Global Agency Helps Drive Attendance and Awareness for the World’s Most Inclusive Sports Competition
For the past week, world-class athletes from more than 20 countries have competed in the Special Olympics Unified Cup Detroit 2022. Lambert, a public relations, investor relations, and integrated communications agency founded in Michigan, has proudly provided the international competition with pro bono services along the way, offering media relations support to what is regarded as the world’s most inclusive sports competition.
Bringing more than 300 athletes with and without intellectual disabilities together to compete in a series of football (soccer) matches in Metro Detroit, the Special Olympics Unified Cup Detroit 2022 has drawn more than 10,000 spectators, 1,000 volunteers and 500 family members to celebrate the joy of sport and the power of inclusion through camaraderie, competition and breaking down social barriers.
“It has always been an honor for Lambert to work closely with Special Olympics Michigan—a statewide organization providing year-round sports training and athletic competition to over 23,000 children and adults across the state—delivering on-the-ground media relations support for this incredible international event,” said Jeff Lambert, agency founder and chair. “For more than 50 years, Special Olympics has been committed to ending discrimination against people with intellectual disabilities and this is in perfect alignment with our core value of allyship. We are privileged to raise awareness surrounding this incredible event in our home state.”
A primary objective of the Special Olympics Unified Cup is to reach and collaborate with professional football clubs, their foundations, and football federations to develop unified sports that support the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities. Globally, more than 885,000 Special Olympics athletes and Unified partners—athletes without intellectual disabilities—compete in football. This year’s event in Detroit is the second-ever tournament in this single-sports series, following the inaugural competition in Chicago in 2018.
The week-long tournament culminates in a championship event on Saturday, August 6, at Keyworth Stadium in Hamtramck. Gates open at 12:30 p.m. and tickets are available for purchase at https://www.classy.org/event/unified-cup-finals/e412859.
“Given our familiarity and relationships across Detroit, we were eager to jump in and volunteer to help increase visibility for this year’s event,” Lambert continued. “Having started efforts in Spring 2021, it has been a long but extremely rewarding process, as the residents and businesses of Metro Detroit have truly welcomed and embraced the Unified Cup.”
For more information on Special Olympics Michigan and the Unified Cup series, visit www.somi.org.
About Lambert
Founded in 1998, Lambert invented the PR and IR integrated agency model with over 20 years of continuous growth attributed to the firm’s laser focus on strategic communications and bottom-line results in the achievement of client goals. The award-winning national agency is a top-40 PR and top-15 IR firm with top-5 specialties in automotive and mobility, education, and M&A/private equity, alongside robust practice areas in consumer packaged goods, healthcare and biotech, and tourism and hospitality. The firm’s reach spans six major talent hubs, including Grand Rapids, Detroit, New York, St. Louis, Houston, and Phoenix. Lambert is a founding partner of TiiCKER, a shareholder loyalty, marketing, and perks platform, and an equity partner in minority-owned independent marketing agency 9th Wonder. Lambert’s Founder and Chairman Jeff Lambert is the global board chair of PROI Worldwide, the world’s largest and most diverse partnership of PR firms, and named 2021 Ally of the Year, the top diversity award in public relations issued by Diversity Action Alliance.