Tennis Canada has launched a new multi-platform initiative, called ‘Find Your Beat’, that aims to leverage Canadian global tennis success to get more young people involved with the sport.
The campaign is spearheaded by a hero video featuring players training and performing while crowds cheer set to a soundtrack of balls bouncing off rackety strings.
The video showcases all levels of competitive tennis – from professionals such as Genie Bouchard and Milos Raonic, to up and coming young stars like Denis Shapovalov and Félix Auger-Aliassime, as well as the next generation of young amauters aiming to establish themselves – comes in 30- and 60-second versions.
The dual language, dual length, hero spot aired on television across Canada
and ran across the organisation’s digital and social channels too.
Our sport has a different kind of beat.
It’s the song we’re alone with when we stand out on the court.
Then the whisper, the hush, the deafening silence.
And we are left with the pulsing of our hearts.
That’s our kind of music. #FindYourBeat at https://t.co/vQnaGyRNU6 pic.twitter.com/khUM2Np99c— Tennis Canada (@TennisCanada) July 2, 2018
“We drew inspiration for this spot from the common sounds of tennis, but paired them with visuals that illustrate the raw intensity being laid down by Canada’s athletes,” said director Jason van Bruggen.
“We wanted to inspire our audience with relatable examples of Canada’s harshest conditions and show how our athletes were leveraging these hardships as stepping stones to world domination.”
In total, the campaign highlights 13 established and up-and-coming players.
The initiative was further supported by an additional film leveraging the country’s showpiece Rogers Cup tournament in August.
Hey Canada, have you found your beat yet? @TennisCanada can help you start playing tennis and #FindYourBeat at the same time! https://t.co/Dfvmc1rtP1 pic.twitter.com/hEcLesKm3m
— Sport Canada (@SportCanada_EN) August 14, 2018
The campaign was initially teased as far back as Spring 2018 with a set of short spots each focusing on a specific player.
The videos were also supported by print ads.
The creative was developed in alliance with Dot Dot Dash, the rights owner itself handled the media buy internally, while North Strategic ran the PR push.
Tennis Canada director of marketing Ben Makarenko explained that the objective was to continue some of the organisation’s momentum from its 2015 rebranding – which itself aimed to bring a sense of ‘Canadian elegance and athletic edge’ to the rights owner’s communication and creative – and to capitalise on the country’s current elite success on the international stage to grow amateur participation.
“We wanted to include people at all competitive levels,” Makarenko said.
“If we had this conversation last year, you wouldn’t have heard of Denis before, but now he’s a household name. It’s a bit of a different approach, to not just have a bunch of tennis shots, but showing the training and other elements as well. We’re looking to build that narrative of what they go through to break out like that.”
Comment:
The campaign generated plenty of traction from fans, the industry and the wider media world.
Tennis Canada’s own data shows that 7m Canadians currently play tennis – which represents a 30% rise from just five years ago.
But even more promising is the fact that, among youth players, the numbers are up nearly 300%.
Makarenko himself attributes this rise largely to the success of players like Bouchard, Raonic and Shapovalov.
“We couldn’t have done this campaign 15 or 20 years ago,” Makarenko added.
“Now we have a list of top performing athletes in the world and we want to leverage that to keep growing the game.”
Makarenko also added that the organisation’s next major challenge to further boosting participation is to increase investment in covered courts and to make tennis more accessible.
There are currently only 650 covered courts in Canada, but Tennis Canada hopes that growing interest will lead to a doubling of that total within a few years – thus making tennis a sport that can be played in the country all year round.
Links:
Team Canada
https://www.youtube.com/user/TCtenniscanada
https://www.instagram.com/tenniscanada/
https://www.facebook.com/TennisCanada/
https://twitter.com/TennisCanada
Dot Dot Dash
