Having lived in London for eight years and been a keen tennis player for most of my life but never experienced Wimbledon, other than through the BBC’s coverage, I decided I should venture down to SW19 to see whether the first-hand experience lived up to the  hype.

Working in the sports marketing and sponsorship world I was looking forward to observing how brands take advantage of their multi-million pound Championship deals (what a geek).  The marathon match between Isner and Mahut provided The All England Club with some welcome publicity in amongst World Cup fever and even inspired some quick off the mark advertisers: ‘Durex Performa.  Take pleasure in coming second’. 

This wasn’t hugely surprising considering Wimbledon’s long history of brand association.  Slazenger became the first official ball supplier in 1902 and Robinsons have been official still soft drink providers since 1935. Both brands have become as synonymous with this particular Grand Slam as strawberries and cream.  This year Robinsons celebrated the 75^th anniversary of their sponsorship by committing to a further five years. Paul Moody, Chief Executive of parent company Britvic, revealed in the Telegraph just how highly he views the sponsorship when he said recently that “You don’t want to be the guy at Britvic who loses the sponsorship of Wimbledon. That would be your tumbleweed moment”. In addition, this year’s tournament has a whole host of other sponsors including HSBC, Hertz, Rolex and Blossom Hill. 

A beautiful day, Centre Court tickets and a fantastic line up, Henin (sponsored by Adidas, Belgacom, Rolex) v Petrova (Ellesse), Hewitt (eSwap, Yonex) v Monfils (KSwiss, Prince),  Federer (Credit Suisse, Gillette, Jura, Mercedes Benz, Nationale Suisse, NetJets, Nike, Rolex and Wilson) v Clement (Adidas), got the day off to a perfect start. 

On arrival at Southfields station I was expecting to be the target of various experiential marketing campaigns with brands trying to capitalise on their sponsorships but I was left a little disappointed.  Having tactically got on the tube so that my carriage would be nearest the exit, I managed to miss the strip of astroturf that Blossom Hill had used to cover part of the platform along with any mention of their £1m “Summer perfectly served” marketing campaign and eventually made it all the way to the gates of the All England Club without even a sniff of brand activity. 

Once through the gates my first impression was of the size of the place. The Beeb has done a great job of misleading me over the years and making it look much bigger than it really is. It was much more intimate and relaxed than I’d anticipated.  This could have been due to the fact that attendance has apparently dipped this year, partly attributable to the World Cup.  After the Bavaria beer girls and their orange outfits I was wondering whether any brands might push their luck with similar ambush activity inside the ground, but the only miniskirts on display were of the white variety (and having now read the ambush marketing section of the Wimbledon website know such activity wouldn’t have been allowed). After the poor performance from the England football team it will be interesting to see whether the Great British public shift their attention to the tennis and support Andy Murray (sponsored by RBS, adidas, Head, Highland Spring) the only British hope left in the competition.

Whether or not fans swap their vuvuzelas for the silence of Centre Court, brands will of course rightly continue to see Wimbledon as a key sponsorship property.  Wimbledon has spent decades building a brand which successfully treads the fine line between global recognition without overselling itself.  It is this unique position which allows Wimbledon to pick and choose sponsors to fit with its brand and long-term objectives and ultimately lead to the long-standing partnerships it has with the likes of Slazenger and Robinsons. Even the tennis players themselves rate the London leg of their world tour the tournament none of them want to miss. Did my experience (be it lacking in brand activity) live up to the hype? Absolutely.

By Lydia Crane on June 30th, 2010

Tags: Andy Murray, BBC, Experiential marketing, Sponsorship