A major part of your team’s identity is its team colors. Those colors help competitors and fans identify your team to cheer it on to victory.
Swim teams don’t have as many branding opportunities as other sport teams. But one key area where they can show their team spirit is with custom swimming flags.
These flags are a regular fixture in competitive pools, offering backstroke swimmers an important sighting mechanism but they are also a prominent viewpoint for spectators and casual, everyday swimmers at your pool.
Learn all about the branding and personalization process for swimming flags and find tips for making these flags memorable.
Custom Swimming Flags Branding
Swim teams have fewer options for branding their swim environment than teams who compete in large stadiums or indoor courts with jumbotrons. Don’t miss out on the opportunities you do have to brand your pool and make your team recognizable.
Competitor Swim gives you a host of options for how you customize your swimming flags.
1. Review Where and How You’ll Display Your Flags
Make a plan for how and where you’ll display your swim flags. This is important because it dictates the length of your swim flags. Review our blog on everything you need to know about swimming flags to learn how to mount your flags properly and how to design them to match your pool’s needs.
2. Choose Bright Colors
Since swimming flags aren’t just about branding but also provide important athlete safety for backstroke swimmers, make sure they are easy to identify with bright colors.
Higher contrast colors when compared with the paint on your ceiling will also help your swimmers stay safe.
3. Start with a Durable Material
Once you have a concept of which of your team colors to use on your flags, you need to work with a manufacturer that can produce quality flags in your colors.
Indoor pools lend themselves to more flag material options, whereas outdoor pool environments are best served with nylon flags.
Whether you choose vinyl, plastic or nylon for your flags, you can customize the colors, numbers and designs to build a branded appearance that will help spectators identify your swim team’s colors. Competitor Swim’s backstroke flags come in Oxford nylon.
4. Select Your Flag Size
Competitor Swim offers two flag sizes: 11″ x 14.5″ or 12″ x 18″. You can select from 13 standard colors or design using your specific brand colors.
Both flag sizes meet all FINA, NCAA, USA, and NFHS regulations. It’s more about how prominent you want them to be.
5. Add an Appliqué
An appliqué allows you to include your team’s logo on your flags. You can add the appliqué every few flags and have the others be a plain color or include the logo on every flag if that meets your designs better.
Personalization Tips for Branding Continuity
As you work to build brand awareness for your swim team and its colors, consider including these additional pool branding opportunities.
- Swim team banners: These banners can hang inside the pool or in the building leading into the pool to help build continuity throughout your facility to build branding even for those who don’t visit the pool deck.
- Fabric swim banners: As your swim team takes off, you might consider getting a fabric swim banner. These banners are more high-end and can be moved around and used as needed, even for away meets.
- Feather flag banners: Put feather flag banners up outside your facility to build awareness for days when you host meets. Or use them close to the road to help direct visitors where to park.
- Swimsuits: Another key area of branding for your swim team are the swimsuits your team members wear. Ensure the colors of your swimming flags and swimsuits match will further instill clear branding in your spectators’ minds and make your team easy to identify.
- Swim caps: A can’t-miss branding opportunity for your team is swim caps. These help identify your team members and further communicate your brand colors.
- Apparel for support team members: Coaches, parents and volunteers should wear branded apparel to further communicate your team’s brand to all competitors and spectators. Identifying support team members can help spectators know who to ask questions to create a more welcoming and comfortable environment for everyone.
Getting Started with Branded Swimming Flags
Ordering branded swimming flags is simpler than you might think. The Competitor Swim Backstroke Flag Wizard walks you through the process, including pool width, flag dimensions, colors, appliqué, number of flag strands and the number of flags per strand.
You’ll see accurate mockups of what your flags will look like and get the chance to make adjustments based on how the colors and designs come together.
Get started now designing your team’s competitor backstroke flags and hardware.
