Wimbledon: creating the ultimate digital experience

Probably the most powerful brands in today’s connected world can be found in sports. Now that we understand a brand is more than a visual identity and an advertising slogan, it is clear that events like the Olympics or the World Cup, or teams like the New York Yankees or Manchester United, incite emotions and loyalty in a way that few products or services can rival. Fans of these sports brands form active communities that go well beyond buying tickets: affiliation is a part of their experience, their identity, even. Sports brands can bring entire countries to a standstill.

Sitting proudly in this elite group is Wimbledon, the annual two-week tennis tournament organised and hosted by London’s All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club (AELTC). Widely cited by players as the tournament they most want to win, Wimbledon appears to have achieved its self-declared goals of being “the pinnacle of tennis” and, arguably, being “the world’s most prestigious sports club.” Even in the US and Australia, which each host another of tennis’ four grand-slam tournaments, Wimbledon commands the highest TV tennis audiences. Demand for Wimbledon tickets outstrips supply 10 times. Brand research conducted by the AELTC showed that Wimbledon has the second-highest awareness of any sporting event in the world (behind the Super Bowl) and is regarded as the epitome of excellence.

Thanks to the digital revolution, Wimbledon, despite its image of tradition, is changing its relationship with its audiences. As is the case for most big sporting events, TV broadcasting rights are a healthy source of revenues; some 50% in the case of Wimbledon, the majority accounted for by multi-year deals with the BBC in the UK and ESPN in the US. But the traditional ‘appointment viewing’ model, where consumers sit down in front of a screen and watch a sports event for an extended period, is declining at breakneck speed. In most developed countries, traditional TV viewing is declining by 100–150 hours annually, while viewing on mobile devices is increasing by 200–300 hours annually. In the UK, over 50% of mobile devices viewing (as opposed to messaging) is sports-related, and 70% of this is short-form (less than five minutes’ long). As TV audiences for sporting events reduces, brands like Wimbledon need to adapt their communications strategy, fast.

New content, new viewing habits

Wimbledon has made a notable success of adapting to this new media landscape, under the leadership of Alexandra Willis, the AELTC’s Head of Digital and Content. Most fans enjoying the unchanging elegance of Wimbledon’s green beflowered buildings and lawns are unaware of the hidden technology that records every fact of the event and broadcasts it almost instantly over myriad online media. Below ground, in a room resembling a military-style command centre, a small army relays to the world a new fastest serve, a spectacular trick shot, an improvised joke between a player and spectator, or a celebrity in the Royal Box. This investment is delivering online audiences growing by hundreds of percent year-on-year, making Wimbledon one of the most-watched sporting events online in the world.

Two marketing lessons emerge from Wimbledon’s experience. First, the content has to change to accommodate new viewing behaviours. While tennis still takes centre stage, the decline of appointment viewing requires a new stream of highlights or other short-form packages. The two most-viewed clips of 2017 illustrate this. Most popular was ‘Man in Skirt’, when during a casual exhibition match on an outside court, Kim Clijsters, a former champion, invited a noisy spectator to join her on the court, and proceeded to dress him in the obligatory Wimbledon white kit with a spare skirt and shirt from her own bag. Second was ‘Nadal Bumps his Head’, which occurred when the Spanish champion was jumping on the spot to warm up in the corridor before coming onto court. Only in fourth place was the moment when Roger Federer broke several records by winning the men’s singles title, and even then it was his emotional on-court interview rather than the winning point that proved most popular. In a similar way, the Wimbledon website showcases behind-the-scenes points of interest, such as training of the famous ball girls and ball boys, and sourcing the famous strawberries.

Contrast this with the traditional broadcast model, in which long periods of tennis are interrupted with advertisements shown at high frequency. People now demand a stream of unusual nuggets related to the core brand but novel enough to gain attention.

Second, the new media landscape offers enormous potential for increased engagement and reach. To unpick this, what, exactly, is engagement? “Traditionally the interpretation of fandom is willingness to pay. Today, it’s willingness to have a relationship,” ventures Willis. Much segmentation work has helped refine Wimbledon’s audience. There are, broadly, six categories.

1. Tennis lovers – they watch Wimbledon because it is a tennis tournament
2. Sports fans – they enjoy watching elite sports and believe Wimbledon is the best in its category
3. Socially motivated – they deem it as culturally significant, like Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s royal wedding
4. Proudly British – they are nationally-driven and love their country, thus, they love Wimbledon
5. Two-weekers – just as they might follow the Grand Prix, because it fits into their calendar, they watch the event
6. Utterly passive – thanks to the likes of the BBC, they can’t help but get swept up in the tennis because, simply, it is on.

The enhanced content increases the engagement of serious tennis fans, who are intrigued by every detail of this famous tournament, but also draws in transient fans, who are more interested in Wimbledon as an event, and do not follow tennis for the rest of the year. The viral nature of social media increases reach. For example, in 2017 there were 134.5 million video-on-demand plays of Wimbledon material on Facebook during the two weeks of the tournament, a majority of which were friend referrals.

This illustrates a key characteristic of networked markets – when consumers communicate with each other, rather than relying on supplier brands for their information, key opinion leaders emerge. If interesting material is provided to these keystones of the market, they will spread the material across their networks.