Project Restart

Helping the UK return to a sense of normality

Avi led the creation of Prenetics’ new COVID testing infrastructure across the UK from the start of the pandemic in early 2020, helping businesses return to work, allowing major sports to resume and making overseas travel possible using reliable gold standard tests.


The Premier League’s Project Restart, which allowed the UK’s favourite sport to return to competitive matches quickly and safely, was a central element of Avi’s campaign Getting Britain Back To Work, Back To Travel and Back To Play.

Avi said at the time, "We'd been working in the world of consumer genetics for some time but when the pandemic hit, our core mission became 'what can we do to find a solution?'

"We subsequently put together a proposition that had the Premier League as our first major client."

English football's top flight had been suspended in early March 2020 and Prenetics won the testing contract that would get the Premier League going again.

The company set up testing sites at the PL’s 20 clubs, with both players and staff needing to be tested over the course of several months in order to allow training to commence and matches to be held, initially behind closed doors.

It meant the Premier League could successfully kick off again on 17 June 2020.

Avi remembers, "There was a real snowball effect and soon we were working with the England and Wales Cricket Board, Queensberry Promotions and Matchroom. We helped get the country moving again."

Prenetics went on to provide testing at Heathrow, Stansted, Southend and Manchester Airports, and for Virgin Atlantic. In the entertainment world, Prenetics provided testing for the BAFTA Awards, Sky Entertainment and film studios and productions. In all, they opened more than 70 testing pods, including walk-up tests for the public and employees at business centres managed by IWG, the largest flexible workspace provider in the world.

Pivot from DNA testing to COVID testing

With Prenetics’ laboratory network, scientific expertise and digital capabilities already in place, Avi was able to expand on the world-leading health test they had developed over eight years and adapt this science into a gold-standard testing solution to meet the demand for Covid-19 testing all over the world.

This led to the launch of the Project Screen by Prenetics brand offering safe, fast and reliable tests for the global market.

Avi said it was "definitely a challenge to scale up so quickly. It was like a lightning bolt went through the company - coming in at the front and working its way through.

"If there wasn't such a commitment from the team, partners and owners, it would not have been possible. That speed of innovation will now set the pace for the future of healthcare.

"Growth was huge for us but we weren’t just a COVID testing company, despite it being a major pillar at the time. The global home health and diagnostics market is potentially enormous.”

Giving reassurance by spreading the message

Avi saw that public anxiety about COVID made mental health a major issue as there was limited discussion of how living in a pandemic could be navigated and managed. The success of Prenetics’ work for the Premier League’s Project Restart and the return of football was the first high profile example of how life with the virus could continue, and also set standards for others to follow.

To meet the need for confidence building among the public, Avi devised a strategy to be implemented across news and social media with the goal of raising awareness of the Getting Britain Back To Work campaign across the country.

By scheduling regular content across social media platforms, engaging in real-time with stakeholders and producing high-quality video content with high-profile individuals, Avi maintained regular contact with stakeholders and the general public, whilst also growing the digital profile of his role in the campaign and Project Screen’s gold-standard service offering.

Avi’s team created animation, image and video content optimised for digital platforms, in addition to organising and producing interviews, walkthrough footage and thought-leadership pieces featuring Avi with industry leaders, sportspeople and Members of Parliament. The campaign extended Avi’s digital footprint and Project Screen’s reach to vastly different demographics of social media users.