CASE STUDY: ARENA SWIMWEAR

THE SITUATION: Arena is a high-tech competitive swimwear brand that has historically dominated the global market. In the 1970s, Arena was the top selling brand in the U.S., but it exited the market in 1990 to focus on European sales. In 2011, Arena re-entered the American marketplace with the establishment of its new North American subsidiary in Portland, Oregon. In Arena’s absence during the two decades prior, Speedo had surged to the top cornering 60% of the domestic market share at the time of Arena’s re-introduction, followed by Tyr with 25%. In addition, Speedo still maintained its 25-year reign as the official sponsor of USA Swimming – the national governing body of competitive swimming and USA’s Olympic team.

THE INSIGHT: Prior to Arena’s reintroduction in the domestic market, Speedo’s LZR racer suit – made famous by Michael Phelp’s record-breaking Olympic rout – was banned from all FINA competitions. Adding to Speedo’s tribulations, as Arena geared up for its new American debut, a number of swimmers donning Speedo’s would-be top-of-the-line FS3 suit fell victim to the dreaded wardrobe malfunction: the FS3’s seams were failing, causing the suits to rupture during competition. As athletes around the country began clamoring for an alternative, the time was ripe for Arena to make its move.

THE PLAN & EXECUTION: With the 2012 Olympic games on the horizon, we were tasked with helping re- establish Arena Swimwear in the domestic market with an immediate goal of reclaiming “mindshare” as a stepping-stone to our long-term goal: regaining its market share – and, of course, winning the coveted USA Swimming sponsorship. We vigorously implemented a full-scale integrated marketing campaign, kicking it off with an event at the 2012 NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships that featured a formal announcement of Arena’s return, accompanied by the unveiling of its highly-anticipated state-of-the-art Carbon Pro swimsuit.

Initiatives that followed included extensive media relations, web development, social media marketing, corporate philanthropy, athlete sponsorships, influencer marketing and most prominently, an event hosted by Arena at the 2012 Olympic Swim Trials in Omaha, Nebraska. With prominent athletes and coaches along numerous members of the media in attendance, we announced a worldwide “Swim Challenge for Charity,” partnering with the Edith Sanford Breast Cancer Foundation to raise awareness for both the sport of swimming and breast cancer – a campaign that would ultimately lead up to the “Breast Stroke Against Breast Cancer” to be held the following year. THE RESULTS: Through a comprehensive influencer marketing PR campaign, we directly secured numerous qualified sales leads that were converted into a spate of college swim team sponsorships across the nation. With our robust media relations program, we secured top-tier media placements including NBC, CBS, Ladies Home Journal, The Washington Post and the Today Show. Our pinnacle achievement, however, came the following December when USA Swimming named Arena North America as its exclusive apparel sponsor, awarding the company worldwide merchandising rights to the USA Swimming brand. In this landmark shift, Arena supplanted its long- time archrival and former perennial sponsor, Speedo, and is well on its way to reclaiming its dominance in America’s competitive swimwear market.