Purdue University and USA Swimming LIVE Partnership
Purdue brought Boilermaker pride to Indiana’s capital city as the presenting sponsor of USA Swimming LIVE — a free, nine-day fan fest serving as the outdoor entertainment hub for the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Swimming Trials. In just two weeks, the event garnered over 220 million impressions across earned, paid and social media.
Why Sponsor the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Swimming Trials?
Anticipating the opening of Purdue’s Indianapolis campus and the relocation of the Ray Ewry Sports Engineering Center to Indianapolis, we embarked on a partnership with USA Swimming and the Indiana Sports Corp to sponsor USA Swimming LIVE — a free, nine-day event taking place just outside Lucas Oil Stadium where the U.S. Olympic Team Swimming Trials were taking place. Capitalizing on the national hype surrounding the event, this was a unique opportunity to engage the Indianapolis community and visiting guests, including potential students and corporate partners.
Goals
Our primary goals for this partnership included:
- Increasing awareness and hype for the upcoming launch of Purdue’s new urban campus in Indianapolis
- Establishing Purdue as a contributor to Indianapolis’ reputation as a hub of sports innovation
- Creating brand awareness and affinity with unaffiliated audiences
- Creating long-term brand equity that fosters brand loyalty, positive associations and future engagement
- Establish Purdue’s presence in Indianapolis
Results
In-Person Activations
The 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Swimming Trials welcomed a record-breaking 22,209 attendees, achieving the largest swim meet attendance in history. This unprecedented turnout earned Purdue even more exposure with activations on Georgia Street, where most fan activities took place during the nine-day event. Activations included a VR experience executed through the Purdue University in Indianapolis Computer Graphics Technology department, sidewalk graphics, Purdue-themed props and selfie opportunities, fencing and wayfinding signage, appearances from Purdue Pete and the Purdue Goldusters, and Purdue experts speaking on swimming-related STEM topics.
Storytelling
Three stories were published on Purdue’s storytelling platform, The Persistent Pursuit. Purdue’s footprint was clear throughout the U.S. Olympic Team Swimming Trials — from a Purdue student overcoming hardship to compete in the event, to the students and faculty behind the virtual reality swim experience, and even to the Boilermakers who helped to engineer the construction of the pools inside Lucas Oil Stadium. All three stories performed very well, with the Olympic pools story quickly becoming the fifth-most viewed story of all time on the website.
