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CASE STUDY
P1440
p1440 was created from the vision of three-time Olympic gold medalist and one-time Olympic bronze medalist, Kerri Walsh Jennings, and husband Casey Jennings’ way of life: to live every minute of the day with purpose – all 1,440 of them. p1440 was an event series that encompassed beach volleyball, health & wellness, personal development experiences and entertainment, mirrored by a powerful digital community that provided inspiration and resources to live life fully.
At the end of 2017, the p1440 team came to Olive with the task to introduce a movement in the new year that would change the face of volleyball as we know it. The goal? To elevate the sport of beach volleyball, provide a credible platform for aspiring and professional athletes, grow the volleyball audience and become the leading resource for individuals to live a life full of intention. p1440 set out to do this by creating a live experience unlike anything else that featured the best beach volleyball players from around the world competing in a tournament, top health & wellness experts sharing their tips and leading workouts and yoga classes, kid-friendly activities, engaging art installations, entertainment and more. In p1440’s inaugural year, these live events traveled to San Jose, Las Vegas, and Huntington Beach.
The Olive Way
The Solution
With a movement being led by the most decorated beach volleyball athlete of all time, it only made sense that we shoot for the stars and that’s what we did. With a short one-month lead time to launch, we quickly and diligently managed the branding and creative process to establish a name, brand design and brand messaging for p1440, which led up to our strategy. How were we going to make this announcement in the most impactful way? At Olive, we believe the power is in your creativity, so we had a vision to introduce p1440 on the TODAY Show during the 2018 winter Olympics. We wanted Kerri to join in for a day to commentate on the games and then end the segment with the big announcement. With a vision in mind, we set out and made it happen. We used the week in New York to lock in top-tier media desksides, giving our key media contacts an opportunity to meet with Kerri.
After the successful launch, we were on a mission to build even more momentum, so we delivered a national strategic pitch schedule that included creative angles and editorial calendar opportunities to top-tier outlets. While carrying out a national campaign, we also pitched industry-related stories to sports and volleyball outlets, while also targeting the different regions that were hosting p1440 events – the Bay Area, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles with a strategic community-focused media relations campaign to introduce the event. Once the event details were confirmed, we tackled a powerful media tour in each city leading up to the event for Kerri. Throughout promoting the events in different regions, we’d make it a priority to consistently keep our media contacts updated with event details and pitching every relevant vertical – family/parenting, entertainment, business, women’s interest, sports, etc.
Social media played a crucial role in the development of p1440. We focused on identifying and targeting p1440’s core audience, utilizing Kerri’s fan base and developing creative content ideas. We launched their social media pages in tandem with the Today Show segment and created content that exemplified Kerri’s vision to revitalize the sport of beach volleyball and p1440’s four pillar of competition, development, health & wellness, and entertainment.
THE RESULTS
In p1440’s first year, we were able to secure more than 1,300 media hits that ranged from national coverage and regional coverage in the Bay Area, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles. Media placements secured included: FastCompany.com, SHAPE, Sports Illustrated, Real Simple, ESPN Sports Center, TODAY Show, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, ESPNw, Associated Press, USA Today, CNN.com, San Jose Mercury News, NBC Sports and more.
Social media served as a useful tool for sharing media hits to increase brand credibility and awareness. By leveraging the national media coverage and Kerri’s legacy, we grew p1440’s digital presence from the ground up.
Establishing meaningful partnerships was influential in p1440’s first year and we were able to connect p1440 with organizations like the One Love Movement, a movement that brings people together to take action and support projects that advance social justice. This partnership resulted in a successful collaboration with p1440 and One Love Movement’s signature yoga event in San Diego. Kerri served as a the keynote speaker and One Love Movement’s founder, Kim Bauman became p1440’s resident yoga expert and led classes at all of p1440’s events. We were also able to connect p1440 to The Chopra Center and coordinated p1440’s involvement in Deepak Chopra and Oprah Winfrey’s 21-Day Meditation Experience and The Chopra Center shared some of its mind, body and spirit knowledge and p1440’s digital community.
Today, p1440 has evolved significantly and continues to provide many opportunities within the beach volleyball community.