Grey has enlisted the help of two of Britain’s top swimmers to try to
encourage people to swim more in the latest pounds 1 million press
campaign for the swimwear group, Speedo.
The UK’s Olympic hope, Alex Bennett, and the silver medallist, Nick
Gillingham, have been drafted in to emphasise the fact that a lot of
Olympic swimmers wear Speedo swimsuits and to encourage people who swim
for pleasure to do the same.
The campaign comprises two executions. The first, ‘revisit the womb’,
features Bennett curled up underwater. The text reads: ‘It’s hardly
surprising that we’re more at home in water than anywhere else. It rids
us of our stresses and strains and makes us feel comforted and
protected. You’ll also be comforted to know that Speedo engineer their
suits to give maximum flexibility, making swimming as relaxing and
stress-free as the day you were born.’
The second ad, ‘Are you missing 7/10 of the world?’, features Gillingham
swimming in what appears to be an air bubble. The accompanying text
says: ‘There’s a world of water waiting to be explored. Shouldn’t you
dive in and discover what you’re missing? Our bodies couldn’t be more at
home in water.
Unless, of course, they’re wearing Speedo. Designed to fit and
engineered to be more aqua dynamic than our skin. You’ll find it makes a
world of difference.’
Both ads carry the strapline, ‘Speedo. Born in the water’, and will
appear in specialist sports and general interest magazines. The campaign
breaks at the end of this week.
The strapline is being retained from an earlier campaign, which launched
in May 1994. Grey also took Speedo on to TV for the first time in more
than six years in April 1995 with a campaign coinciding with the
company’s sponsorship of the 1995 European swimming championships. The
film included another Olympic swimmer, Julia Cizuz.
The ads were written and art directed by Kay Truelove and Mike Keane,
photographed by Andreas Heumann and typographed by Jazz Garcha. Media
was planned and bought in-house by Speedo.
