SpeedoSpeedo, the world leader in swimwear, has just started podcasting.

The first episode of “Speedo Make Waves” is out now and features a conversation with Michael Phelps, the US champion swimmer who won eight medals at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

Michael talks about his recent competitive activities, his move back to Ann Arbor, prep for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, some of the things he’s doing to increase broad awareness of swimming as a sport in the US, plus some personal thoughts about music.

“Speedo Make Waves” is the beginning of a series of communication initiatives with social media that Speedo is embarking upon. You can subscribe via iTunes or via the Speedo website.

The podcasts will complement traditional marketing and PR activity. They will enable Speedo to reach out in a new way to young consumers, swim fans and others in its target demographic groups, one that provides opportunities for engagement and creating new connections.

In the pipeline are other podcasts, including videocasts, featuring other A-list international swimming champions such as US champion Amanda Beard, and Australian swimmers Grant Hackett, Libby Lenton and Leisel Jones.

Speedo is my client and I produced this first episode podcast for them. Take a listen; I’d love to hear what you think of it.

11 responses to “Speedo starts podcasting”

  1. Speedo launches podcast…

    Speedo, a client of podcaster Neville Hobson, has launched its new page of podcasts, called Speedo Makes Waves. Well done Neville on landing and delivering this big brand podcast. Keep us updated with the traction it gets. We all love…

  2. Paull Young avatar

    A really interesting interview Neville, I’m not into swimming but this was intriguing.

    Do you have any plans to share the method you used to record the interview and source the background music? I’d be curious to hear more about how you put this together…

    Though I guess I might just have to wait for your upcoming book :-)

  3. […] I’ll be servicing a number of different accounts and knowing Dave, there’ll be a lot of interesting social media initiatives that I look forward to talking about here. Speaking of which, Neville has a great new case study from Speedo up on his blog today.  […]

  4. donna Papacosta avatar

    Nice job, Neville!
    And congrats on landing such a prestigious client.

    I too would like know how you produced this, but like Paull Young, I can wait for the book, ;-))

  5. neville avatar

    Thanks, both. As for the how, I might talk about that after Speedo lets me know how the feedback goes :)

  6. Marco Derksen avatar

    Congrats with this great job Neville!

  7. neville avatar

    Thanks, Marco. And thanks for posting about it on your blog. Nice write-up!

  8. Speedo: a promising B2C podcast for a fervent community…

    Speedo’s enlisted Neville to produce the first in a series of podcasts featuring Olympic swimmers. As the father of two competitive swimmers, I can tell you they’ve nailed the format with this one. Interesting content, thumping bass-heavy intro music…

  9. […] (Disclosure: I produced the inaugural Speedo Make Waves podcast for Speedo.) […]

  10. […] Six weeks ago, Speedo dipped their toe in the social media water with their inaugural podcast, an interview with Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps. […]

  11. james burke avatar

    Hey fun to hear you talking about swimming.
    Have you already upgraded your own briefs since getting this new assignment, any complimentary full-body swimsuits?

    It’s really a radio station you seem to have made for Speedo, nice concept, well executed…unfortunately i am not impressed in how hidden away the podcast link is on the Speedo site.

    I clicked on “Europe” and then on “Greece” to see how Speedo looks like in another country…text was still all in English so i guess the translators are still working on the localization front. The podcast link was all the way at the right hand side of the site after passing all the clothes (drag slider to right). I would have placed it at the beginnning…as it’s a news item, dynamic and updating, whereas the clothing is catalog stuff. What do you think? And the team at MC? Would be curious to see the stats on uptake while changing the position of the link. Also not super impressed by the podcast page background graphics. upgrade?

    The front page takes its inspiration from MC’s other site..sonyericsson.com . I really like the flash water mouseover effects..nice touch.

    Oh and by the way congrats on the new assignment.

    gr

    james