IMCF marketing leadership case study
Building a global audience for an underground combat sport
As Volunteer Marketing Director for the International Medieval Combat Federation, I led the strategy, team and creative operation behind its international audience growth and 2026 World Championship campaign.
A committed community with limited visibility
IMCF had an established international community, but limited mainstream reach, fragmented communication across 30 countries and no consistent marketing operation.
A repeatable volunteer-led operation
I built and led a marketing system that connected the federation, national organisations and event team while maintaining consistent public-facing output.
The strongest recorded championship cycle
The team delivered IMCF's most attended and most viewed World Championship to date, supported by 29.7 million combined views and a substantially larger owned audience.
Selected campaign evidence
The work behind the results
The reels, campaign assets and event imagery below show how the strategy was translated into audience growth, event demand, broadcast visibility and sponsor value.
National Representation
Collaboration
National Events
The system behind the work
Creative output supported by a working operation
The gallery shows the public-facing work. Behind it was a repeatable marketing operation built for a volunteer-led international federation with limited resources, changing team structures and inconsistent information flow.
What I owned
I set the marketing direction and carried it through planning, production, coordination and performance review.
- International stakeholder coordination
- Social campaigns and motion graphics
- Event marketing, web updates, and email communication
- Livestream promotion and broadcast graphics
- Sponsorship development, fulfilment, and partner communication
- Analytics, testing, media, and crisis communication
How I made it repeatable
I recruited and coordinated a Social Media Manager, Video Editor and PR Manager, then connected their work with national organisations, sponsors, organisers, fighters, commentators, livestream production and event volunteers.
We turned content, event promotion and broadcast inventory into repeatable sponsorship opportunities. I also established workflows that volunteers could continue operating across the full event cycle.
Measured campaign outcomes
Reach became audience, demand and partner value
The campaign produced measurable results across content reach, owned audience, live viewing, sponsorship and event scale.
The 1.2K figure is peak concurrent livestream viewership, compared with 70 for the previous year's IMCF event and approximately 100 for the referenced competitor event. The sponsorship figure combines financial support, equipment or product value and partner activation value. Each metric measures a different part of the system and is not combined into one total.
What I bring
Strategy that survives contact with reality
By August 2026, IMCF had a larger owned audience, a repeatable content operation, clearer sponsor value and its strongest recorded World Championship cycle. My contribution was building and leading the marketing system that connected the strategy, people and execution behind those outcomes.
I bring the same combination of marketing strategy, creative production, team coordination and performance improvement to organisations that need someone who can both set the direction and make the work happen.