The Power of Communication in Shaping a Successful Sports Career - Drew Barrand
By Chris Haynes
This month, the CIPR sports webinar is a conversation with Drew Barrand, Chief Executive of Aquatics GB.
His story is a rare, inspiring example of a self-labelled “Comms Guy” who sits at the top of a national sport, having started out in journalism before moving into agency, then the complex world of Governing Bodies.
And he credits this wide communications experience for helping him to understand, lead and develop a sport that has a high profile, delivers Olympic medals and is enjoyed by millions of people.
Our conversation gave fascinating insights into building a career in sport, the need for clear, simple messaging, and the value of using staff and stakeholders alongside athletes in spreading the word. Five key takeouts from the discussion, with CIPR Members Chris Haynes and Scott Dougal, covered:
His career path: “One of the big things was the importance of developing your network, the amount of people you could talk to. For me, those people are now at the very top of sport and I'm lucky that I've got some good friends and contacts who stayed with me all the way through. Having the variety of experiences, and seeing the industry from all those different angles, gives me an advantage in doing this job. It helps me to make decisions.”
Value of clear communication: “What's the core message? What's the timing? Why is it relevant now? How are you going to deliver it? Those are tricky, because the world is a very noisy place. What's the simple way of explaining your objective, your ambition, what you're trying to do? If you can't articulate that in a single sentence or handful of bullet points, you've got a fundamental problem. You need that central overlying narrative - the simpler the better. And what is the best format to deliver that; sometimes it might be an industry event, it could be a piece of social content, often video is the best way because it brings it to life, but it doesn't have to be the only way.”
Joining a Governing Body: “My biggest thought by far was just how small they were in terms of operation size. The one thing that always staggered was their size; just how much they deliver for such a small amount. The breadth of responsibility for governing bodies only seems to be increasing, and there's a level of scrutiny that that brings with it.”
Developing internal Culture; “We launched a new initiative called Open Doors; a mentorship scheme for athletes to shadow some of our employees. Initiatives like that bring the whole organisation together. It knitted the athletes into the infrastructure of the business. We're one team trying to drive the sport forward. We want to be doing more of those kinds of initiatives that bring the whole business together, the wider stakeholder group, and talk in a united way about how we're growing the sport and the impact we're having.”
Shared responsibilities: “Everybody is a mouthpiece. If there's something in the public domain, any employees or stakeholders could be asked a question and it's important we have a really clear and consistent message. When you talk about everyone being an advocate, I think how often everyone knows they have a responsibility to help the athletes win, to look after the pennies, put the money in the right place, about good governance, safeguarding. You want to make sure that with every stakeholder you've explained what you're trying to do and you've got the clear communication messages set. Take the time to explain it.”
Finally, his key advice for those wanting to grow in the sports industry: “Don't be afraid to talk to people, afraid to communicate, afraid to ask questions. Because the more you talk and the more you spend time with people, the better you will have a grasp of all the different levers. Sport is incredibly complex industry, shifting all the time. You’ve got to keep your head around that, have to be curious, have to ask questions.”
Drew Barrand – Chief Executive Officer
Drew is the Chief Executive Officer of Aquatics GB. He joined the organisation in May 2023, bringing more than two decades of management experience in sport, having worked in various roles across the sector with governing bodies and rights holders, brands and sponsors, and broadcasters and digital platforms.
Among his numerous roles and clients include working for Olympic Games Organising Committees, the Rugby World Cup, UEFA, FIFA, English Football League (EFL), Sky, Channel 4, Nickelodeon, Betfair, ASICS, Pentland Group and EA Sports.
18 months into his tenure, Drew has already overseen significant success within aquatic sport from an organisational rebrand from British Swimming to Aquatics GB; a best-ever Olympic and Paralympic performance at the Paris 2024 Games; to the signing of long-term broadcasting arrangements for the annual Aquatics GB Championships.
In the webinar, Drew describes three phases to his career so far. He started his career in journalism, with Marketing Week then SportBusiness and Haymarket. He then moved agency side, to Benchmark Sport as Head of Marketing and Communications then marketing communications agency Pitch. The move into governing bodies started as Marketing Director at the English Football league.
