Ian McClelland Assists With Soccer Project For Girls In Indonesia
It was the surprise of the evening – and a triple surprise at that: as last September’s Management Meeting 2010 came to an end, Bertelsmann CEO Hartmut Ostrowski asked three top executives to step up on stage. He then announced, amid the applause of the other congress participants, that they had been selected to work for a week or two, on the ground, for a project run by an international relief organization. The relief organization has projects ongoing in 48 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
This, Ostrowski said, would show that social responsibility isn't just codified in the Essentials, but is alive and well at Bertelsmann. No sooner said than done: after months of preparation, the first of the three Bertelsmann executives has now traveled to the project he was assigned to. Last Tuesday, Ian McClelland, Senior Vice President New Media at RTL Group in Luxembourg, arrived in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, where he is helping out with a soccer project for girls. He has since contacted BeNet to share his first impressions.
“The day after arriving in Jakarta, I visited the school, ‘SMK N 36’ in the city’s northern port area,” says McClelland. “It’s a technical trade school with a focus on IT and seafaring. The children and teens all wear uniforms – and they’re very proud of their school. It might not be well equipped by European standards, but everything’s in excellent condition. A reception committee of eight students actually saluted us when we drove into the school grounds!“ The Director, with whom McClelland talked at length afterwards, calls on his children and his staff to be online as often as possible, to write blogs and use social networks. The online realm happens to be the British Bertelsman’s specialty, and he now plans to put his expertise at the service of a good cause.
In his case the cause is soccer – for girls. In October 2010, Indonesia became the fourth county (after Brazil, Ghana and Togo) where the relief organization has started a soccer project for girls in the past four years. Here, some 375 girls in the capital of this Asian country with a population of over 230 million are encouraged to pursue their love of soccer while at the same time learning self-confidence and a sense of self-worth. Participants openly discuss and deal with issues such as teenage pregnancy, AIDS and domestic violence. The projects are especially important for the girls, who otherwise are frequently discriminated against. Because the approach has proven so promising, and its aim is to reduce violence at schools in general, there are now programs for boys as well.
“Soccer is the number one sport in Indonesia,” explains McClelland, who did detailed research on the country and especially on the project before traveling to Indonesia. “But violence is a big problem in schools (like) here in Jakarta,” he adds. “By promoting soccer in partnership with teachers and members of school committees, The organization is starting out by helping to curb the violence at 15 schools.” And it can really use the support of the RTL Group manager in its efforts, because beyond soccer coaching and workshops, the project also includes creating a brochure and a Web-based network where girls and boys can chat about soccer. Ian McClelland, who just celebrated his 37th birthday in Indonesia last Saturday, is the right man for the job, given his experience in the field of new media. Before joining RTL Group to supervise strategic projects for Internet, interactive and mobile TV, broadband and all future platforms, he worked at Turner Broadcasting, where he also gained experience in online, IPTV, Video on demand, mobile and new technologies.
The girls and boys and teachers at SMK N 36 listened with great interest as the RTL Group executive presented the group’s activities to them. “There was a burst of enthusiastic applause when I mentioned that we’re the ones behind the ‘Indonesian Idol’ format,” grins McClelland. He also explained why the Social Media are becoming more and more important for businesses. “But mainly I presented my ideas for how the soccer girls can advertise their project and recruit sponsors,” says McClelland, who has given a lot of thought to how he can contribute his expertise and contacts to the project.
Specifically, he wants to make it possible for the soccer teams to cultivate Facebook fan pages, where they can post texts, match results, pictures and videos – all via smartphone. As he explained to BeNet. “I’ve approached Facebook about this and they promised to give me full support.,” says McClelland. “I’m also in close contact with the London-based Internet agency Sports New Media, which would design the Facebook pages for free and provide all the soccer teams with an app that would let them update their respective Facebook pages,” says McClelland. The executive also reports that two smartphone manufacturers have indicated their willingness to donate a number of smartphones to each team of the project in Jakarta.
Facebook users can select their favorite team and support it with a small annual fee. This lets them choose to have the soccer team’s updates displayed on their own Facebook page; all of their friends are also automatically invited to become fans of this or some other team in the project. “The principle is similar to that of a regular soccer fan club,” McClelland explains, “but this is only for girls – and about using social networks to add fans.” Any fees collected go directly to the relief organization to assist with future funding of girls’ soccer projects.
“What we’re doing here in Jakarta will later serve as a blueprint for other schools in Indonesia,” McClelland says enthusiastically. He was able to witness the girls’ soccer skills first-hand when he joined them on the pitch for a practice match following his visit to “SMK N 36.” “And if the idea of recruiting fans and funds on social networks works out, we want to present it to the soccer projects in Ghana, Togo and Brazil as well."
