The Stories We Should Be Telling in Swimming

Why the stories we tell matter—and how they can help grow the sport

This is the third installment of a series of posts on the future of the sport of swimming in the United States. While the first two articles dealt mostly with USA Swimming, this one is directed toward all swimming teams and organizations in the country.

Storytelling is one of the best means of advertising, but not nearly enough swimming organizations are utilizing it. Without storytelling, you are a business with something to sell. But storytelling has the power to transform the consumer’s view, connect with them on a deeper level, and announce who you are and what you stand for in the world. Storytelling has the potential to completely and positively transform the connection between the sport and the athletes (and their parents).

Let’s begin with two quick stories…

Story #1: Patagonia Needed a Breakthrough

Early in the 2000s, the outdoor apparel and gear company Patagonia had a very loyal customer base, but its overall growth had stagnated, and they were struggling in an increasingly competitive market. Their research showed that potential customers saw them as a company selling overpriced clothing and not a brand with a deeper purpose.

Sales across the company’s line had plateaued because their message wasn’t reaching new customers in a way that resonated.

Patagonia decided to shift away from traditional advertising and lean into storytelling as its core marketing strategy. They shifted from traditional marketing techniques and began telling stories about the people who use their gear, the company’s values, and the impact the company wanted to make. They wanted the stories to resonate with people, the kind of people they wanted to buy their gear and equipment.

One of Patagonia’s most famous advertising stories was their “Don’t Buy This Jacket” campaign, which ran starting Black Friday in 2011. Instead of offering typical Black Friday deals, the ad told a story about overconsumption and instead urged customers to repair old, damaged gear rather than discarding it and buying something new.

The story resonated with customers who began to see Patagonia as a company trying to do good in the world, not just sell another jacket, while also helping to reinforce the company’s core values of sustainability and environmental responsibility. “Don’t Buy This Jacket” connected with customers in a way that previous marketing campaigns failed, making the customers feel like they were part of a movement.

The campaign worked, with sales increasing by 30% the year after “Don’t Buy This Jacket”. Patagonia’s customer base grew as new customers became repeat customers.

Patagonia’s success wasn’t just about jackets; it was a deeper message about who the company is and what they value. Customers were buying into a brand that aligned with their values. Imagine if swimming organizations and teams embraced this same philosophy—sharing stories that show the deeper, life-long value of the sport.

Story #2: Nike Redefines Success

For over two decades, Nike was the most recognizable shoe brand in the world. Thanks to savvy partnerships with professional athletes as well as professional sports teams and leagues, Nike was lapping the competition, leaving the other shoe companies to fight for the rest of the market share.

In 2011, the Summer Olympics were just a few months away and Nike was still the market leader. However other companies were claiming a bigger share. Nike had the image of an elite performance brand mainly for athletes. Years of exclusively using professional athletes as brand ambassadors had created this perception. This message was no longer resonating with the average runner or gym-goer.

Then it was announced that Adidas was going to be the official sponsor of the Olympics. Nike needed to find a way to shift consumer perception without violating advertising standards for companies who weren’t official sponsors.

The shift came with a storytelling campaign about ordinary people.

Rather than a slate of commercial and print ads showcasing elite athletes, Nike unveiled the “Find Your Greatness” campaign featuring people the average person could better identify with: a jogger moving slowly but steadily on an empty road, a young girl doing gymnastics on her front lawn, or a group practicing skateboard tricks in a driveway. The message was simple yet clear: greatness wasn’t wishing to be “like Mike”, it was about showing up, working hard, and defining greatness on your own terms.

The campaign went viral, changing the narrative around Nike almost immediately. The brand started to feel more relatable with people buying into the idea that you don’t have to be a professional or even signed up for an official league to be an athlete who wears Nike.

As a result, Nike’s sales increased by 15% during the campaign and consumer perception started to see them as a high performance brand as well as a brand for anyone grabbing a workout.

Nike’s campaign worked because it changed the perception of what greatness looked like. Swimming has that same opportunity to redefine what success means beyond results on a scoreboard. We need to tell the stories that show swimmers and parents that this sport builds character, discipline, and lifelong friendships, qualities that matter long after the last race.

Patagonia and Nike didn’t just tell a random story, they told stories they knew would resonate with customers and shift public perception about their company. These two case studies prove something important—storytelling isn't just a marketing strategy; it’s a way to build lifelong engagement. The swimming world needs to take a page from these brands and ask: What are the stories can we tell that follow this blueprint?

We all know what the real benefits of competitive swimming are: full body workout, fitness, promoting positive body image, and teaching life skills that get used long after the swimming career ends, to name just a few. I will again go back to something Nashville Aquatic Club Head Coach and CEO Doug Wharam has said: We are in the business of developing better people, not just better swimmers. Yet when was the last time there was an ad campaign promoting these benefits? The youth sports marketplace is getting more and more competitive each year and we need to find new ways to attract and retain swimmers. There is no better way, in my opinion, than to do this by showing athletes and parents where swimming can take them without showing someone standing on a podium.

Let’s start telling stories that matter and resonate with people.

Swimming people of a certain age know all about Michael Phelps’ workouts and diet. We also know where Katie Ledecky got her start and even how she wrote her goals on her pull buoy. The stories of the elite are frequently told, and they are amazing stories. But what about stories more swimmers can relate to? Most swimmers aspire to be Michael Phelps or Katie Ledecky at one time or another, but only a fraction of a percentage will even come close to swimming in the same meet as one of our Olympians.

We need to tell the stories of the swimmers who participated in the sport for the same reasons most do: because it was great exercise, they loved being a part of the team, and because they developed incredible friendships. Most USA Swimming members will never compete for the college or university they attend, but they stick with the sport through high school simply because they love it. Let’s tell more stories that the average USA Swimming member, and their parents, can relate to.

Most of all we need to tell the success stories of a wider range of former swimmers. Right now, there are C-suite executives at Fortune 5000 companies who can trace their success back to the life skills they learned as swimmers. There are scientists on the cusp of incredible breakthroughs in several fields who would say that their ability to set a goal (and develop a plan to reach that goal) stems from their time as a swimmer. There are first responders all over the country saving lives and protecting the rest of us who can honestly say they developed their perseverance through hours and hours of swim practices.

These are the stories that more people can relate to. These are the stories we need to tell. These are the stories that no other youth sport can tell because there is no other youth sport like swimming. These are the stories that parents will hear and confirm that swimming is the best sport for their child to participate in, because there aren’t many other ways for their children to see the same benefits. Most parents do not look at their child and see the next Michael Phelps or Katie Ledecky, but they might see a doctor, entrepreneur, or research scientist. Let’s close the gap and tell those stories.

This Week’s Question:

What is one story from your swimming community that deserves to be told? Think of a story that says “this is who we are and what we value”, a story to which the majority of your families can closely relate.

How might you weave this story, and similar stories, into your organization’s public message?

Postscript:

The best swimming advertising I’ve ever seen was the viral “Call Me Maybe” video from the 2012 Olympic Team. The video showed the team in a way that most swimmers could relate: having fun with their friends. It showed that swimming was more than “grinding it out” but a way to make connections beyond the black line on the bottom of the pool.