An Evaluation of Legacy from the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games: Post Games Report

5. Civic Pride and Reputation Legacy

5.1 This chapter sets out the evidence to date that helps answer the following question set out in the Pre Games Report:

What effect have the Games had on civic pride and international reputation?

5.2 Both the national and city Legacy plans contained aspirations that the profile generated by the successful delivery of a major multi-sports event would contribute to an enhancement of Scotland and Glasgow’s international reputation. A successful Games, accompanied by widespread new opportunities to volunteer, was also hoped to play a role in increasing civic pride and engagement.

5.3 This chapter distils the available evidence on Scotland and Glasgow’s international reputation and civic pride since 2008, and the potential contribution of the Games.

The wider evidence base

5.4 There is a limited evidence base on the effect of hosting a major multi sports event on international reputation. The evidence review found some empirical evidence that the international perception of host places as tourist destinations and places to do business has been enhanced post Games.

5.5 The evidence review also finds that media coverage is fundamental to how an event is perceived. Translating this media opportunity into a positive reputational boost requires the delivery of a successful event, embraced by the people of the host city and nation. Harnessing this potential boost for any long term reputational change requires a long term approach to place branding that is linked to the host place’s wider social and cultural environment.

5.6 The review also found while there is much written on the link between major sporting events and civic pride, the literature contains few empirical studies that have addressed the question. This limited literature finds some evidence that events can create a ‘feel-good’ boost in civic pride and community participation during and in the immediate aftermath of the event.

Glasgow 2014 Legacy Investments and Programmes

5.7 Figure 5.1 below presents a distillation of the key activities (both delivery of a successful games and national and city legacy programmes); their outputs and the outcomes to which this activity was intended to contribute. A successfully delivered event with a wide global audience combined with specific international marketing and business networking events were intended to contribute to an enhanced international reputation for Glasgow and Scotland. A host of Games related community participation events, extensive volunteering opportunities, the Culture Programme, Queen’s Baton Relay and ceremonies and the excitement of the Games themselves were hoped to contribute to outcomes of increased civic pride and participation.

Figure 5.1. Key civic pride and reputation legacy interventions

Evidence to date of Games Effect

International Reputation

5.8 The Games achieved a wide global broadcast audience across Africa, Americas, Asia, Caribbean, Europe and Oceania. More than 30 individual broadcasting rights deals ensured a wider international coverage than any previous Commonwealth Games. The Games were broadcast across the Commonwealth, and, for the first time, daily highlights packages were shown by the CBS Sports Network in the USA and TV Asia – widening the global audience.

5.9 It is estimated that the global audience reached by the Games was 1.5 billion worldwide through a range of international television and radio channels.

5.10 Broadcasters Audience Research Board (BARB) figures indicate over 35 million people in the UK watched the Games – 61% of all TV viewers in the UK.^[60] This was higher than the audience for previous Commonwealth Games in Delhi and Melbourne. In Scotland, 78% of TV viewers watched the Games (3.6m people).

5.11 This picture of high interest and positive images of the Games, the country and Glasgow is also reflected within social media with 3.2 million mentions of the Commonwealth Games and associated keywords between the 14 July and the 6 August 2014. The Glasgow2014 website had 25.8 million page views over the 12 days between the 23 July and the 3 August 2014 from 228 countries.

5.12 Evidence from a range of sources^[61] shows Glasgow residents did embrace the Games, and the majority were supportive of the Games coming to Glasgow and anticipated lasting benefits.

5.13 A high global and domestic broadcast audience, viewing the delivery of a successful Games that were embraced by the host city residents, suggests conditions were created for a positive boost to international reputation.

5.14 The Nation Brands Index (NBI) is the key source of evidence on Scotland’s international reputation. Data for Scotland has been collected since 2008. The overall evidence from the NBI is that international perceptions of nations are, in the main, remarkably stable and small shifts in score are considered evidence of a change in reputation.^[62]

5.15 The NBI measures international reputation on six dimensions: exports, governance, culture, people, tourism, and investment and immigration. The index provides a rank and score overall and for individual elements of a country’s reputation. The rank is responsive to changes in the sample of evaluated nations from year to year, and so only the score is used to examine change in reputation over time.

