wednesday, november 5th, 2008
OMAHA MAKES A SPLASH AS OLYMPIC TRIALS GO SWIMMINGLY
by bill roberts
Omaha made a big splash with the Olympic Swim Trials held here last summer, but it didn’t happen automatically.
It took careful planning, hard work and savvy marketing to make the event go so swimmingly, according to Doug Parrott, who led the marketing effort for the Omaha Sports Commission. He spoke about those efforts at the Nov. 5 luncheon meeting of the Mid-America Direct Marketing Association at Regency Lodge in Omaha.
The first task was bringing the event to Omaha. USA Swimming, the sport’s governing body, wanted to improve on the previous Olympic trials, which had drawn 110,000 spectators to Long Beach, Calif., a well-known aquatic center.
"We had to convince USA Swimming that we could do better than Long Beach," said Parrott, who is executive vice president of public relations for Bailey Lauerman.
Bidding competition came down to three finalist cities: Omaha, Minneapolis and San Antonio. Parrott said Omaha's pitch focused on three strengths.
First, Omaha had the proven ability to handle a multiple-day event. "We know how to because of the College World Series," Parrott said.
Second, corporate support would be bolstered by Mutual of Omaha, a strong company that has a representative on the board of directors of USA Swimming (although that person had no say in choosing the host city).
Third, Omaha had the right infrastructure.
“The Qwest Center turned out to be the perfect structure for the swim trials," Parrott said, adding that after the event organizers told him it was the best swimming venue they’d ever seen.
The Qwest Center was big enough to accommodate the competition pool, the warm-up pool and the Aqua Zone, a center of fan activities and sponsor displays, all under one roof. Neither San Antonio nor Minneapolis could match it.
Next, the Omaha Sports Commission’s marketing committee focused on generating interest and ticket sales.
CREATE BUZZ
“We had to create swimming fans and swimming buzz,” Parrott said. “Swimming is not exactly like Cornhusker football in Omaha.”
The commission sold tickets in phases, starting with all-session ticket books, costing $400 to $500. These were offered to a list of some 35,000 swim club members and their families in a nine-state region from May to September in 2007.
During the next phase, from September to December of 2007, mini-packages of tickets were offered through newspaper and radio advertising.
From January 2008 to May 2008, the commission sold tickets for single days (which included morning and evening sessions). Finally, as the June 28-July 6 event drew near, the commission offered single-session tickets for sale.
The Omaha Sports Commission lined up Clear Channel Radio, WOWT and the Omaha World-Herald as its radio, TV and newspaper media partners, and carefully parceled out opportunities for news coverage from all outlets.
“The coverage from the media partners really raised awareness,” he said. “The USA Swimming committee literally could not believe it.”
To generate corporate interest (and ticket sales), the commission organized a corporate swim challenge, inviting Omaha companies to form swim teams for friendly amateur competition in the pool.
Parrott's company organized a team and "they had the times of their lives," he said.
AQUA ZONE
Attendance at the Aqua Zone was boosted by sending free invitations to dozens of area youth groups. They enjoyed the visits and helped build interest.
“It was fabulous, lots of interactive things for the kids,” Parrott said.
The large banner on the Mutual of Omaha building, which was created by USA Swimming, became a hit with the public and the competitors, Parrott said. Swimmers repeatedly would ask to be driven past it for another look.
The one glitch came on the eve of the event, when a storm packing hurricane-force winds tore a 20-foot-by-40-foot hole in the Qwest Center roof. Fortunately, it was patched quickly and no leaks affected the event.
Results were gratifying. Swimmers like Michael Phelps and Dara Torres became household names coast to coast as national news media lavished coverage on the swim trials, far outshining coverage of the Olympic track and field trials taking place simultaneously in Eugene, Ore.
“Track and field was not happy with us, I can tell you that,” Parrott said.
Omaha's organizers were happy, though.
The swim trials sold 160,000 tickets (beating Long Beach by 50,000), Omaha received millions of dollars of free media coverage, fans and sponsors enjoyed the Aqua Zone, and nine world records were broken.
Asked if Omaha would get the next Olympic swim trials in 2012, Parrott said it could be difficult.
Preliminary plans call for the trials and the 2012 College World Series to overlap, creating an impossible strain on city resources. He said the commission was hoping to adjust schedules to bring the trials back. “There is a chance,” he said.
November 2008 Mid-America DMA Newsletter Report
Questions? Call Bill Roberts: 330-0110