For USA Swimming, it’s a golden coincidence: The year’s most anticipated children’s movie stars a character whose catchphrase works perfectly on a recruitment poster for young athletes, and the movie comes out just six weeks before the Rio Olympics.
Swimming’s national governing body has signed a cross-promotional deal with Disney Pixar that will feature “Finding Dory,” the sequel to the 2003 piscine reunion blockbuster “Finding Nemo,” in its SwimToday youth campaign this summer.
The centerpiece is the main character’s oft-repeated admonition from the original film to “Just keep swimming.”
“When you have an Olympic sport, when you have the chance to align with Disney Pixar and what is sure to be the absolute No. 1 kid and family-friendly movie of the summer, it was a no-brainer to try to work with each other again,” said USA Swimming Chief Marketing Officer Matt Farrell, a father of two teenagers and former marketer for Warner Home Video.
SwimToday is a program run by the governing body and 10 swimming industry sponsors to convince families to consider swimming as a competitive athletics option in addition to a recreational pastime. Swimsuit and apparel makers Arena, Speedo USA and TYR are among the backers.
In the deal, USA Swimming will send “Finding Dory” posters and co-branded materials to its 3,000 registered USA swim teams, and the U.S. national team will get an advance look at the film at the Arena Pro Swim Series stop in Santa Clara, Calif., next month. A “Finding Dory” ad is in 300,000 copies of the NGB’s membership magazine.
Also, Disney, USA Swimming and SwimToday’s social media channels will all promote each other during the summer. SwimToday.org will use Dory in a splash-page illustration as well. No cash will change hands.
“Finding Dory” producer Lindsey Collins called the partnership ideal. “We are all truly honored that the organization has made this relationship possible, and we wish them much luck at the Olympics this summer,” she said.
The deal reprises a similar arrangement struck in 2012 around the 3-D re-release of “Finding Nemo.”
At a time when virtually all advertising and marketing dollars are focused on Rio and the likes of Missy Franklin and Michael Phelps, this campaign is targeted at the grassroots, Farrell said.
“The Olympic team and national team make most of the headlines for us as an organization,” he said, “but this partnership is about the 400,000 members of swim teams who are on average 12 years old.”
