5 Sponsorship advantages of Wimbledon 2015

It’s that time again when Tennis fever takes over the country for Wimbledon Fortnight.

Like most professional sports today the star players have to learn good salesmanship.

There is much we can learn in selling from how the professional selling stars approach their game.

There come onto court not with one racquet but a bag full.

Babolat, Dunlop, Wilson, Head, Prince, Slazenger, Mantis, Tecnifibre Pro Kennex are emblazoned on the bags to be picked up on the television, press and sports photography.

Jaguar and Land Rover will supply 170 luxury and

 high performance vehicles to support tournament operations. 

The new Jaguar XE and XF, as well as successful

XF Sportbrake and XJ models 

will be seen in London at this year’s Championships.

The modern game of tennis originated in Birmingham, England, in the late 19th century as "lawn tennis".

Sponsorship  at Wimbledon can be an effective way to raise brand awareness and increase sales. However, it is not without its pitfalls   The recent  comments made by coach Boris Becker have led to an on court coaching controversy. When the point was put to him yesterday, Djokovic argued that this is a judgement call, and that some interaction between a player and his support staff was natural and acceptable, so long as it did not become “regular”. 

 The advantages of sponsorship in one’s marketing communication in an event like Wimbledon include

1.       Brand enhancement – tying up with another individual, event, or organisation that has a strong reputation can enhance your company’s reputation simply by association

2.       Awareness raising – your brand name will gain visibility and be included in media coverage e.g.  English wine we are told is to be served at Wimbledon this year for the first time in the tennis tournament’s 138-year history. Pinot Gris 2014, from the Bolney Wine Estate in East Sussex, will be offered to tennis fans throughout the 2015 tournament.

3.       Access to niche markets – sponsorship can enable entry into a niche market if you link up a brand that already has a reputation in that market

4.       Generate or increase sales – this could be directly e.g. selling your product at the event you have sponsored, or indirectly – a positive change in audience attitude or awareness leads to purchase

5.       Cost effective – sponsorship can be more cost effective than mainstream advertising

There are also risks of sponsorship to consider

Negative image association – as highlighted in the examples above, a sponsorship deal can give out negative messages e.g. if the sports individual you are sponsoring is caught cheating or there is crowd trouble though it is doubtful that the mob on Murray Mount would turn nasty but...

Lack of control – many of the variables for example weather rain in the first week of Wimbledon can cause havoc with the scheduling effecting media coverage, attendances etc. The forecast this are for extreme heat for a change !

Sponsorship confusion – an overload of sponsors, normally at high-profile events such as  Wimbledon, can turn off the target audience and ensure that no one sponsor stands out

Ambush marketing – ‘the practice whereby another company, often a competitor, attempts to deflect some of the audience to itself and away from the sponsor’

The key to maximising sponsorship success is to have a clear and  focused objective at the outset and ensure that the sponsorship deal you select has the best possible fit to match your objective.

One of this year's key sponsors Jaguar has been building luxury cars in 

Jaguar was founded as the Swallow Sidecar Company in 1922, originally making motorcycle sidecars before developing passenger cars. The name was changed to "Jaguar" after World War II to avoid the unfavourable connotations of the SS initials

 he Swallow Sidecar company (SSC) was originally located in Blackpool but moved to Holbrook Lane, Coventry in 1928 when demand for the Austin Swallow became too great for the factory's capacity.[51] In 1951, having outgrown the original Coventry site they moved to Browns Lane, which had been a wartime "shadow factory" run by The Daimler Company. Today, Jaguars are assembled at Castle Bromwich in Birmingham.

The rules of tennis have changed little since the 1890s. Two exceptions are that from 1908 to 1961 the server had to keep one foot on the ground at all times, and the adoption of the tie-break in the 1970s.

 A recent addition to professional tennis has been the adoption of electronic review technology coupled with a point challenge system, which allows a player to contest the line call of a point.

Laura Schwab, UK Marketing Director at Jaguar Land Rover,

 said: “Wimbledon is a British icon, which is recognised globally 

as the pinnacle of international sport. There’s no other event like it.

The four Grand Slam tournaments are especially popular: the Australian Open played on hard Plexicushion  courts, the French Open played on red clay courts, Wimbledon played on grass courts, and the US Open played also on  Decoturf hard courts.

“The tournament captures our imagination in different ways. For some it’s the feeling of summer, but for others it’s British sport at its best. We’re very excited to be working with the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club to establish our new partnership and celebrate what makes Wimbledon so special.”

Window display in Farnham Surrey for an opticians
with simple associations of Wimbledon fortnight
 with tennis balls and strawberries - the gentlest of
association marketing

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