Mastercard, the official payment partner of the Australian Open, launched its multi-platform ‘Making A Grand Slam A Happy Slam’ tournament campaign on 15 January.
The work continues last year’s approach to Australian Open activation which also focused on the idea that this tournament is the happiest slam: a insight based on research suggesting that it is the players who believe this.
Working in harness with creative agency McCann Sydney, experiential sports agency Octagon, social agency Digital Arts Network, media agency Carat / The Story Lab and PR agency Chasing Albert, the integrated activation revolves around the brand’s ongoing ‘priceless surprises’ both card holders and spreading the fun and joy to all tennis fans.
The creative is spearheaded by the finance/technology partner’s 30-second Australian Open television commercial.
The spot starts with narration and footage contrasting restrictions on and rules for tennis fans back in the 1950s (with conservative attire, behavioural guidelines and plenty of in-play hush) with today’s noisy, rule-breaking and fully committed crowds.
The commercial, which will run for two weeks on official broadcaster Channel 7, closes with the endline ‘Making a grand slam a happy slam. Priceless’
The campaign continues through experiential, digital (with a dedicated web hub) and social assets,
In Australia, we do tennis a little differently. @LleytonHewitt’s here to tell you why at the @AustralianOpen 2018, we’re making a grand slam a happy slam! pic.twitter.com/RPCsygUrdP
— Mastercard Australia (@MastercardAU) January 4, 2018
as well as around 300 outdoor sites (including a Melbourne Airport takeover that sees executions everywhere through the building from baggage claim to the airport exit).
In support of the advertising burst, Mastercard’s Aussie Open activation continues the objective of its global ‘Priceless’ platform that serves up happiness and unique experiences to its customers.
(An approach based on the insight that ‘experiences matter more than things’.)
On the ground, the brand’s marketing team has set up a ‘Mastercard Beach Club’ at the famous ‘ Melbourne Beach Club’: a branded space for cardholders, fans and partners to enjoy food, music, entertainment, tennis star appearances (from athlete ambassadors like Lleyton Hewitt, Jim Courier and Chris Evert) and the Australian Open’s first ever wade-pool.
While on the tournament site itself, fans can have fun with the ‘AO Fanbot powered by Mastercard’ (https://chatfuel.com/bot/AOFanbot): which offers fan services from player profile details and match schedules, to tennis trivia.
There are further activations across the brand’s social channels: for example, Mastercard’s Facebook page is showcasing a range of tournament related Priceless Surprises.
Other technology led initiatives include cardholder benefits through the tournament’s ‘Served App’: which enables customers to pre order food ahead to beat the queues at designated food and drinks stores and to order from their seats and collect from Mastercard Served pick up lanes.
On the competition side, Australian tennis fans who are Mastercard cardholders also have chances to unlock Priceless Surprises ranging from tickets and upgrades, to merchandise and Priceless ‘Happy Hour’ benefits (with a twist).
“No matter where people have travelled from to attend the Australian Open, or whether they’re watching at home, the pub, or a friend’s place, they are all looking for the same thing: an unforgettable experience,” explains MasterCard Australiasia marketing VP Sarah Pike.
“Our campaign is built on the belief that shared experiences and pursuing passions are what make humans the happiest. In order to make Australian Open 2018 the happiest to date, we want to reward Mastercard cardholders, as well as those travelling from abroad with experiences that truly mean something to them. Whether kicking their feet up by the wade-pool at the Mastercard Beach Club, saving time by ordering ahead, unlocking Priceless Surprises through the Australian Open Fanbot powered by Mastercard, or donating to a truly Priceless cause, every Priceless experience we deliver to Mastercard cardholders will bring us one step closer to making the 2018 Grand Slam a Happy Slam.”
Plus, on the cause side of the tie-up, Mastercard continues its tie-up with the World Food Programme (which began back in 2012) to ‘deliver innovative solutions to help create a world with Zero Hunger’.
At the 2018 Australian Open, fans themselves are able to support the project just by ‘tapping’ a donation on one of three Ingenico digital donation displays situated around the grounds and two others at The Mastercard Beach Club.
“We are delighted to partner with MasterCard to deliver an exciting user experience at the Australian Open based on our connected screens,” added Ingenico’s Australia/Pacific VP Dominic White.
“Connected screens are a multi-merchant multifunction solution that will facilitate commerce for physical and digital goods whilst providing consumers with a unique experience.”
Comment:
This campaign follows last year’s integrated work for Mastercard (see our 2017 case study), led by the same McCann Sydney/Octagon/Digital Arts Network Sydney team, that not only included the first ever Australian Open ‘Tap Tennis’ (a digital and onsite tournament – and competition for tickets – enabling fans to compete in a virtual game of tennis culminating in a eight-strong fan final for the title that was played on a custom-built, oversized interactive Tap Tennis table on Australia Day at Melbourne Park),
but also an online and onsite ‘Happiness Meter’ tracking the levels of happiness at the Open (which also unlocked ‘Priceless Surprises’).
Immediately after last year’s tournament, on January 20 2017, Mastercard extended its partnership with the Australian Open to continue to use the alliance to ‘connect people to Priceless possibilities’ through emotional and experiential connections.
Mastercard has a long history and heritage of sponsoring international tennis tournaments: other major property partners include the French Open at Roland-Garros and the Miami Open.
‘Sports’ like tennis (and golf, football, rugby and baseball) make up one of the nine consumer passion silos that make up Mastercard sponsorship portfolio.
The others are entertainment, music, travel, art/culture, culinary/dining, philanthropy, shopping and the environment.
Links:
Mastercard
https://www.mastercard.com.au/en-au/consumers/offers-promotions/happyslam.html
https://www.youtube.com/user/MasterCard
https://www.facebook.com/mastercard
https://twitter.com/mastercard
https://twitter.com/mastercardau
Australian Open
https://www.youtube.com/user/australianopentv
https://twitter.com/australianopen
https://www.instagram.com/australianopen/
https://www.facebook.com/AustralianOpen
McCann Sydney
Octagon
http://www.octagon.com/australia
