The Spark

High Impact Athletes (HIA) began with a simple question. What if athletes approached giving with the same performance mindset they bring to sport?

Olympians Marcus Daniell and Hugo Inglis built the organisation around that idea, transforming athlete influence into measurable impact, not through vague intentions but through evidence and performance.

High Impact Athletes (HIA) connects athletes to the world’s most effective charities across climate, global health, gender -based violence, and animal welfare.

New Season joined to help shape the voice behind that vision, translating insight into narrative, data into emotion, and a growing movement into a credible force for change.

Building credibility through visibility

We repositioned HIA to feel less like a charity and more like a fast-scaling tech start-up. The tone shifted from appeal to action, grounded in the idea that sport has both the platform and responsibility to lead.

We focused on three areas that would build visibility and trust:

Thought leadership

Weekly posts and opinion pieces turned Marcus and Hugo into recognised voices across sport and purpose. Their tone was analytical, sometimes vulnerable, and always real. Within three months, Hugo’s LinkedIn audience grew by 20%, driven by engagement from senior leaders across sport and business.

Media presence

We translated impact stories into headlines that connected. Coverage spanned Forbes, BBC World Service, ESPN, The Mirror, TVNZ, and New Zealand Herald, reaching more than 100 million people.

Speaking and recognition

We positioned HIA on the stages that matter, Sport Positive, MadFest, and the International Sports Convention, reaching 245,000 senior executives.

Award shortlists at the IOC Climate Action Awards and Sport Positive Awards validated their model and placed them among the leading voices in purpose-led sport.

20%

LinkedIn growth over a three month period

Campaigns that moved people

Race for Impact brought purpose into mass participation sport. Partnering with HYROX, the world series of fitness racing, we helped HIA develop the campaign narrative, communications framework, and global media outreach.

Within five months, athletes raised over $900,000, funding mental health, women’s empowerment, clean water, animal welfare and climate action projects. Coverage landed from HYROX’s own channels to Atlanta First News and Le Parisien, proving a purpose-driven campaign could perform across both elite and everyday sport.

Sport One, Carbon Zero gave athletes a credible way to act on climate without fear of hypocrisy. We worked with HIA’s creative team to shape the positioning, define proof points, and build the launch story. Media coverage reframed athlete activism as leadership, showing influence as responsibility, not contradiction.

1in3 was deeply personal. After Ugandan Olympian Rebecca Cheptegei was murdered by her partner, HIA launched a campaign uniting athletes against gender-based violence. We helped build the communications strategy and manage local and international media. The campaign reached 11.9 million radio listeners in Uganda and helped drive a 14% increase in hotline calls during the activation.

The shift

For too long, athlete giving has been symbolic — a gala, a cheque, a photo.

High Impact Athletes is proving it can be strategic. The model is now scaling globally. The philosophy is simple: every performance has the power to deliver impact.

For New Season, this collaboration represents everything that we stand for, helping sport lead with purpose, proof and heart.

In their words

High Impact Athletes Co-Founder Hugo Inglis

“I don’t actually want to write this testimonial for New Season. Because if I’m honest about how good they are, we might have to share them. James and the team at New Season are world class and we consider them part of the HIA family.

“They don’t just tell stories, more importantly they understand them deeply enough to drive results. We've seen them take time to learn what success means for us, what good growth looks like, and how they can support us to increase our impact in the world.

“In just over a year, they’ve helped us share campaigns and stories across Forbes, BBC, ESPN, the Daily Mail and many more. But what truly sets them apart is care. Every conversation, every brief, every placement carries the same attention to detail and genuine desire to make an impact.

“Because they care, we trust them to work directly with our athletes and partners, streamlining the process, uncovering new angles, and telling the real stories that make our champions proud to share their purpose.”