The Scoop on How Speedo Is Reclaiming Its Bronze-Tinged Aussie Charm
Speedo is in Australia’s DNA. The brand is iconic, nostalgic, and dripping with Aussie charm.
But in recent years, Speedo has been far more focused on speed and performance athletes than regular beach dwellers. It had drifted away from its bold Aussie attitude and held a desire to return to its roots, which are more associated with its birthplace of Sydney's iconic Bondi Beach.
The brand partnered with MIRIMAR on 'Go Full Speedo' – a global campaign that serves as a relaunch for the swimwear brand during an important Olympic year. MIRIMAR is an LA-based agency founded by a largely Australian team, a perfect fit for the global scope but distinctly Aussie vibe of the campaign.
The work comprises film, an original song by Aussie band The Beefs, still photography and social videos. The Beefs liked the tune so much that a full version is set to be released on the band's upcoming EP. Check out the track here.
The 'Go Full Speedo' hero film is directed by Australian, Scottie Cameron, who lives and works in LA. It was produced by Australian production company Collider and features Stranger Things star and Aussie icon Dacre Montgomery, Californian skateboarding legend Peggy Oki, and the stars of the TV show Bondi Rescue.
Speedo hopes that this new brand platform helps it reclaim its spot in the hearts of the bronzed Bondi beach-goers who made it famous, as well as anyone with the attitude and cheekiness to identify with it.
To find out more about that and how the campaign came to be, LBB's Addison Capper spoke with Simon Breckon, SVP of Speedo, MIRIMAR’s co-founder Luke McKelvey, ECD Nick Morrisey ECD, and senior creative team Jake Ausburn and Alex Polglase, as well as director Scottie.
LBB> Simon, why was now the time to 'reclaim' Speedo's Aussie heritage?
Simon, Speedo> We wanted to create an enduring platform that can translate and appeal by looking at things a little differently. By returning to our Aussie roots, not familiar to everyone, we felt we could amplify the brand’s power. We embraced moments in our history where we've been down to earth, bold yet self-deprecating, and ultimately more in touch with our heritage.
We’ve got a bit of humour, a bit of swagger and we felt that, even in an Olympic year, it was important to connect to the everyday swimmer, not just the elite.
LBB> What does that heritage mean to you and the brand? Tell me a bit about the relationship between Australia and Speedo.
Simon, Speedo> The brand was formed on Bondi Beach itself and that gives us a differentiation. While we’re respected in our functionality and performance credentials, we’re at our very best when we show a bit more personality. Our Australian raw charm lets the brand be that bit more playful and inviting in a way other sportswear brands cannot.
LBB> What kind of brief did you present to Miramar and what inspired it?
Simon, Speedo> The most important thing was to create a brand idea that could connect in a way that was ownable only by Speedo. At the heart of our brand is a commitment to progress and Speedo, with its years of history and focus, delivers and enables our swimmers to perform no matter what your ability. However, the key was to find an agency that could decode our Aussie personality to create something that wasn’t seen as too outdated. We wanted to represent a ‘modern expression of Australia’.
LBB> I love how unashamedly Aussie this campaign is, despite being made for a global audience. Why did that approach make sense for the Speedo brand right now?
Luke, MIRIMAR> In recent years Speedo has meant performance; the vast majority of the world records all belong to Speedo athletes. The team at Speedo wanted to open the aperture of who Speedo was for, to go beyond just performance in the pool and reclaim the attitude and swagger of the original brand, for all swimmers.
As well as being fun, leaning into the brand’s Aussie heritage is a shortcut to distinctiveness and memorability, particularly in a busy sporting year surrounding the Olympics.
Scottie, Collider> I think having the ingredients of the location being Sydney and Bondi Beach, Speedo-glad people, and golden sunshine you can't really go wrong in it being utterly Australian. By not hiding any of that, everything was able to shine through in all its Aussie glory.
LBB> With that in mind, can you give me a bit of backstory as to the relationship between Speedo and Australia? To me, as a Brit that grew up in the early '90s, I have such clear memories of wearing Speedo gear while swimming as a kid.
