Jaimie is a passionate sports fan and business executive who has invested heavily in positive social advocacy in the sporting arena through sportswear brand, SKINS.
Current work
Jaimie is a regular commentator on the role sport can play in helping to change society for the better. He is a regular contributor to public forums and conferences in Denmark, Ireland, Spain, Switzerland, South Africa, Australia and the USA. Jaimie also presented at the 2016 Lions in Cannes on the topic of Purpose Marketing and SKINS journey therein to make a difference. He blogs regularly at watercooler.skins.net.
Previous Experience
Jaimie is know for taking a stand against doping, homophobia and corruption in high profile sports like cycling, rugby and soccer,
In 2010, SKINS withdrew their sponsorship of Australian National Rugby League club Melbourne Storm after the club was found guilty of systematically cheating the league's salary cap. Melbourne Storm were subsequently stripped of a series of league honours and fined almost $2 million. The decision to withdraw sponsorship was commercially a costly one, but considered necessary for the sake of the company's position on the values of fair play.
In 2012, Jaimie founded the international pressure group, Change Cycling Now (CCN). The move was inspired by the growing international criticism of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and its handling of cycling's doping issues including the Lance Armstrong scandal. The group included three times Tour de France winner Greg LeMond and investigative journalists David Walsh and Paul Kimmage and added significant weight to the global debate on the future of cycling and its governing body. Jaimie's work with Change Cycling Now resulted in the sitting president of the UCI going into the presidential elections without a nomination and subsequently losing his leadership position.
In 2013, Jaimie established the anti-doping campaign, #ChooseTheRightTrack to celebrate and promote the true values of sport, free from corruption and drugs. The campaign was a result of a series of discussions between Jaimie and former Olympic 100 metre champion Ben Johnson about workable options to eradicate doping in sport. Ben's involvement helped focus people's attention on the requirements for positive change in anti-doping. The #ChooseTheRightTrack campaign was targeted at the IOC, lobbying for the establishment of an Athletes Support Council plus greater funding for WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency). Six weeks after the conclusion of the campaign, the IOC announced a one-off $20 million extra investment to be matched by government to be spent on anti-doping research and to combat match fixing.
In 2014 – prior to the infamous FIFA arrests in May 2015 – Jaimie co-founded the campaign group #NewFIFANow to reclaim football for players and fans by calling out and eradicating the serial allegations of corruption plaguing the sport. To further promote these aims, #NewFIFANow established an awareness-raising campaign and social discussion to canvass the many issues that dog football. This resulted in a Charter and Guiding Principles for FIFA Reform, letter-writing campaigns to football associations, the FIFA Executive and sponsors and a fans' sentiment survey.
Following an inaugural forum of stakeholders in the European Parliament in January 2015, Jaimie declared SKINS an Official Non-Sponsor' of FIFA in light of the vastly divergent values of SKINS and FIFA.
More recently, Jaimie has set his sights on SKINS leading the way in advocating for some of the big social issues in sport.
This started in 2015 with the Hypocrisy World Cup' campaign, in conjunction with #NewFIFANow, the International Trade Union Confederation and Playfair Qatar. The aim of the campaign was to highlight the gap between football sponsors' rhetoric on business integrity and human rights, and the organisation and tournaments they chose to sponsor. In early 2016, an eminent expert in human rights issues, Professor John Ruggie of Harvard University, submitted a report to FIFA with a blueprint for making positive interventions on this issue. Amongst other things, FIFA now requires these matters to be accounted for in future bidding processes for major tournaments.
Another issue on which Jaimie is passionate is that of homophobia in sport, as detailed in the 2014 Out on the Fields report.
In partnership with Pride in Diversity and Pride in Sport, SKINS founded the inaugural Rainbow Round of Sport' in Australia in 2016 focussing on saying #KnotMe to homophobia in sport. The #RainbowLaces campaign invited elite sporting teams and athletes to wear #RainbowLaces for a particular weekend of sport across five sporting codes. As part of the campaign, 100,000 pairs of laces were given away for free to community organisations and grassroots clubs. The #RainbowLaces round of sport was successfully adopted by a selection of teams from each code.
Talking Points
Why Mistakes are your Business's Most Important Investment
The best way for a business to learn and grow is to make mistakes and if they don't make mistakes, then they're probably in the wrong business! Get real live examples of the types of challenges all business face and how best to turn these into not just key learnings but future success.
Why Mistakes are your Business's Most Important Investment
You can tell a lot about a Sport by its Sponsors (and a lot about a Sponsor by its Sport!)
Just who sport does business with says a lot about their values. How can sport (and business) maximise their commercial value while staying true to their values? Hear interesting case studies of sport and sponsors and get an insider's look into what best (and worst!) practise looks like.
You can tell a lot about a Sport by its Sponsors (and a lot about a Sponsor by its Sport!)
How to Build to Brand through Purpose
To build a global brand, you need to show initiative and take risks and be prepared for the mistakes as well as the successes. Take a trip through the ups and downs of the SKINS global brand journey, looking closely at how a challenger takes on the big boys without the budgets.
How to Build to Brand through Purpose
A few years ago I was asked to moderate a panel featuring Jaimie and a senior executive from a leading global sports brand. I have it on good authority that the other panelist pulled out whe ... keep reading RedPeg
