Christmas Gift Guide, cold water themed issue, gear review schedule and what swimmers like to get for gifts

Dear partners and swimming friends,

Winter is coming and it’s the favourite time of year of many outdoor swimmers. In our Trends survey last year, 69% of women said they love winter swimming, they get a real buzz from it and do it as often as they can. The figure for men was 47%. Autumn is therefore the time when swimmers gear up with neoprene accessories, warm clothes and all the paraphernalia that goes with winter swimming. We have therefore created a range of opportunities for you to showcase your products to as many swimmers as possible. Read on to find out how we can help. In particular, check our Christmas Guide, which will be the biggest yet and circulated widely. 

Outdoor Swimmer Christmas Gift Guide

It’s time to book your product/brand/offering into our annual Christmas Gift Guide that has become an expected treat for our readers and followers. Outdoor swimmers love this time of year to treat their fellow swimming friends and gather their most wished for items (see below for our survey results on what swimmers want most).

The Christmas Gift Guide is a print and digital supplement distributed with the November magazine. It is also featured and promoted for two months on our website and shared regularly with our social and newsletter database audiences. Please click here for details and contact Stuart to get yourself booked in. We have over ten brands already confirmed so don’t miss out. 

Cold water swimming - November special issue

The November issue of Outdoor Swimmer magazine will be themed all about cold water swimming. It is the perfect time for you to position your brand next to the gear ‘must haves’ and our inspirational winter swimming content. Pages are filling fast for adverts and advertorials, please book in with Stuart. Please also note our web advertorials are being well received so consider them for more digital stand out. You can see the latest on behalf of Zoggs here. 

Grow your database

Our competitions are loved by swimmers and brands alike. What’s not to like? Swimmers get stunning prizes and brands get valuable exposure plus opt-in data. Last month we ran a competition with Budgy Smuggler for a £150 voucher, celebrating the front cover of the August issue. There were over 2,500 entries and opt in rate was 50%. Our live competition for Speedo is looking likely to have even more. Multi-channel competitions cost £950 plus VAT (and prizes) which includes the entry form on the website, page in the magazine, newsletter, social and shared for a month.

Gear and kit reviews

These are by far the most popular web-based content we provide. Outdoor swimmers trust us and love stuff. Our new gear editor, Jo Tinsley, has plans to ramp up the frequency of content and always keen to hear from brands with products to try and test. See our current schedule below and please get in touch with any new ideas. 

November – neoprene accessories, ice baths

December – long sleeve swimming tops

Gift Research – what outdoor swimmers want 

We ran a mini-survey on our social channels asking our followers what swimming-related gifts they would love to receive. Here are the top 20 in order of popularity. 

1. Woolly hat

2. Dry bag/pouches

3. Flask

4. Changing robe/towel robe

5. Swim hat

6. Pins/badges/stickers/keyrings

7. Goggles

8. Swimwear (particularly quirky prints)

9. Reusable cup

10. Hammam towel

11. Art/prints

12. Book

13. Vouchers  

14. Kit bag

15. Warm socks

16. Wool gloves

17. Hot water bottle

18. Jewellery

19. Tow float

20. Printed t-shirt

As always, please contact Yvonne if you would like support creating brand campaigns through our channels and see our ratecard here. 

We look forward to connecting with you soon and in the meantime, happy dipping and swimming, 

Yvonne Turner

Commercial Director, [email protected]