OUT TO SWIM – GUIDELINES FOR PUBLICISING OTS EVENTS
As an aquatics club, Out to Swim is very diverse. It has well over 400 members (as at September 2018) from different genders and ranging in age from early 20s to over 70. Members come from a range of ethnic backgrounds and, as with any group of individuals, with very different body shapes and sizes.
When publicising events that seek to promote Out to Swim, it is important that a realistic image of the Club is portrayed. This doesn’t mean that all members need to appear in every bit of promotional material for every event, but the aim should be to portray the Club accurately and to reflect a representative sample of the membership.
While it may be tempting to use photos of young, fit swimmers, that could convey the message that only the young and the beautiful need apply. Our branding should reflect our core values at all times: an inclusive swimming club welcome to people of all ages and backgrounds. All those seeing a flyer need to feel that they would be welcomed.
With this in mind, the following considerations should be taken into account when advertising or promoting Out to Swim – for example, advertising GLLAM or publicising social events. These guidelines apply to all public facing communications, including social media published under the OTS banner (this does not include postings from an individual’s account).
Consideration should be given to promoting events through neutral, non-personalised images.
Any images featuring the Club’s membership should aim to be as representative as possible.
Unless the event being publicised is aimed at a discrete section of the Club’s membership, for example men’s Water Polo, any publicity material should aim to demonstrate the diversity within the Club.
Demonstrating diversity may be difficult to achieve in a single publicity item, such as a photo or poster, so using a range of publicity items may be more appropriate and effective.
Particular care should be taken to avoid images that may inadvertently exclude or marginalise certain elements of the membership or the target audience, or that may cause offence.
Care should be taken to avoid using images that might convey an idealised and unrepresentative impression of the Club.
No images should be used that portray antisocial or illegal behaviour, that convey the Club in a negative light, or that might bring the Club into disrepute.
Those responsible for publicising events should ensure they obtain any necessary licences for external material and/or the consent of the OTS member(s) for internal images, and consent from the photographer.
Proposals to commission professionally taken photographs as a resource for publicising events must be agreed with the main OTS Committee.
Proposals to publicise internal events should be agreed by the relevant Sub-Committee for the Discipline in question. Proposals to publicise external events should be agreed by the main OTS Committee.
Out to Swim
September 2018