Tennis Showdown was a first-of-its-kind event in Mexico City. They brought highly-ranked professional tennis players and organized an exhibition match where they could bring out more of their raw game without worrying about the competition.
TSD wanted to create awareness around the first edition of their event in a highly competitive date.
The day of the event was Mexican Independence Day, there were a multitude of shows and special events on that day, so competition was very high. On top of that, it was a holiday weekend, and a lot of people were going to leave the city.
We defined two different customers, that in reality were very similar, with different levels of commitment to the sport.
These were the main customers, as they made up the biggest portion of the audience. They were sport followers in general. They appreciated high-level tennis and watched games on TV but never practiced the sport.
Their goal was to have a good time to celebrate the holiday. They were just as interested in seeing the professional players as they were about the music show.
These were hard-core fans. They were either players or former players. Traveled internationally to see big matches. The featured players were their idols.
Their goal was to see the best performing tennis athletes up close, while they were at the top of their career.
Create a bold impactful first impression that would get the attention and appealed to the main customer. They were aware of the sport and the players, but not hard-core tennis fans.
Create an identity that was adaptable enough to be implemented quickly across different platforms by different vendors while maintaining consistency.
Introduce the audience to high-level tennis to strengthen their attachment to the sport over other types of sports and entertainment.
We created a strategy and visual narrative around the concept of the raw power and force that these players had when they were playing. While other sports like football or hockey are all about the clash of opposing parties, tennis traditionally was very conservative, with very clean graphics and focusing on the "purity" of the sport and the quality of the players.
We knew the players were the best in the world, so rather than focusing on traditional aspects of it, we decided to portray them as fierce athletes, and visually show the power and adrenaline that flows in those game. We showed the audience that the players were here to give their all, not to be strategic or display perfect technique.
The main visual was red and blue to show a clash of opposing forces, like fire and ice, heaven and hell, etc.
Since the players were not available for a photoshoot we had to use existing imagery of them and adapt it to align with the "raw" concept.
The main challenge was the amount of competition because of the date. Entertainment options in such a big city were endless. With such a big footprint, advertising can get really expensive quickly. We had to maximize the impact of the first and maybe only impression we made on the audience.
There is a very strong stereotypical aesthetic connected to tennis, it's a very exclusive sport and as such, visuals that break with the tradition are rare. White, blue, and bright green dominate the graphics worldwide.
The players were not available for a photoshoot.
We conducted interviews with different age groups that all had sports in common. Mostly at local clubs and sports bars.
The biggest segment was made up of middle-class men and women between 15-45 that consumed sports on TV. They were sports fans, but not fans of a single sport. They liked tennis just as much as they liked NFL, Formula 1, or NBA games. They were in it for the show more than for technique perfection or the competition.
The second segment was 35-55 year olds, men and women. They had a much higher income and educational level. This segment was much smaller in size but had a lot more resources, they had time and money. They were almost unanimously fluent English speakers and had traveled abroad to attend grand-slam tournaments.
From the perspective of entertainment, the main competition were music concerts and parties at clubs, as the audience resonated with those activities as well.
From a sports industry perspective, there was full tournament of this level hosted in a different city, on a different date. This was not very meaningful competition though, as this only appealed to the tennis fan and they had the means to go to both events.
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