Tennis Is Sweet
The influence of tennis worldwide is becoming more commonplace within adverts and products as businesses look to athletes, these players have achieved success through hard work and training. Unlike some footballers to become a top tennis player you must sustain their game at the top and this takes incredible discipline and a strict adherence to diet and fitness.
When you think of tennis advertisement and brand associations perhaps the most iconic is Robinson’s fruit juice. Robinson’s and Wimbledon go together almost as much as strawberries and cream although most players opt for good old H20 during play.
Tim Henman is associated with their latest campaign celebrating ’80 years at Wimbledon’ and although he never won Wimbledon like Andy Murray, he will always be a symbol of supreme effort and dedicated fan support. At least he has the hill at Wimbledon named after him! Oh and while on the subject, Henman Hill is far superior to the awful Murray Mount!
Roger Federer provides a clear link of male tennis players with his Gillette endorsements and it’s easy to link the value of tennis with healthy living and a clean and professional appearance. Although his acting skills are more wooden than the umpires stool it’s great to see one the greats of tennis being out there in the public eye. Gillette even released an advert which compared the probable No1 in world advertising (Messi) with himself in a variety of sports.
Alongside adverts, Tennis has reached a bigger audience through video games on the PS3 and Xbox 360 but notably there have been no tennis games for current PS4 and Xbox One owners, this should change over the next few months. There is also a way to make free bet on future results. Maybe adding Tennis to their offering could complement their already popular golf game. Surely with Tennis’ enduring popularity there will be some online tennis games as well as in the traditional gaming sector to see the light of day.
Away from Roger Federer the women’s game has always been popular with advertisers. The Russian Maria Kirilenko has been involved with promoting products that have been designed by none other than Stella McCartney – this demonstrates tennis can cross over into modern fashion circles. The best known female advertiser is still Sharapova and she recently caused controversy by launching candy to the worldwide market, Sugarpova (nice pun) caused a stir when it was launched around the time of Wimbledon.
Despite criticism this shows a new approach by tennis stars to take advantage of the popularity of the sport. Tennis will continue to go from strength to strength with advertisers as participants celebrate our great game and the clear health benefits that go hand in hand with the sport.
It’s Sugarpova, not Sugapova