While the worlds best tennis stars battle it out at this year’s Australian Open, some of the world’s biggest brands are battling it out off-court to leverage their lucrative partnerships.
What is the prize pool for brands?
Last year alone 743,667 fans visited the excitement of the Australian Open in person, over 10.5 million viewers tuned in on TV and 78.8 million minutes were streamed online! Not to mention the international coverage where more than 900 million homes were reached worldwide.
Not bad potential reach and engagement figures, right?
Game plan for the brands
KIA Motors
Creating experiences for all fans who are at the AO, visiting Melbourne and those at home, the KIA campaign is all about surprise and they leveraged every platform available in a unique and engaging way.
Experiential
• Kia marque: for guests to enjoy an exclusive AO atmosphere with complimentary food and beverages
• Kia Caraoke: prizes for those who step up to the mic
• Kia strand: hop in a Kia, take a break and escape the heat
• Street art in Melbourne
• Live streaming of matches in Federation Square
Digital
• Kia ticket hunt: a series of clues on social media to locate tickets to the AO throughout Melbourne
• Live streaming on Instagram of the Kia fleet handover ceremony
• Kia tennis passport: win trip to Paris or tickets to the finals.
• Twitter take over: tennis blogger “the Aussie Word” takes over Kia Twitter to report live from the tennis ground
• Mobile app: Tennis ball hunt in the city of Melbourne
• “Show us your mean face”: a social campaign encouraging fans to take a pic and tag the brand with the Nadal art work in Federation square.
Giving Back
• AO ball kids: recruiting 30 kids from Korea and India with the opportunity to train to be a ball kid and experience Australian culture
• Kia ball drive: fans can take home a used tennis ball as the ultimate AO souvenir with a gold coin donation. All proceeds raised will go to the AO Community Grants Program
Signage
Of course, the brand needs to be seen on the big screen too!
ANZ
With a customer first approach, ANZ are driving customer loyalty with their marketing.
Experiential
• ANZ customer priority entry
• ANZ pedal cab: free ride along the river to Federation square
• Ace the open: an on-site pop up court giving people the chance to win prizes
In-store
• Bringing it back to a local level. ANZ uses local branches and billboards to drive awareness of the partnership.
Examples of brands leveraging their partnership at a local level.
• In-store pop ups
• Packaging
• Merchandise
• Shop fronts
What can we learn from the big brands?
Don’t have the budget of the big brands? That’s ok, you can still leverage potential sponsorships or large events like the Australian Open with these key tips:
• Choose an event that aligns with your brand values
• Have a clear strategy with defined objectives and a way of achieving them
• Engage your audience by tapping into their emotional connection with the event and your brand
Have you seen great examples of brands leveraging sponsorship opportunities? Not sure how to get started?
Tell us about it in the comments below or get in touch to build your game plan for 2019.
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