NEWS: Speedo signs top swimmers for press work

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.

This article was first published on Campaign