Dialogic is very familiar with the inner workings of the world of sport. Over the years, the agency has been the driving force behind numerous sports-related projects, including the famous Belgian Beach Volleyball Championships.
SOB: Special Olympics Belgium
Dialogic guides and supports Special Olympics Belgium, whose mission is to promote social integration through sport for people with mental disability.
In 2014, more than 2000 athletes with mental handicap, from over 58 countries in Europe, gave the best of themselves competing in 10 different sports: mark the European Summer Games of the Special Olympics 2014 in Antwerp. Dialogic contributed to the success of the European Summer Games by playing an active role in defining the image strategy and political and institutional contacts as well as contacts with sport personalities (ambassador Kevin De Bruyne), managing media deals and handling press relations during the event.
The agency was also involved in an upstream capacity on the ground, for example by raising awareness in the political world and among the ambassadors of the 58 participating countries (official meeting at the Egmont Palace). Dialogic also provided the information for all of the 50 towns, cities and municipalities in Belgium, aimed at setting up an ambitious welcome and reception programme for the athletes and their delegations, with 6000 volunteers on escort and guidance duties throughout the event.
Dialogic also provided assistance in drafting two memorandums, one to mark the local and provincial elections in October 2018 and the other for the federal and regional elections in May 2019.
URBAN YOUTH GAMES
The Urban Youth Games first saw the light of day in June 2019 in Molenbeek, following the thoughts of Jacques Borlée, after the tragic attacks of 22nd March 2016: “Organise an event that will promote the values of sport for pleasure, the idea of exceeding one’s own expectations, the quest for excellence – in a spirit of openness and diversity. These Games are also an invitation to encourage schools, local authorities and the media to think together about ways to forge this spirit of tolerance and solidarity as the salvation of future generations…”
The Urban Youth Games are aimed at pupils in 5th and 6th year at primary schools, making a total of 1500 children from 9 municipalities in Belgium, thereby guaranteeing representation from a range of very different profiles. Some of the participants come from the country, while other are from towns and cities. Some are better off than others. And their differences can also be seen from their use of language, religious beliefs and the political persuasions of their parents, etc.
The Games themselves are a meeting point, a celebration, a discovery, an experience. The opportunity for the children from different backgrounds to indulge in 10 of the country’s most popular sporting disciplines: athletics, basketball, cycling, football, field hockey, judo, swimming, tennis, jogging and cycle rides.
Dialogic assisted the Urban Youth Games in their communication programmes, more specifically to the press and other media.