Redtorch has made its first permanent hire in Switzerland, appointing Kate Sole as Director of Olympic Partnerships.
Based in Lausanne, Kate will provide Redtorch clients and partners with a senior representative in the home of the Olympic movement. She is an experienced communications specialist who began her career as a journalist in London. For the past 15 years, she has worked for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Switzerland:
My work at the IOC focused on proactively connecting audiences with sport through their interests, rather than passively waiting for them to make the discovery. The idea of sport showing up in unexpected places to make it more relevant is at the heart of how Redtorch operates.
I’m looking forward to helping federations and brands put this approach into practice.
Kate recently led the IOC’s Storylines project, which expanded the conversation around the Olympic Games beyond results and competition and into consumer and lifestyle media. This initiative reached a broader and more diverse audience by creating narratives that spoke to passion points such as art, design, fashion, travel and more.
At Redtorch, Kate will lead on relationships with International Federations, rights holders and brands across the Olympic movement. She will collaborate with current clients and develop new partnerships. Her role will also strengthen Redtorch’s capabilities by incorporating earned media to enable impactful brand storytelling that extends outside of owned channels.
Kate will draw on SportOnSocial™, Redtorch’s behavioural intelligence platform, that tracks Olympic audience behaviour throughout the year, not just during events.
As Redtorch Managing Director, Chris Argyle-Robinson, says:
Our work in the Olympic movement helps clients decide where to focus, what to say, and how to make their sport more relevant year- round. Kate’s expertise in using earned media to introduce sport to new audiences aligns perfectly with our vision of how Olympic sport needs to compete for attention. I really look forward to working closely with her.
Jonny Murch, Redtorch CEO, agrees:
We’ve worked in Switzerland for more than ten years, so having Kate based there is a natural next step. It means we can spend more time with our clients and partners face to face. Kate has a real instinct for storytelling and she knows the Olympic movement from the inside. She’s absolutely the right person to lead the next phase of our growth.
