Purpose: As the popularity of social media increases, sports brands must develop specific strategies to use them to enhance fan loyalty and build brand equity. The purpose of this paper is to explore how two social media platforms were utilised by the Grand Slam tennis events to achieve branding and relationship marketing goals. Design/methodology/approach: A content analytic design was employed to examine Twitter and Facebook posts from the official accounts during, and post-, each respective event. Findings: Both sites were utilised to cultivate long-term relationships with fans and develop brand loyalty, rather than to undertake short-term marketing activations. However, these sites appear to serve a different purpose, and therefore unique strategies are required to leverage opportunities afforded by each. Interestingly, brand associations were utilised more frequently during the post-event time period. Practical implications: This study offers practitioners with useful insight on branding and relationship-building strategies across two social platforms. These results suggest that strategies appear dependent on the event, timeframe and specific platform. Moreover, the events’ differences in post use and focus may also indicate some differences related to event branding in an international context. Furthermore, sport organisations should look to leverage creative strategies to overcome limitations that platform-specific functionality may impose. Originality/value: This study offers unique insights brand-building efforts in an international event setting, which differ in a range of contextual factors that impact on social media utilisation.

This case study reviews strategies for identifying, establishing and influencing sport team culture and leadership, based on Edgar Schein’s three-level theoretical model of organizational culture integrating artefacts, values and beliefs and core assumptions. Specifically, we examine the success of a professional rugby team in New Zealand, the 2014 ITM Cup champions, the Manawatu Turbos. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with past and present coaches (N = 3) and captains (N = 3). Key findings include the need to formally recognize culture, including establishing and reinforcing values, as a tangible element of sport team management practice. A flat organization structure has helped facilitate a suitable environment for collective leadership to flourish. Implications for sport and business teams are the need to acknowledge culture as a core component, and conduct a culture audit to establish the current and desired culture through an aligned combination of informal and formal transformational leadership.

Background: Solo—being intentionally solitary in nature—is receiving growing attention as a valuable outdoor education program component. Its practice and history have been researched in the context of experiential learning, but few studies have explicitly examined how solo experiences can affect dimensions of well-being. This study investigated a broad range of well-being pathways provided by being solo, based on data from Norway, Germany, and New Zealand. Methods: Using qualitative content analysis (QCA), the solo debrief responses of 40 participants (26 females, age: 19–64 years) were analysed, applying the PERMA-V framework (emotions, engagement, relationship, meaning, achievement, and vitality). Variations in the reports were explored as a function of the national sample, gender, age, prior solo experiences and expectations. Results: The study suggests that hedonic and eudemonic well-being pathways, represented by the six PERMA-V pillars, interrelate strongly. The experience of a range of positive emotions and connecting process during solo highlights two of the most frequent findings related to well-being pathways. The secondary findings suggest minor variations in the well-being pathways for the different national samples, gender and age. Expectations and prior experiences with solo were identified as context factors with minor impact. Further, the data-driven analysis identified specific physical activities, landscape features, sense-activation, perception of time and ‘good’ weather as relevant to the specific experience. Conclusions: Solo experiences provide for well-being-related pathways in a multitude of ways, which highlights the well-being potential of solo implementation across practical fields beyond outdoor education, such as wilderness therapy, and environmental and planetary health initiatives. Future studies should continue to explore solo’s well-being potential in different settings, especially in the context of non-Western samples.

The purpose of this case study research, was to explore how Queensland Rugby League (QRL) used their Facebook brand page the “Queensland Maroons” and incorporated livestreaming throughout the 2017/2018 State of Origin seasons. Specifically, this sought to understand managerial perspectives regarding interactive advertising within digital sport marketing strategy encompassing live streaming and the extent to which it may impact fan engagement. This research utilized a multimethod case study approach involving a content analysis of Facebook, complemented by two semi-structured interviews with the organizations digital staff. The findings revealed live streaming can be an engaging proposition when it provides exclusive content that allows the fan to experience authentic insights into the rituals and traditions of their favorite sport team and athletes in real-time. Furthermore, three unique management live streaming experiences were identified: planning, organization, and delivery (POD) and as a response, a conceptual (POD) model has been created, which re-evaluates the opportunities for fan engagement adapted from previous research findings (Haimson and Tang, 2017; Naraine and Karg, 2019). This model is important for sport organizations when considering livestreaming, as there may be unique opportunities to focus on interactive advertising and thus, develop awareness and the fan-to-fan and fan-to-athlete/sport organization/team relationship.

This paper provides an auto-ethnography or narrative of self related to the development of international experiential education programmes in nature developed by Vacation School Lipnice (VSL) in the Czech Republic. The paper provides the cultural background that influences the course design and provides examples, through participant observation, of the international development of VSL's Intertouch courses over the past decade (1997–2007). VSL is a non-profit, non-governmental organization of about 100 active members—volunteers coming from all over the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and other countries. Since 1991 VSL has been a member of Outward Bound International, a global experiential education organization. The aim of the VSL courses is to provide ways for further development of the capacities of body and mind using the ‘dramaturgy’ approach to course design, which brings together the distinct elements of art, music, drama and adventure. Courses consist of body-and-mind challenging activities, creative art workshops, discussions and contemplations. Dramaturgy goes beyond traditional interpretations of adventure training, allowing for the integration and balance of physical, social, creative and reflective/emotional ‘waves’ that can change according to the needs of the group. The concepts presented aim to provide examples for creative programming practice and applications to develop more holistic outdoor and experiential courses for youth and adults globally.