Last Thursday, Times Square was transformed into a 17,000 gallon, multi-colored swim tank to host synchronized swimming performances from Olympic athletes from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Dubbed “Swimming In Ink,” the Epson and Staples sponsored event celebrated the launch of their innovative EcoTank printers, which is loaded with two years of ink.
E.J. Freedman, one of the event coordinators working for Epson, spoke to SportTechie about the idea behind the project and the immense marketing potential of live sporting shows.
“We wanted an exciting, unique way to promote EcoTank,” Freeman said. “We wanted a big, explosively creative event with inventive storytelling to market an inventive product, and many people were pretty resistant to the idea when we brought it up.”
Joining forces with recognized brands is not a new experience for Epson, which has previously partnered up with Manchester United and Mercedes Racing for product promotion. Yet, setting up live-streamed under-water performances in one of the busiest venues of the world is uncharted territory.
Aside from live performances, Epson also set up a printing tent where spectators could print out as many photos as they wanted for free on new EcoTank printers. They could also line up to take photos with the swimmers.
“Each performance is designed to tell a different story about Epson,” Freedman said. “You don’t see a tiny bottle of ink that two years, saving thousands of papers and cartridges.”
Setting up a live sporting event in Times Square was a challenging task, Freedman admitted. The team had to not only reach out to sponsors and professional athletes but also contact swim clubs around the country to get the word out.
The event, was a marketing campaign not just for EcoTank but also the sport of synchronized swimming in general. Many of the performers on Thursday were Olympic hopefuls for Rio 2016. The release of the new printers coincided with the swimmers’ preparation for the Olympic trials.
“We want to introduce a revolutionary product in a spectacular way on the biggest stage in the world,” Freedman explained, “and nothing elicits excitement like sports do.”