There’s something special about Wimbledon and the general buzz that surrounds it. Tennis fan or not, the immaculately groomed grass courts, lovely weather, Pimms on tap, strawberries, and Andy Murray’s break points, all seem to bring us together.
In a marketing sense, Wimbledon has always provided a fantastic opportunity for brands to creatively attract consumer attention by running promotional campaigns that are inspired by, and celebrate, the world’s most iconic tennis event.
So, with that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the brands that have truly 'aced' it with this year’s efforts.
Robinsons
Robinsons have long been associated with Wimbledon ever since the brand was born at the Championships in 1935. In fact, the Robinsons-Wimbledon partnership is the second longest in the history of sport. The lemon barley water drink was used to hydrate the players of the 1936 tournament, and it’s been the taste of Wimbledon ever since.
For 2017, Robinsons continued their ‘Taste of Wimbledon’ campaign, running from June through to July. This includes limited edition packaging on bottles and squash’d packs (which were a big hit with last year’s campaign), and the usual addition of new flavours. The launch of their new ‘Refresh’d’ spring water product range, also coincides with Wimbledon, and no doubt we’ll see a lot of promo for this cropping up on the advertising boards.
This year also sees the return of #TasteOfWimbelon, which Robinsons run on their social channels. Using this hashtag allows users to share their Wimbledon experiences through brand interaction, and even win match tickets.
Evian
Evian has established itself as the natural choice for both players and spectators, and is the official water of Wimbledon. The pure water brand is celebrating their 10th year of Wimbledon partnership with a well thought out campaign.
Evian’s £1.9m ‘LiveYoung’ campaign for 2017 is one of the most impressive this year. They’ve also gone with the change of packaging technique, but have gone one-step further and added promotional ‘Snapcodes’ that encourage consumers to scan to unlock digital content and various perks. This is a great example of how to engage target audiences with just a few simple changes to the promo strategy.
They’ve also re-launched the popular digital campaign #Wimblewatch, which won the ‘2016 Best use of Digital’ at the European Sponsorships Association awards.
#Wimblewatch is essentially a show that invites celebrity guests to come and watch the action, play games (such as water pong) and just have a laugh. There’s also various giveaways and chances to win tickets for the Championships.
This was brilliantly received by audiences on social media, with over 4.5 million video views and 6,700 hashtag mentions on Twitter. It’s likely to drum up a similarly great response this year!
Stella Artois
Since 2014, Stella Artois has been the official beer of Wimbledon, and is supposedly the UK’s favourite premium beer brand. All I can say is that it goes down very well on a summer’s afternoon.
This year, Stella have also gone with limited edition Wimbledon packaging, which also offers buyers a free ‘The Champions, Wimbledon 2017’ chalice, included in each promotional pack of beer. The Belgian brewers also released an exclusive Wimbledon product collection, which includes Stella Artois tennis balls, water bottles and collapsible drink insulators!
Accompanying this is Stella Artois' “Vantage Point’ campaign – running from 3rd-16th July – which is a series of hosted brand events, put on up and down the country, that show the Wimbledon action outside the leafy suburbs SW19. Serving a variety of artisan food, alternative commentary, luxury picnics and other quirky bits, Stella Artois offers a unique viewing experience that brings people together through the power of the brand.
Pimms
Although Pimm’s has been the tipple of the tournament for many years, 2017 is the first year of the popular drink brand’s official sponsorship. Despite this, they’ve really ceased the opportunity and come up with a fantastic campaign that’s already attracted a lot of attention.
Pimm’s decided to expand outside the grounds of Wimbledon with their marketing efforts. As well as enjoying a beverage from the ‘Pimm’s on the Hill’ bar and the ‘Long Bar’, which are located in the grounds, people can grab themselves a drink at the ‘Pimm’s bar’ which sits on the Selfridges rooftop. How cool? Very. This is just one of several pop up Pimm’s bars that are scattered around London.
It doesn’t stop there, the guys over at Pimm’s came up with the genius idea of creating a Pimm’s flavoured ice-lolly, courtesy of collaboration with popsicle brand, Pops. Apparently they’ve sold bucket loads! Again, it just goes to show how something so simple can yield such a great consumer response. Game, set and match to Pimm’s.
