USA Swimming Honored in 2017 American Business Awards

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Photo Courtesy: Taylor Brien

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – USA Swimming captured two more awards for its summer two-phase campaign – partnering with Finding Dory and the #SwimUnited campaign – after being named the winner of a Silver Stevie® Award for Entertainment & Sports Marketing Campaign of the Year and Small-Budget Marketing Campaign of the Year (<$3 million) in The 15th Annual American Business Awards.

During swimming’s biggest events of U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming and the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro the campaign led to a 98% increase in swim team searches on SwimToday.org and more than double the Google searches for “Swimming + Team” than the past three Olympic Games.

The first phase of the campaign focused on USA Swimming’s partnership with Disney’s Finding Dory that encouraged families and fans to “Just Keep Swimming” onto a team. The second phase concentrated on user-generated social media content using #SwimUnited from fans, members and celebrities such as Conan O’Brien, Ludacris, Leslie Jones, Antonio Brown, Molly Sims and Hilary Rhoda.

Highlights of the campaign included:

  • Customized Team USA caps Dory cast and celebrities – over 60 celebrities posted to social media with #SwimUnited generating a reach of over 60,000,000
  • Personalized Splash magazine covers to USA Swimming’s 400,000 members
  • Videos showcasing Olympic medalists before they were elite swimmers to break down entry barriers to the sport resulting in over 300,000 views on YouTube. Watch the video here
  • A series of SwimToday artwork that combines creative Americana taglines with images of National Team athletes alongside age group swimmers

One judge claimed the campaign was “astonishing! Attracting an entire audience from young to old. I absolutely enjoyed everything in this nomination. The website was beautiful, the videos were entertaining and the examples in the nomination were impressive. Seems USA Swimming made their target audience feel special throughout this entire campaign.”

More than 3,600 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were submitted this year for consideration in a wide range of categories, including Startup of the Year, Executive of the Year, Best New Product or Service of the Year, Marketing Campaign of the Year, Live Event of the Year, and App of the Year, among others.

“Each year the judges find the quality and variety of the nominations to be greater than the year before. The 2017 competition was intense and every organization that has won should be proud,” said Michael Gallagher, president and founder of the Stevie Awards.

This award comes after the #SwimUnited campaign won the National Sports Forum SAMMY Award and PR News Week’s Best in Arts, Entertainment, Sports and Media Campaign for 2017.

Details about The American Business Awards and the list of 2017 Stevie winners are available at www.StevieAwards.com/ABA.

For more information on SwimToday and the #SwimUnited Campaign visit www.swimtoday.org.

About SwimToday

SwimToday is a first-of-its-kind marketing collaboration within the swimming industry. It is a joint, industry effort created to promote and grow participation in the sport of swimming. The campaign is led by USA Swimming, Arena USA, Speedo USA and TYR Sport, with additional support from the following aquatic organizations: American Swimming Coaches Association, National Swimming Pool Foundation, Swimming World magazine, TeamUnify, Counsilman-Hunsaker and USA Swimming Foundation. Creative support is provided by Colle+McVoy, a Minneapolis-based advertising agency.
About the Stevie Awards

Stevie Awards are conferred in seven programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 10,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 60 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at http://www.StevieAwards.com.

The above press release was posted by Swimming World in conjunction with USA Swimming. For press releases and advertising inquiries please contact newsmaster@swimmingworld.com.

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