Case Study 2
Jason Pipoly: Swim up Puget Sound’s Hood Canal
Summary
At just 11 years of age, Jason Pipoly became the youngest person to attempt to swim across the English Channel. He fell four miles short. Sixteen years later, Pipoly lost the use of his limbs from the chest down in a car accident. After months of depression, Pipoly turned back to swimming, pushing himself beyond perceived limitations to accomplish things that have never been done before. In 2002, he returned to the English Channel and became the first American paraplegic — and the second paraplegic in the world — to successfully swim the 21-mile course. The following year, he swam across the Catalina Channel as the first paraplegic to conquer the challenging 21 miles. In 2008, he attempted to become the first person ever to swim 40 miles up the Hood Canal.
The Challenge
Pipoly’s father contacted PfitzPR about one week before Jason left San Antonio to start his Hood Canal swim, hoping to get some last minute publicity to encourage his son.
Implementation
Fast was the word of the day. PfitzPR utilized several tools to get the word out as quickly as possible. We kicked off the swim in San Antonio by holding a news conference during Jason’s last training swim the day before he left for Puget Sound, followed by posting portions of a documentary on YouTube and the distribution of a national release through PRNewswire, creating immediate Internet buzz. We set up a twitter account and tapped into several existing local and national social networks to encourage people to send Jason good luck wishes. During the actual swim, we tweeted updates throughout as well as working traditional media channels.
Evaluation
In just four days (August 27 through August 31), we generated more than 300 news stories and blog stories, reaching a total audience of more than 10 million people. Some 200 people from two continents, four countries, one territory and 35 states emailed Jason to support him on his journey. Another 600 watched the YouTube video, posting their own well wishes.
His story was translated into Dutch, and he received offers to be interviewed for a book, have his face read, be interviewed several times over when the swim was done, join a father/daughter on the Alcatraz swim in 2009 and even a request from a woman to be her surrogate brother.
Jason didn’t finish the swim – but he did feel the encouragement and support of thousands who joined him and were uplifted by his courage and ability to overcome seemingly impossible odds.
