Colle+McVoy launched a spot for USA Swimming showing Olympic swimmers as kids, entitled “Olympic swimmers when they were just beginners.”
The athletes featured are Ryan Lochte, Missy Franklin, Katie Ledecky and, of course, Michael Phelps. Full of home video footage of the top swimmers from well before they were professionals, the 60-second spot juxtaposes the grainy footage with audio of the athletes winning gold and breaking records. Near the end of the spot, it switches some more recent footage. The message is clear: everybody has to start somewhere (even Olympic gold medalists).
“Before we were winners, we were all beginners,” the voiceover intones before the tagline (sure to annoy English teachers everywhere), “Join the funnest sport there is.” That voiceover is perhaps a tad unnecessary, given how obvious the message is, but since it targets families with children, it’s understandable that they chose to include it. The spot is part of a larger “#SwimUnited” campaign for Team USA, which we expect to see more from before the end of the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Credits:
Client: USA Swimming
Agency: Colle+McVoy
Editing: Aaron Nelson, Ditch Edit
Music: Marmoset Music