|
|
|
Tennis, Anyone?
|
Business New Haven
4/15/2002
By: Susan Cornell
|
What would you do with a 15,000 seat tennis stadium - the world's third-largest of its kind - if the bowl contained more empty seats than you'd like? Add in the problem of flat merchandise sales. Next, add in another puzzling fact: Your event attract more than half of the top female pro tennis athletes in the world. Additionally, it's a direct lead-in event to the U.S. Open.
Only two seasons ago, the Pilot Pen Tennis Tournament faced this reality.
Tournament Director Anne P. Worcester took a fresh look at the event and its potential. Worcester reviewed a number of firms to hear proposals for turning the tournament around and selected the Silverman Group, a branding firm in New Haven.
The tournament's management team worked closely with the agency to create total awareness of the event. The branding strategy was developed and followed by a focused action plan. Working closely with the tournament marketing team, Silverman focused on several key areas: gaining new sponsors, increasing the level of involvement among existing sponsors, clearly communicating to a targeted population audience, and the fact that this was a major tennis event.
“We had to succeed in creating a sense of real anticipation like never before,” points out Silverman President Al Pirozzoli. The firm was careful in developing the program and positioning that could be both supported and believable. Silverman re-branded the tournament event and developed “Right in Your Own Back Yard,” a positioning campaign that built awareness of the fact that in 2001 the event drew six of the top ten female tennis players.
The agency created follow through, branding support and grass-roots community programs to increase commitments to attend. The event exceeded expectations in every area of sales including tickets and merchandise. The campaign also provided maximum star power and attracted more high visibility sponsors such as: Citizen, SNET, Michelob, Wilson and other brands.
Explains Pirozzoli, “First, the event required a clear positioning - it was literally the area's best kept secret.” He adds, “We had to build awareness that the tournament drew top female pro tennis players right here to New Haven.” Adds Marcy Silverman, the firm's vice president and creative director, “The differentiating point was wrapped up in the positioning line very clearly.
“We had to meet the challenge of communicating that it wasn't just an event but an 'experience,'” adds Marcy Silverman. “We attracted a record-breaking 90,000 fans, record number of tournament sponsors and over 13 hours of network airtime.”
By turning a portion of the stadium into the “Backyard Patio” where fans could win the chance to sit back and relax with the pros, the stadium itself was used as a brand-marketing tool. A series of highly focused ticket mailers was one of the direct approaches to reach attendees.
“We are honored to be part of the contributing team that made the tournament not only a vibrant, successful event, but a bigger experience overall. And in only two seasons, New Haven offers a tremendous amount of sports-related excitement and deserves to be promoted much more than it is,” says Pirozzoli.
|
Go FirstGo PreviousGo
NextGo LastGo
to Index
|
|
