For now however, the focus has to be on Djokovic and indeed Sergio Tacchini. The Chinese-owned brand has quite rightly bombarded the homepage of its central website with images of the tennis superstar, highlighting his position as global ambassador, referencing his third Australian Open win and even launching his own clothing line. A recent post I published on the Insight Sport blog touched upon the benefits of sponsors of major sporting events such as the Olympic Games aligning themselves with a portfolio of athletes as opposed to ‘putting all their eggs in one basket’ so to speak and focusing on one specific athlete – for a company the size of Sergio Tacchini it has little choice.

With an annual revenue of less than $50 million, the sportswear brand is reliant on Djokovic continuing his excellent form, whilst it can also fall back on his long term tennis heritage, having sponsored players such as John McEnroe, Pat Cash, Martina Hingis and Goran Ivanisevic in past times. In comparison, the likes of adidas and Nike are in a different league, with both sponsoring a number of high profile tennis stars across the men’s and women’s games. And with Nike recording revenues of $2.55 billion and the adidas $4.7 billion in Q3, 2011. At this point, one can only wonder at the impact Novak Djokovic could have had as an ambassador for adidas should it have retained the World Number one as an ambassador.

However all is not lost…

Adopting a long-term perspective, should Britain’s number one win a Grand Slam – he is showing signs of improvement under new coach Ivan Lendl – the effect could go beyond that of his close friend and nemesis. Given his nationality and the popularity of tennis in the UK, his appeal would reach out not only across his homeland, but also globally, given his delay in achieving what many say is his destiny. Djokovic meanwhile has hit his mesmeric heights now, there is evidence to suggest that Murray is slowly closing the gap, whilst Djokovic’s relatively small home market of Serbia is not one of significant importance to the adidas brand.

For now, one thing is clear, Djokovic is the driving force in men’s tennis, and deserves the accolades he is receiving, and Sergio Tacchini is revelling in his successes. Until Andy Murray wins a Slam, adidas must simply face up to the fact that they missed a trick in releasing Djokovic, although should that day arrive where Murray comes face to face with destiny, expect adidas to turn around and give a big ‘I told you so’ in the direction of those who doubted.

By Andreas Plastiras

Check out Andreas’ blog Snap Shot Sport

Kia celebrates its tenth year as the major sponsor of the Australian Open, having aligned its brand with the event event back in 2002. In that time, it has provided transport to the players, officials, VIP’s and the media to and from Melbourne Park, whilst gaining exposure by featuring prominently on perimeter advertising around the courts throughout the two-week event.

Its activation around the 2012 Australian Open has featured ambassador Rafael Nadal (signed in 2006) in its global brand campaign ‘I Like It’, driving consumers online to its various, market specific Facebook pages where visitors can engage further with the brand. Its Kia Australia Facebook page contains the ‘Tennis Ball Hunt’ tab and invites fans to play an online game or download the official app, encouraging both iPhone and Android phone owners to capture tennis ball logos featured on KIA TV ads, car dealerships and outdoor posters to stand a chance of winning daily prizes, and the ultimate prize of a Kia Ria Si car.

Again via Facebook, the brand has asked the question ‘what does Nadal like?’ and featured a trailer video outlining how fans could submit their guesses in order to win tickets to the 2012 Australian Open. The competition provides a clear example of the way by which Kia is relating its wider brand communications to sport – with Nadal a key figurehead in its tennis-specific activity.

Further digital activity includes its ‘Open Drive’ video series which has has shown players providing their answers to a number of intrusive and light hearted questions whilst en-route to Melbourne Park via its YouTube channel. The campaign bares striking similarities to Peugeot’s activity around the French Open in 2011 (series of idents on Eurosport), and is clever way for official car sponsors of sporting events in general to humanize sports stars and provide genuine, engaging content to consumers both on and offline.

Additional digital activity from sponsors has seen official TV, camera and air conditioning sponsor Panasonic launch ‘Cool Moments’ via its Facebook page. The brand is using its sponsorship of the event to promote its CS/CU-E18MKR air conditioner, given the excessively hot conditions in Australia during the summer.
Official outfitter Lacoste has picked up from where it left off at December’s ATP World Tour Finals enabling fans of its Facebook page (reviewed in Insight Sports blog) to create their own virtual tennis ball, whilst racquet manufacturer Wilson is enabling fans to gain behind the scenes access to the lives of the players during this year’s first major event through video uploads to its YouTube channel.

It is clear that digital activity has been a key part of sponsors’ strategies at this year’s Australian Open – with platforms such as Facebook and YouTube being heavily utilized. It will be interesting to see whether a sponsor at one of the forthcoming Grand Slams this year turns to new social platforms – the likes of Instagram and Tumblr, for example provide creative and unique photographic opportunities to sponsors.

Enjoy the rest of the tournament!

By Andreas Plastiras

To honour the anniversary of this legendary racquet series, HEAD kicks off the year 2012 with a special celebration. Looking back at 25 years of history, outstanding players, epic tennis matches and trophies, and very special and personal Prestige moments, HEAD has launched a bespoke Facebook application and a series of YouTube videos, which allow tennis fans to dive into the Prestige history.

Each month, one of the past and current HEAD Prestige players reflects on a special ‘Prestige’ moment in his career. The Prestige legend featured in January is Thomas Muster.
Watch him talk about the career-threatening leg injury he suffered a few hours after his semifinal win over Yannick Noah at Key Biscayne, in 1989:

Among the many great former athletes on the ATP Tour, who have been playing with the Prestige, are French Davis Cup hero Henri Leconte, former World No.1 players Thomas Muster and Marat Safin, Spanish double-legends Emilio Sanchez and Sergio Casal, 3-time French Open winner Gustavo Kuerten, Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic and Davis Cup trophy holder Mark Philippoussis. But also current ATP Top 15 players such as Gilles Simon or Robin Söderling are taking part in the celebration.

On the 25th of each month, friends of HEAD Tennis on Facebook have the chance win a signed HEAD YouTek™ IG Prestige S-Line racquet signed by a Prestige Legend.

Playing in mixed teams with local Melbourne sporting stars, the players competed in a modified version of Stické Tennis – a racquet sport invented in the late 19th century merging aspects of real tennis and all the basics of lawn tennis with the addition of side and back walls.

The event was filmed to promote a yearlong campaign by adidas called ‘The Game is the Game’ and follows British tennis talent, Andy Murray’s challenge against the world’s best player of ‘Road Tennis’ at a secret London location last November.

‘The Game is the Game’ will challenge some of the world’s best tennis players at a series of tennis-based games around some of the major tournaments in 2012.

Check out Challenge 1 : road tennis with Andy Murray

Source:adidas

I am really excited to join the ASICS team. I’ve actually worn their shoes for a couple of years, so now to be fully kitted out is really exciting for me and I am really looking forward to getting the year started

Check out her first ASICS kit she wore today in her 6-2 6-3, defeat of Anastasia Yakimova at Brisbane International.