August saw Head launch a digital campaign featuring a cross-dressing Novak Djokovic imitating Maria Sharapova (complete with long blond wig and mannerisms).
Released to coincide with the US Open and designed to promote Sharapova’s new YouTek Instinct racquet and bag collection, the creative brought to life an aspect of Djokovic’s personality already known to tennis insiders – his comic impersonations of other players.
Developed by lead agency Aimaq von Lobenstein in Berlin, the campaign roll-out kicked off with Djokovic posting his irreverent version of the impersonation on his own Facebook page.
This was followed by a response from Sharapova on her page asking “Hey Novak, is that your new road to success…imitating me. I’m a little disappointed you did not wear my dress and I think you can work on your body language a bit more”.
The two stars then swapped social networking messages until Sharapova offered to give Djokovic a few pointers for his impersonation at a New York training session.
A viral was then released after this and the world’s number one ranked male player even stayed in ‘character’ for the in-person media launch responded to the press’ questions ‘as Maria’.
Comment:
Some sponsors, perhaps believing that tennis is going through something of a golden age in terms of stars, are focusing on the less stuffy aspects of their brand ambassador personalities to freshen up the game’s image.
Equipment maker Head is at the forefront of this trend with a slew of original star story campaigns combining quirky character traits, urban environments and new media.
This approach also helps a sport that is seeing declining live TV viewing figures and falling levels of adult participation reach out to a new, younger audience.
Links:
Leave a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.