Marina Logacheva

incon v e r s at ion

People

SportsNation speaks to Marina Logacheva, the disability sports lead for marketing agency, Make It Matta. As well as working with some of the world’s leading sports brands and organisations, the agency has recently focused on promoting disability sport

What is Make It Matta and what does it do?

It’s a creative agency for sport and lifestyle brands. We specialise in brand creation, creative campaigns and social content. We help international governing bodies & clubs promote their sport from elite to grassroots and deliver meaningful activations for their sponsors. We enable brands to stand out in the noisy world of sport, cutting through and creating commercial value.

Who have you worked with previously?

It’s a wide range. From Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea Women and the English football, cricket and rugby teams to golf organisations and a number of high-level events – such as The ATP Tour, UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 and two Cricket World Cups. We’ve helped to sell tickets to top- tier sports competitions and events around the globe. Rights-holders and governing bodies at the top of the game see us as a go-to partner.

Most recently we worked on the ICC T20 Men’s World Cup, launching it in the USA, we created the global ad campaign, all branding and even the official anthem with Sean Paul.

On the brand side we have launched seasonal retail campaigns for Armani (EA7), positioned the Gilbert brand, run global campaigns for charities such as Movember, Cancer Research UK and introduced lifestyle brands such as Clinique to sport for the first time.

You also worked on the Lionesses brand for the FA?

Back in 2015 we helped the FA to turn the “England Women’s football team” into the “Lionesses”. While brands like that don’t take off overnight, it’s been fantastic to see that become a household name, over the years.

More recently, in 2021 we developed a new consumer-facing brand for the FA called “England Football”, to represent all levels of the sport. Over the course of the 18-month project we created a full “brand world”, including a redrawn crest, consisting of a male lion, female lioness and a lion cub to also represent the women’s and youth element of the game.

The England Football logo and brand suite represents a greater inclusivity across the English game, and reflects a broader, modernised version of English football to support all of its grassroots activity.

You’ve recently developed campaigns focusing on disability sports. Could you give some examples?

We recently worked with indoor cycling specialist, Wattbike, on their campaign “For Real Athletes”. It was our first campaign to feature athletes with disabilities.

The brief was to flip the traditional fitness advert on its head to show the ‘real’ side of getting and keeping fit around other commitments. How life gets in the way and how not everyone has the perfect, home-built gym in which to train. Built on the insight that if you’re buying an elite training product, you’re dedicated to your fitness, not your Instagram.

The idea was to show how getting fit can be messy and it doesn’t happen in a silo. It fits around life – real life. Serving up a very British antidote to a category awash with pristine portrayals of home fitness, Wattbike’s campaign shows real people working out after a long shift, squeezing in a session before breakfast or while taking care of their children, and while borrowing an ironing board as a makeshift laptop stand.

People

We also worked on the G4D Open – an event for world’s most talented golfers with disabilities organised by R&A – which took place this year in May at Woburn, launching a new trophy and brand identity.

Meanwhile, working with the Centre for Sport and Human Rights (CSHR) and the International Olympic Committee, we created an anti-discrimination film about the importance of inclusion for Paris 2024. It featured volunteers and athletes with disabilities and talking about their inclusion in the film.

Where did the motivation to work in disability sport come from?

At Make It Matta, we believe that sports have the power to change people and communities for the better. We are passionate about making brands and campaigns matter to more people, more often by engaging audiences with our unique and creative processes.

Our founders realised that disability sports is sadly an overlooked and underfunded area within the industry. They decided to create a disability sports lead role that is focused on creating a change in the industry, to create a difference in the lives of people with disabilities and to showcase to the industry overall that disability sports is the next “BIG thing”.

My marketing background always inspired me to look on the bright side, and seek solutions for challenges

It has a great potential to achieve within the next few years what women sports achieved over the last decade.

As a disabled wheelchair athlete myself (I do handcycling) I know first hand that there are multiple barriers to participation in sports, such as inaccessible facilities. There is also a general lack of understanding how simple changes – like an extra big bin in the toilet, a support from a PT in the gym or a ramp with a proper angle – can make a massive difference in a disabled person’s life.

My marketing background always inspired me to look on the bright side, and seek solutions for challenges. That is why I was so excited to join Matta and lead our disability sports focused projects.

As a team we would like to have an impact, and improve disability sport participation and viewership by creating programs, campaigns and projects to influence systemic change. We’re keen to support various initiatives to drive this change, from creating partnerships between sport federations, charities and disability sports clubs to creating campaigns with brands, ultimately widening the prospects for disability sports within the industry.

I also believe that investing in disability sports can become a sustainable and profitable opportunity for any brand, it needs to be done strategically and purposefully, not only as a tick box for a CSR program.

How important is it to support those with disabilities to get physically active?

In the UK, disabled adults are almost twice as likely to be physically inactive compared to non- disabled people (43% vs. 23%). This disparity highlights the pressing need for targeted support and accessible opportunities for physical activity. Moreover, 76% of disabled people – according to Activity Alliance – express a desire to be more active, but barriers such as lack of accessibility, cost, and limited awareness of available opportunities often hinder their participation.

Encouraging and facilitating participation in sports can also help reduce these inequalities and promote inclusivity. It’s not just about health; it’s about ensuring everyone has the chance to enjoy the social and psychological benefits that come with being active, creating a sense of belonging and community. With a growing recognition of these issues, initiatives aimed at making sports more accessible are crucial for building a more inclusive society.

GETTING IT RIGHT

Marina Logacheva offers her 5 top tips to those looking to help disabled people get more active:

Ensure Accessibility: Make facilities and programmes physically and communication-wise accessible. Offer affordable or subsidised options to remove financial barriers. Remember, people with disabilities are often coming with carers, friends and/or their family members, so it is important to plan your venue pricing models well, to accommodate for this as well. Recently a big outlash was regarding the Wembley arena, where only a few hundred tickets are available for disabled people and most really struggled to purchase the event tickets due to the very long phone queue.

Tailor Programs and Collaborate: Create adaptable activities that cater to different abilities. Provide coaching to staff about disability and encourage people to learn from people with disabilities, not from the textbook.

Promote Inclusion: Feature people with disabilities in marketing campaigns to showcase inclusive practices and encourage wider participation.

Seek Feedback: Regularly gather feedback from your clients with disabilities and adapt and improve.

Work with experts who understand inclusion: People with disabilities know first-hand what are the pain-points and what are the issues that need to be improved. Try to look for partners that have people with disabilities as a part of their team. By working with partners like this, you will create more authentic and insightful campaigns and projects.