Press Releases

July 14, 2004

Event sponsors remain low-key, but integrate efforts for maximum value. This year's Wimbledon successful integrated marketing grand slam proves that it's come a long way baby from the garden party atmosphere of its first meeting back in 1877. This sure isn't your great-grandpa's tournament anymore!

Innovation is the name of the game as Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships enters the 21st century with a fully integrated program. It served up a combo of international television broadcasting, rich media online, VOD, nearly $15 million in global corporate sponsorship, interactive television, and even live video coverage to PDAs and wireless phones.

NBC TV pays $13 million annually to the tournament, but corporate commitments drive its health, with nearly $15 million each from global firms such as Rolex and IBM. What makes Wimbledon's sponsorship program so unique, though, is the tournament's attitude toward and under-stated positioning of these corporate underwriters as "official suppliers."

Major sponsors stay in the background
For example, Rolex celebrates 25 years as "official timekeeper" for the championships. The tournament Web site includes the proud statement that "The Club has always sought to retain the unique image and character of the championships by not overtly commercializing the grounds."

American Express's entry as the tournament's official card and its 15th official supplier this year underscores that attitude, since the club allowed Amex only to set up a concierge tent and to run small promos for its card users. Banners, posters, electronic signage and mega-logos would upstage the low-key, unbranded un-commercial atmosphere. Rob McCowen, the club's marketing director, says, "Our key objective is to maintain the quality and character of the tournament, not to maximize income."

Wimbledon declines to disclose revenue or sponsorship figures, but says it had a net income of about $68 million last year.

So how did AMEX maximize brand value from its Wimbledon investment? Outside the grounds, AMEX organized a four-day promo called "Wimbledon at Tower Bridge." It featured a floating court on the Thames River with a live concert by Alicia Keys, a charity pro-celebrity tennis night, and giant live-screen coverage of the tournament -- all free to the public.

AMEX tied in with the Evening Standard newspaper to feature a coupon that was redeemable on-site for tickets to the concert and charity tourney. Of course, AMEX card members were able to call 24 hours in advance to a special number and get their two tickets delivered by mail to their home or office.

The off-site promotion also featured champagne, the traditional strawberries and cream but only card members could purchase the special picnic "hamper" lunches. AMEX's Web site and an advance print and electronic campaign touted special deals for cardholders at the club, including a free program, a free radio tuned to Radio Wimbledon and a tie-in with the charity Sports Relief.

Last fall, American Express Business Platinum customers (limited to 30 lucky card holders) could cash in on a deluxe Wimbledon package for only 1,160,000 membership reward points (or $5,800 per person). The "Grand Slam" package included center court tickets, dinner at The House of Lords, practice sessions with host and former Wimbledon champ Stan Smith, plus other goodies. Who says those points don't add up to anything?

IEG, a Chicago tracker of sponsorship opportunities, estimates that AMEX's fee to Wimbledon ranged between $1.5 to $5 million -- a small fraction of Amex's total annual ad budget of approximately $550 million -- and a savvy way to narrowcast to upscale members while adding an aura of prestige for all cardholders and prospects.

Wimbledon goes digital
This was the first year that tennis fans could watch replays of matches and highlights on the Web. BT Rich media delivered the Wimbledon Plus video subscription service via BT's digital content platform. On top of that, the Club used a new BT payment solution to enable viewers to purchase replays of the key matches and to delve into its entire video library. The content was free to BT Broadband and BT Yahoo! Broadband customers -- other users had to pay.

As part of a pilot project, IBM -- the event's official IT supplier -- optimized the tournament Web site for PDA display via GPRS so that fans could catch tennis coverage on-the-go.

More than 180 IBM staff worked on the on-demand IT infrastructure, which included a wireless LAN, Wi-Fi, Web hosting and integration software and a new customer relationship management system.

Michael Mass, vice-president of marketing for IBM, says, "Servicing sports is an excellent way to showcase what we can do as there is serious technology behind each event."

IBM's logo appears on almost every page of the Wimbledon site, which was visited more than 27 million times last year. There is no advertising on the Web site but there is a whole section devoted to promoting the official suppliers, with links to their sites where they can promote all they want.

In 2001, the BBC served up its first interactive television coverage of Wimbledon, capturing a million viewers from the first day. This year, five simultaneous live matches were available on one screen -- if users clicked one, it went full screen. If they shrunk the video, they could catch up on news, scores and updates. Last year Wimbledon Interactive logged over 4 million viewers, and this year's stats promise to beat that. All this coverage is free from commercial interruption, since that's BBC's policy.

This year, for the first time, new 3G video technology enabled fans to catch the action on and off court via their wireless phones and new services from new video mobile network 3 facilitated by sports marketing firm IMG/TWI's interactive division. The video feed is included in 3's new sports add-on, now available for the U.S. equivalent of $8.75 per month.

Beyond the sponsorships
Is there any opportunity for the smaller marketer at Wimbledon? Game maker Acclaim hoped to cash in on a grassroots promo by announcing advance plans to brand 20 homing pigeons and fly them during the pre-match warm-ups. They were to sport spray-painted "Virtual Tennis2" branded logos. According to BBC report, Larry Sparks, vice president of marketing at Acclaim says, "The Wimbledon tournament is famous for the occasional descent by pigeons on to Centre Court, but our advertising pigeons are trained to go straight for the fans and flap their logos in front of them." UK reports say that the Lawn Tennis Association has received warning of the prank but didn't see any problems. At press-time, we could not confirm their arrival or departure.

Back in New York's Grand Central Station, tennis fans got a chance to visit Wimbledon virtually via a replica All England Club set up by Tennis Magazine, British Airways and Rolex Watch USA. Complete with royal guards, ivy walls and simulated grass playing surfaces, the area's giant monitors let Big Apple viewers catch live action. Live matches were broadcast by ESPN and NBC, and footage from classic Wimbledon matches was at other times.

Last year, 1.8 billion people in 164 countries watched 5,700 hours of Wimbledon coverage. Add to that this year's expanded electronic and mobile coverage and off-site promotions worldwide and you have quite an audience. Although there are only 15 official suppliers, a quick Google search shows scores of other marketers piggybacking their way into the glow of the Wimbledon spotlight.

Down in Australia, Hertz garnered coverage with a Wimbledon ticket-giveaway. And how will fans ever forget the arrival of the Acclaim-painted pigeons -- if they saw them?

Joyce A. Schwarz is an author and analyst in emerging media and entertainment and heads JCOM Consulting in Marina Del Rey, California.

Source: iMedia Connection