Djokovic Partners' Reactive ‘Wimbledon Win’ Marketing

Novak Djokovic’s personal sponsors – from tennis-specific brands like racquet manufacturer Head to upmarket watch label Seiko – celebrated his Wimbledon victory with an avalanche of low latency congratulatory activations and promotional responses.

Following his five set win over Roger Federer, Djokovic’s second All England Club win, brand partners Adidas, Head, Seiko, Uniqlo and Seiko all leveraged the victory.

Kit sponsor Adidas’ in-house team rolled out a fast response congratulatory tweet with the slogan ‘No Stopping Novak’ and featuring the #SmashTheSilence hashtag it has been using throughout its wider Wimbledon 2014 social media activity.

This creative also fronted Adidas Tennis’ website too.

#SmashTheSilence formed a joint French Open and Wimbledon campaign and was launched in late May to coincide with the build up to Roland Garros.

It included work on YouTube,

Twitter and the brand’s tennis website and included the following copy:

‘Tennis is for those who will never be silenced. Scream — with pain and with joy. Stay hungry — for the victory and shouting. Everyone knows: Only those who are quiet will be forgotten. But tennis never forgets. Are you ready to smash the silence?’

Another Adidas congratulatory post read: ‘Twice as nice. Novak is #allin’.

This linked to a set of content Adidas has run through the year’s sporting calendar memorable moments and key events.

Clothing retailer and Novak sponsor Uniqlo also tweeted its congratulations to the Serb who initially signed up as the company’s global brand ambassador for five years in 2012 in an attempt to support the retailer’s European expansion.

With a series of post-match tweets, UniQlo, which makes Djokovic’s tennis shirts, also rolled out a Vine video to drive more engagement in the initial aftermath of the win.

Watch brand Seiko used a photo of the player in his moment of triumph along with a simple ‘Congratulations Novak!’ copy line both in press ads and across its own social media channels.

Djokovic has also been part of Seiko’s recent Q&A led fan competition called ‘The Watch Hut’ based around the website http://www.thewatchhut.co.uk/competition/.

He also fronted the brand’s recent ‘Prospex’ campaign.

Peugeot also ran reactive marketing responses to exploit the victory buzz by saluting the player’s mental strength through a tweet saying ‘Congrats to @DjokerNole for his victory! Really proud of our brand ambassador #TeamDjokovic!’

The French car manufacturer used the player’s presence in London for the two week tournament to drive awareness of its latest 508 vehicle and Novak fronted the vehicle’s UK press reveal event in late June,

Racket maker Head is also leveraging the victory to drive sales initially activating with a congratulatory message on its website that read: ‘First grass tennis. Congrats Novak on the second Wimbledon title’.

Site visitors are then encouraged to click to the online news page from which it highlights the equipment used by the champion and where consumers can also access its product range.

Before Wimbledon Djokovic appeared with Andy Murray fronting Head’s latest ‘The Ultimate Match’ TV ad.

While, the player also fronted an episode of Head’s ongoing online Tour TV series to discuss his Wimbledon win.

Comment

Reactive marketing which responds to events in as close to real time as possible is now firmly established as part of the activation armoury.

It’s potential power lies in leveraging events whilst consumer feelings remain at their most powerful and when their emotions are fully engaged.

Whether consumers genuinely want brands, whether official partners related to players or ambushers, to be part of their social conversation by ‘newsjacking’ events in this way remains to be seen.

Links

Novak Djokovic Website

http://novakdjokovic.com/en/

Head Website

https://www.head.com/tennis/players/?region=us&id=5

Head Twitter

https://twitter.com/Head_tennis

Head YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/user/headtennis

Adidas Tennis

http://www.adidas.co.uk/tennis

Adidas Twitter