivered three great presentations at our club forums which attracted more people to attend then last year. One attendee commented, ‘I learnt more in the hour marketing session tonight than in numerous previous sport related forums’.”
Judith Scott- PR & Marketing Executive, Freedom Leisure
“John delivered two excellent segmentation workshops, the feedback from staff has been very positive. Thank you.”
Ben Philip- Operations Manager, Scottish Student Sport
“John delivered a great session for us on engaging the inactive during our annual Conference. It was run as one of multiple breakout options and the session by Make Sport Fun was the busiest session of the day.”
Jules Twells- Project Officer, EFDS
“I was impressed with John’s knowledge, enthusiasm and professionalism – I would definitely use Make Sport Fun again to develop and deliver workshops.”
Jonathan Hearn- Sports Development Manager – Progression, Westminster Sports Unit
“I’d consider Make Sport Fun to be experts in the field of sports marketing and it was a joy working with John Ainsworth.”
Phil Rumbelow- Chief Executive, Jubilee Hall Trust
“A highly professional and informative training session which was carefully tailored to the needs of the managers present. Everyone attending learned about new techniques and sources of information that they could put to practical use. “
Amanda Ford- Head of Sport & Physical Activity, Winchester City Council
“Really useful workshop with lots of top tips on how to successfully engage with people who are keen to get active.”
Matthew Hudson- Luton Childhood Obesity Programme Manager
“Brilliant insight to social marketing and segmentation”
John Mann- Chairman and UNISON branch organiser at Camden Sports Council and UNISON
“I would be happy to recommend the seminar to colleagues”
Mike Beasant- Coach and Secretary at Highams Park Coaching Centre
“Succinct. Direct and to the point. Excellent and thought provoking, which will benefit our marketing within 4 weeks.”
Louise Taylor- Health Development Manager, NHS Ealing
“It’s given me an opportunity to think how I can use this information locally.”
Stefan Harpes-Pryce- 5 Hour Offer Assistant, ProActive West London
“A good overview of how to reach target audiences and get them engaged.”
Abi Howes- Workplace Health Promotion Practitioner, NHS Great Yarmouth & Waveney
“I found this seminar extremely useful as it was to the point & specific! I have never heard of promotingactivity.com but will be using it in the future as well as inform my colleagues about it.”
Kelly Morgan-Pugh – Physical Activity & Inclusion Officer, Active Surrey
“Very good to have the opportunity to hear other people’s experiences and how projects worked in practice.”
Rizwan Aboo-Street League
“Great seminar, it has given me more tools to work with to really increase participation.”
Sarah Davies-Registrar in Sport & Exercise Medicine, Imperial Hospitals NHS Trust
“Informative, enthusiastic, practical approach to gaining insight into how to get your local community moving”
Tim Fitches- Natural England
“Presented a well-consolidated guide to organising physical activity interventions, with a number of very good examples. It was well-researched and well-delivered.”
Gemma Davey- NHS Havering
“Everyone in the field has much to gain from better understanding social marketing concepts. This seminar has provided clear, succinct information that has built my confidence in being able to go away and utilise the great free tools. “
Holly Gilbert- NHS Norfolk
“The case studies were very interesting and it acted as a really helpful reminder of steps not to miss when marketing initiatives.”
Becky Pheasey- Fit as a Fiddle
“I have heard about a lot of the different elements that were discussed but the seminar helped pull it all together in a cohesive and structured way and gave lots of useful information and examples about where to go to start putting together more effective, targetted campaigns. It was also very useful to hear other participants experiences.”
Amy Esser- The Futures Company
“The examples you gave around each point were thought provoking and really helped bring the presentation to life.I also think it was good asking participants to share any examples they had.”
Corinne Garrod- Leisure development officer, Merton Council
“As I have recently started in my role, I have found this seminar to be very useful ways of marketing and a bid I am currently putting together.”
Rebecca Morgan- Darlington Council
“Excellent information sharing, relevant and well-structured. Thank you”
David Marrin- Tyne & Wear Sport
“The workshop was very interesting and the delivery style was excellent. It has given me many useful ideas for promoting sport and physical activity in the future. Thank you!”
Cass Elbourne- Redstone Tennis Club
“I liked the format. We were given the necessary information and then actively engaged, in real time, with people focusing on the same communication challenges.”
Jenna Palmer- Partnership Development Officer, Cornwall Sports Partnership
“This morning’s workshop really was useful and I am much happier about the whole purpose of social media in our work now – thank you!”
Dan Pyrah- North East Lincolnshire Council
“A very cost effective way of getting access to experts on marketing without having to travel.”
Bob Laventure- Active Ageing
“The case studies provided excellent practical examples of how these techniques could be used in a practical way”
Carol Bilton- Regional Officer, Badminton England
” I found the training inspirational and now can’t wait to get my own page set up. The case studies were also useful in showing how much can be done and even how small an action can have results.”