As part of Sydney Water’s Urban Plunge program, we helped launch their iconic pop-up swim site at Prospect Reservoir parklands.
There’s not much that can beat a cool, refreshing dip when the thermostat rises. That first dive into clean, clear water is the perfect tonic for sweaty, muggy or bone-dry conditions. But here’s the thing: swimming pools are expensive. Only the lucky few have pools at their homes, and to make things even more challenging, there’s a lack of swimming sites that truly serve all communities, both through location and affordability.
So, what’s the answer? Urban Plunge by Sydney Water. It’s a program that aims to accelerate the delivery of swimming and recreational opportunities in waterways across Greater Sydney. The goal is to ensure that Sydney-siders can recreate closer to home using rivers, lakes, creeks, inlets and other natural waterways as the aquatic sites. It’s a smart move that serves the community, and makes people much more likely to champion waterway health and protection. This stroke of genius made it a win-win-win for everyone: the communities, the environment, and Sydney Water.
Sydney Water is working with local councils, government agencies and private companies to help realise this vision. The challenge for us: how do we help Sydney Water make it easier, faster and safer to open new sites? We also needed to support their mission around safe swimming, waterway respect, and environmental awareness. And, of course, we needed to do this all with our signature splash of experiential magic.
Our answer: an epic eight-week pop-up summer swimming festival in Prospect Reservoir parklands in Western Sydney, that was designed to start a conversation with the community about swimming in waterways, and to build support for more permanent swim sites across Greater Sydney. This included launching two brilliant pop-up pools using reworked shipping containers by ace event partner Aqua Pools. These two 12m pools were the biggest liquid assets for Urban Plunge, but there were plenty of other fun attractions too.
Once you signed up for a free ticket, you could take a dip in one of the plunge pools or lounge in one of the many deck chairs to take in the views. You could buy a bite to eat at one of the famous food trucks or discover some of the local business and community group stands. You could play a free game of ping pong, register the kids for the Woolworths Blast Cricket Clinics and Western Sydney Wanderers football clinic, or just spend some time exploring the scenic Parklands.
Best of all: it was free to swim, and the pop-up site offered shaded seating areas, parking, lockers, changerooms, and showers. There were even lifeguards on duty to help watch kids and nervous swimmers. Pretty refreshing to hear, right?
The bottom line? The event went along swimmingly. Happy swimmers and happy customers. But don’t just take our word for it.
Ready to dive into your own award-winning experience? Drop us a DM or visit us at becausexm.com to partner up.