5.16 NBI results show awareness of Scotland rose from 62% in 2012 to 65% in 2014. Scotland’s reputation improved in 2014 both in terms of overall score and score on each of the six dimensions measured. Scotland’s 2014 score was 61.8, up from 60.1 in 2012 and the first time available data has shown an improvement since data was initially collected in 2008.

5.17 Scotland’s international reputation for tourism increased by 1.2 points from 67.4 in 2012 to 68.6 in 2014 and remains one of Scotland’s key reputational strengths. The reputation of Scotland’s culture also increased by 1.2 points, from 57.9 in 2012 to 59.1 in 2014. Dimensions of Scotland’s international reputation related to business saw the largest increases in score (albeit from generally lower bases). Scotland’s reputation for Exports increased by 2.1 points to 55.8 and international reputation for Investment and Immigration increased by 2 points to 59.9.

5.18 Broadly, analysis of the NBI data indicates a relationship between familiarity and favourability – the higher the awareness of a nation among panellists, the more favourable they tend to be. The increased awareness or international familiarity with Scotland in 2014 is likely to be linked to the increased favourability reflected in the score improvement. There is particular evidence of higher familiarity and favourability among panellists in Commonwealth countries including Canada, Australia and South Africa.

5.19 There were a number of high profile events in Scotland in 2014 that received global media attention, including the Ryder Cup and the referendum on independence. Fieldwork for the 2014 NBI was carried out between July 10th – July 28th 2014, coinciding with the opening ceremony and first days of competition. The timing suggests it is plausible the Games contributed to this boost in international reputation. It is, however, too soon to say whether any reputational boost will be translated into long term economic advantage through increased tourism and business.

5.20 For Glasgow in particular, there is some indication that its international profile has risen since 2008, in particular, its reputation as a host of sporting events. For example, in 2014 Glasgow was ranked number 8 in the world on the Ultimate Sport Cities Index, up from 9th in 2012.

Civic pride and participation

5.21 A Games Health Impact Assessment carried out in 2012 found boosting civic pride was one of the top anticipated long term benefits of the Games of Glasgow residents^[63]. Actions to boost civic pride recommended by the report included ensuring adequate opportunities for community involvement, and harnessing the pride residents have in their city by ensuring sufficient opportunities for all to participate in an ambassadorial role.

5.22 Particularly large scale opportunities for community involvement and participation, in Glasgow and across Scotland, came from the Queens Baton Relay (QBR), the Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme, Event Scotland’s four year ‘Games for Scotland’ programme and the Big Lottery Celebrate programme. Together, with numerous other projects and programmes, hundreds of thousands of opportunities to take part in Games related community events across the city and the country were created.

Figure 5.2. Glasgow Green at Games Time

Getty Images

5.23 The thousands of volunteering opportunities were also hoped to contribute to enhanced civic pride and participation, and leave a legacy of enhanced capacity in the volunteering sector. In particular, Glasgow’s Host City Volunteer programme was explicitly intended to impact on civic pride, widen opportunities to groups under-represented in the Clyde-sider programme and provide opportunities for residents to play an ambassadorial role welcoming Games visitors.

5.24 The extent to which the population across Scotland anticipated a civic pride boost because of the Games increased as the Games drew closer and peaked at Games time. Just under a quarter of Scots anticipated that ‘people in Scotland will feel proud’ as a result of the Games in July 2014, up from just under a fifth in 2012. This is in spontaneous response to an open question in a regular survey about potential Games impacts.^[64] Post Games, this returned to under a fifth of spontaneous mentions, while mentions increased for feeling a sense of individual pride (from 12% in 2012 to 17% in 2015) and enhanced international reputation (from 8% in 2012 to 15% in 2015).^[65]

5.25 Further evidence on civic pride in Glasgow is available from the Glasgow Household Survey. It shows that civic pride is already high in Glasgow. Almost nine in ten (86%) residents in 2014 said they felt proud of the city and three-quarters (75%) said they felt proud of their local area – an increase of ten percentage points since 2012. Future data from this survey will give insight into any continued possible Games effect.

5.26 Market research by the Glasgow City Marketing Bureau^[66] indicated the branding and dressing of the city for the Games was noticed and popular among residents and visitors. For example, 60% of visitors were aware that Glasgow’s brand is ‘People Make Glasgow’, and 93% agreed with the brand statement. There was also some indication of the role branding can play in civic pride, with 64% of residents polled saying the brand statement made them feel proud.

