American Express teamed up with Andy Murray to unveil an integrated suite of on-site activations and an above-the-line advertising campaign leveraging its Official Payment Partner of The Championships rights for Wimbledon 2019.
Spearheading its on-site work at the American Express Fan Experience in the Southern Village at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, is a new participatory virtual reality experience called ‘The Champion’s Rally’ which will see tennis fans and Amex guests tackle a series of tennis challenges with an avatar of the two-time Wimbledon champion overseeing their efforts on a virtual Centre Court.
This initiative, developed for the HTC Vive VR headset, is a two-minute experience which ends with each participant given a performance based rating: including beginner, wildcard, pro and champion.
This self-described ‘unique interactive gaming experience’ allows fans to step into a virtual reality experience and play tennis in both the digital and physical worlds. Players will aim to hit five targets positioned over the net to measure their speed and accuracy, encouraged by Andy Murray, all in the environment of Wimbledon’s iconic Centre Court. Available to all attendees at The Championships 2019, the difficulty of the game increases as players progress through the game before receiving a score at the end.
“The level of detail and accuracy is amazing, it really does feel like you’re stepping out on to one of the world’s great sporting arenas,” commented Murray (who will continue his comeback playing doubles at this year’s tournament.
“It was a bit odd meeting my virtual self, but I had great fun playing the game. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone have a go on Centre Court – so long as you don’t beat my score,” added Murray who became the latest American Express athlete ambassador in June.
As well as member presale ticket package benefits, other key pillars of the activation programme at the payments brand’s new, on-site activation programme based at custom designed space – open from 1 to 14 July – themed around ‘Tennis in an English Garden’ creative concept in the Southern Village at Wimbledon (with hammocks, bespoke seating, charge points, complimentary sunglass cleaning, postal services, a ‘Don’t Wimbledon Without It’ photo booth), include the ‘American Express Card Member Lounge’(which offers exclusive space to relax between matches (with a panoramic view of the grounds, plus snacks and drinks) and promotes an on-site card member incentive which sees those who spend £120 at Wimbledon get £20 back), plus free in-ear radios featuring a live broadcast from Centre Court and No1 Court and the Wimbledon Radio Channel, ?
American Express also launched a360-degree above-the-line advertising campaign on 17 June spanning TV, OOH, transport advertising, social, display and media partnerships.
The OOH strands provides the brand with a presence at key transport hubs for Wimbledon and along fans’ route to the event, plus bus and taxi wraps.
While Amex’s Wimbledon TV spots are running on Eurosport and across 10 outdoor screens in major UK cities, while supporting social and display videos feature Murray and the payments partner is running a media partnership with London’s Metro.
The creative amplifies American Express’ ‘Don’t Wimbledon Without It’ strapline and champions the unsung heroes of Wimbledon who back the players and help Wimbledon to thrive: including the ball boys and girls and the dedicated groundstaff.
This approach aims to dovetail with American Express’ wider global brand platform based around the tagline: ‘Powerful Backing: Don’t Do Business / Live Life Without It’.
The ATL work is backed by an integrated below-the-line campaign which sees American Express collaborate with Murray on an integrated social and digital campaign, featuring Andy sharing the benefits available to Card Members on-site at The Championships.
The campaign will be in market before and throughout the event, reminding fans to bring their Cards to unlock a unique experience at Wimbledon.
Other elements of its Wimbeldon 2019 programme include off-site benefits for small merchants and corporate client (providing small merchants located near the All England Lawn Tennis Club in SW19 with co-branded merchandise such as decorations and tote bags), while a specially designed Wimbledon pop-up activation will be taken to the offices of several large American Express corporate clients in the UK to bring to life the on-site activation, including the Champion’s Rally VR experience, photo walls and a ‘Deuce’ smoothie bar.
“Our partnership with Wimbledon is an important example of how we’re backing customers and tennis fans around the globe with unique experiences and benefits,” said Deborah Curtis, Vice President, Global Experiences and Partnerships, American Express.
“Building on our heritage of supporting tennis in the US, this partnership will be supported by a 360-degree marketing campaign that highlights the many advantages of being an American Express Card Member at The Championships and delivers an enhanced event experience for Card Members that reflects the best of our brand. We’re also excited to leverage the partnership at a B2B level, supporting our small merchants in the Wimbledon area and bringing a pop-up activation to several of our UK corporate clients, so they can truly immerse themselves in the experience of the Championships.”
Comment:
This is an impressively broad and deep activation programme using multiple touchpoints – particularly in the local market and on-site.
It follows in the footsteps of some of its other rich tennis tournament activation programmes such as its 2018 (see case study) and 2017 (see case study) US Open campaigns.
American Express’ partnership with Wimbledon, which is the oldest of the four tennis Grand Slams dating back 1868, was only panned in June 2018 and the new Murray endorser alliance further strengthens the brand’s commitment to the tournament sponsorship.
The payments partner’s new deal, which sees it join 11 other ‘official suppliers’, was confirmed at the same time that the All England Lawn Tennis Club announced a raft of other sponsorship renewals with existing partners including Lanson, Evian, HSBC and Stella Artois.
Others sports in the Amex sponsorship stable include several golf tournaments and its partnership with the United States Golf Association (which includes the flagship US Open), while it is also the main sponsor of English premier League side Brighton and Hove Albion where it is also the title sponsor of the team’s American Express Community Stadium.
Links:
American Express
https://www.americanexpress.com
https://www.youtube.com/user/AmericanExpress/videos
https://www.instagram.com/americanexpress/
https://twitter.com/AmericanExpress
https://www.facebook.com/AmericanExpress
Wimbledon / AELTC
https://www.youtube.com/user/Wimbledon
https://www.facebook.com/wimbledon
https://www.instagram.com/wimbledon/
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