Luke, MIRIMAR> Originally, the brand came from Bondi [known for Bondi Beach]. It’s where it got its personality and soul from. More than just a swimwear brand, it became iconic for the people and lifestyle it represented. That attitude is what was so successful in being exported around the world.
Speedos are in Australia’s DNA, and vice versa.
The beach and the pool are pretty sacred to every Aussie, and Speedos have been at the heart of both of them since the brand was founded in Sydney in 1914. For a tiny pair of swimmers, they have a massive place in our hearts. ‘The great Aussie cozzie’ even sponsored the construction of the iconic lifeguard tower down at Bondi Beach – there’s a weathered old plaque with the Speedo logo on the side of it.
For over a century, you have been hard-pressed to find an Australian body of water without a pair of Speedos in it.
LBB> What was the brief like from Speedo? And what was your starting point?
Luke, MIRIMAR> It needed to work globally but at the same time have genuine, raw Aussie charm. And be able to break through in a category where there are much bigger spending competitors.
LBB> Jake and Alex, why was Scottie the right director to bring your Aussie vision to life?
Jake and Alex, MIRIMAR> An Aussie living in LA, Scottie was instrumental in getting the tone right, balancing an Australian point of view in a way that works for a global brand and audience. With Scottie’s background in fashion and photography, he brought so much to the project, from art direction to the film, like grade and choreography. He helped make it less like an ad and something fun and entertaining.
LBB> Scottie, what kind of script did you get and why was it something that caught your attention? What was your starting point?
Scottie, Collider> There was a really strong tag line idea – ‘Go full Speedo’ – and a few scenarios were loosely plotted out. But with that idea of ‘going full Speedo’, it was very easy to just imagine any kind of scenario and then just turning it up to max. It was really fun to turn seemingly mundane actions into something larger and hilarious, such as the boring taxi passengers into not wearing pants, or a guy mowing the lawn into having all his clothes ripped off. There were so many vignettes that got thought up, it was just a matter of picking the ones that we loved and would work in the story arch.
LBB> Tell me about the song! How early on in the process did that come into it? What was the writing process like alongside The Beefs?
Jake and Alex, MIRIMAR> Our launch film is set in a supercharged version of Bondi: wild, frenetic, fun, sprinkled with chicken salt and pixie dust. Timeless but unmistakably Aussie.
That’s exactly the same space that the Aussie pub-punk scene occupies in Australian culture.
Early on, we knew that was the soundtrack our film needed, and The Beefs were at the top of our wishlist. They’re cheeky, nostalgic, energetic, and – just like Speedo – they’re born and bred in Bondi.
We wrote an early version of the track and took it to the band, and then they went Full Speedo – bringing it to life in the way that only The Beefs can. The version of the song you’ve heard on the film is effectively a cutdown – The Beefs have released the full-length track on their channels, as well as planning to print special vinyl editions of their latest EP with the song included.
Scottie, Collider> I think they [The Beefs] also took in the same sensibility to the song writing by going full Speedo. The task at hand was pretty clear – it couldn't be a mellow love song that's for sure. Not that songs write themselves, but knowing the mindset and from them seeing a few early edits, the song took shape pretty easily and naturally. The Beefs were always involved from the beginning, as we wanted them to appear in the spot somewhere. It ended up being Sammy popping up out of the briefcase on the beach, guitar in hand.
Simon, Speedo> It shows that there’s a place for Speedo in wider culture, an opportunity for us to connect with consumers across more of their passion points. Going Full Speedo is about giving it a ‘full send’, whether that’s in or out of the water, the song absolutely does that.
LBB> What inspired the 'Go Full Speedo' tagline and the overarching campaign?
Jake and Alex, MIRIMAR> We needed to celebrate what is unique about swimmers. Swimming is a unique sport in that there is very little gear or equipment, just you and the water.
Whether it’s a casual swim, someone training for an ocean race, or an Olympian pushing to their limits, being a swimmer requires a level of commitment.
That spirit of going all in and pushing yourself was the core of the idea. And we wanted to combine that with the attitude and swagger that helped make Speedo so ionic.