5.27 Research carried out by the Glasgow Centre for Population Health (GCPH) on Clyde-sider applicants - successful and unsuccessful; pre and post Games – also gives some insight into the impact of such a large scale event volunteering programme.^[67] When asked what they felt they had gained from the experience, a high proportion of Clyde-sider survey respondents mentioned enjoyment and the fun from participating in a unique experience (90% reported this gain ‘a lot or a great deal’). This chimes with wider research on major event volunteering which commonly finds a key motivation for event volunteering to be the opportunity to take part in a unique event, rather than necessarily motivation around skills development or civic engagement and ‘giving back’.

5.28 Nevertheless, an equally high number of Clyde-sider respondents reported more altruistic gains including the satisfaction from helping others enjoy themselves (90%); a sense of giving something back (81%) and being part of a team (81%).

5.29 A notable proportion of Clyde-sider respondents (45%) also stated their experience would result in them volunteering more in the future. Further, 58% of respondents in the Volunteer Support Pot evaluation felt their experience at the Games was likely to increase their commitment to volunteering. While we are yet to see the extent to which these intentions translate into increased volunteering behaviour, it clearly suggests the Games resulted in increased interest and the potential for increased capacity in volunteering.

5.30 Unusually for event volunteering research, GCPH also surveyed those who applied to be Clyde-siders but were unsuccessful. Overall, the research found the experience of applying and not being successful had limited impact on future volunteering intentions – it did not put people off volunteering in the future, in fact it was slightly more likely to have a positive impact on future intention than negative impact.^[68]

5.31 As noted in chapter 3, monitoring data and evaluation of the Host City Volunteer programme found it was successful in extending the reach of volunteering opportunities. In particular, there is evidence of the HCV programme successfully engaging people with disabilities, those from ethnic minority backgrounds and those from deprived areas of Glasgow. The Volunteer Support Pot assisted those from disadvantaged groups who were potentially struggling to complete volunteer roles they had successfully gained.

5.32 Two recurring themes across all research carried out by the Glasgow Research Partnership (GRP) and the University of Strathclyde on volunteers^[69] are the overwhelmingly positive nature of the experience of taking part, and the high extent to which participants felt pride in their role. In each GRP survey, levels of satisfaction with the experience were between 85% and 90%. Levels of pride in taking part as a volunteer were also high. For instance, 97% of Ceremonies volunteers said they were proud to have been a volunteer, as did 95% of Host City Volunteer respondents and 85% of baton bearers.

5.33 Findings also indicate some differences in motivation and gains anticipated between the different volunteer groups. Participating in the excitement of the event was a common motivation for Cast volunteers; baton bearers frequently mentioned a sense of honour and pride in recognition by their communities and HCV respondents mentioned the opportunity to both learn more and impart their existing knowledge of Glasgow. This latter role resonates with the recommendation in the Health Impact Assessment that roles be created to enable people to play an ‘ambassadorial’ role around the Games as one route to maximising civic pride impacts.

5.34 As with the Clyde-sider and VSP research cited above, intention to volunteer in the future – both event volunteering and wider community volunteering – was common among HCVs, baton bearers and Cast volunteers. Across all major volunteering programmes associated with the Games, those who took part report it has encouraged them to be more involved in their communities in the future.

5.35 Specific mechanisms have been put in place, at city and national levels, to try to harness this increased intention to volunteer and take part among many thousands of Games related volunteers.

5.36 In Glasgow, the HCV programme represents the first element of a wider Host City Glasgow programme, which runs from 2013 to 2016. This wider programme enables residents to take part in flexible learning, volunteering and citizenship aimed at increasing civic pride; engagement with the City’s sporting and cultural estate; and long term participation in volunteering.

5.37 At a national level, Volunteer Scotland received the details of those Clyde-sider applicants who opted to have their details shared so they could be alerted to future volunteering opportunities. Most Clyde-sider applicants opted in, and those from Scotland were invited by Volunteer Scotland to join their My Volunteering Account (MVA) service, which has boosted numbers of MVA holders to over 6,000 Volunteer Scotland continue to work with key partners to offer ongoing opportunities to volunteer in the community.