LBB> There's a real vintage vibe to the art direction, set design, colour grade, etc. What was the thought process behind that and how did you pull it off?
Jake and Alex, MIRIMAR> Relaunching the Speedo brand was an interesting tonal balancing act.
In the heightened, entertaining world of the film, it would have been easy to make wearing Speedos a punchline – although we needed to steer the brand away from the world of just serious athletic performance, we couldn’t steer it into slapstick, either. Speedo is still a brand for Olympians, after all.
The Sydney sun-drenched look was essential to getting the tone right. The warmth of the grade gave the film its (figurative) cool, taking the spot beyond pure comedy and into a space that’s normally reserved for indie film and fashion.
Scottie, Collider> I like to approach things with a less is more attitude. Keep it primary, keep things default, production design objects that just are what they are with no fuss. To me it makes things nicer to digest. Colour-wise, it was always in reference to all the Australian family holidays being photographed on Kodachrome film. We got so lucky with truly wonderful weather for all our shoot days, so the front lit scenes for everything were very consistent, giving it the feel.
LBB> Tell me more generally about the production. What kind of environment did you aim to build and why? What about the process was unique?
Scottie, Collider> The environment was ‘Go Full Speedo’. It was a bit of a running joke, but if we just applied that to production also and made sure everyone was having fun, and the different jokes and so forth in the spot were making people laugh when shooting them, then we knew we were doing it right.
LBB> What was the production process like?
Jake and Alex, MIRIMAR> With a client based in London, our agency headquartered in LA, and a production company based in Sydney, there wasn’t an hour on the clock face that we didn’t use at some point during the pre-production process. We also had to align the production schedule with Olympic athletes from different countries in and amongst their own Olympic trials. Fun.
Thankfully, everyone was creatively aligned from the outset, and the pre-production process was more about how we can maximise the time we had with Dacre and the real swimmers we featured in the ad.
LBB> What were the trickiest components and how did you overcome them?
Jake and Alex, MIRIMAR> Shutting down a busy street in Sydney CBD (Central Business District) was a piece of cake compared to shooting down at Bondi Beach on a scorching summer day. Heavy camera equipment and soft sand don’t mix particularly well. Neither do a cast of hundreds and eight hours in the sun. Luckily, we were well-prepared (and well-stocked with sunscreen), so it all went smoothly. That swim at the end of the final shoot day was well-earned, though.
Scottie, Collider> Not so much tricky, but more practically I wanted all the effects to be done in camera so rehearsing and dialing them all in was crucial. We rehearsed the lawnmower gag a lot to get the clothes ripping off just right, and same with the very first stunt of our guy flying out the office building. I think we got it all to a really great place, but it required a bit of trial and error.
LBB> I believe that Miramar is an LA agency with a strong contingent of Aussie staff. So, personally, how did you find the experience of working on this campaign?
Luke, MIRIMAR> As an Australian living in the US now, it was a special project to partner with the Speedo team and help shape a brand that was so much part of our lives growing up. Personally, I remember my mom, dad, and their friends during summer. They would spend the entire day at the beach or sailing in nothing else but their Speedos. They would put on shoes and sunglasses, and that's it. It was that confidence and active way of life we wanted to bring to this new campaign.
LBB> What kind of reaction have you seen to the campaign since it launched?
Simon, Speedo> Go Full Speedo is an enduring, 15-year brand platform. We’re just over a week post-launch and so far it’s been incredible. Partnering with someone like Dacre Montgomery has given us that virality, in fact, we’re up to more than 10 million views on the film, just via our collab social post. We’re just getting started, we see this as a long term plan, but in the short term there’ll be lots more activity this summer for consumers to get involved with.
LBB> Any parting thoughts?
Nick, MIRIMAR> Go Full Speedo is a rallying cry for swimmers worldwide. It is a mindset that represents total commitment in and out of the water.
If you’re in a Speedo, you’re all in.
Speedos aren’t for those who dip their toes into life, but for those who cannonball into it with a shout. They’re not for the timid or the tentative. They’re for those who Go Full Speedo.
