Also in this report:
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– CIAU stepping up efforts to put Vanier Cup on map p.32
– Powerboat event offers something for everyone p.34
For Canadians who live and breathe tennis, the du Maurier Open championships are high points of the year.
Tennis Canada, however, wants to increase the spectator base for its two premier events beyond their traditional following. With that goal in mind, it has been busily repositioning the Opens as the kind of entertainment that can appeal to a broader audience.
Scott McPherson, marketing manager for Tennis Canada, says the traditional attendees are ‘tennis people’ – those who are knowledgeable about and play tennis, or are members of clubs.
It is an educated and affluent crowd, consisting primarily of those in the 35-45 age group.
‘We’ve decided to grow our base beyond this [audience] by making the events much more fun and interactive,’ says McPherson.
‘There’s still an attitude out there [that says] `Why would I ever pay to go to watch a tennis event if I’ve never played in my life?”
McPherson says Tennis Canada has tried to overcome this with the introduction of a number of participatory activities over the past few years that give attendees the option of doing something other than just sitting and watching matches.
Features such as the rado Swiss watch Smash Corner (which lets participants measure with a radar gun the speed of their tennis serves) have helped create a festival-style atmosphere.
There are also food and beverage areas, as well as a Retail Village where companies ranging from Nike Canada to Polo Sport Ralph Lauren and Guerlain Cosmetics peddle their wares.
The du Maurier Open championships are nine-day events held each year at the National Tennis Centre on the grounds of Toronto’s York University, and at the du Maurier Stadium in Montreal’s Jarry Park Tennis Centre.
They attract some of the world’s top professional performers, including Monica Seles and Pete Sampras.
Attendance for the Opens peaked in the late 1980s, but slipped during the early part of this decade. In the past couple of years, however, the events have bounced back, drawing crowds in the 100,000-plus range.
McPherson says the organization wants to continue that growth trend, and is now looking toward a slightly younger audience, aged 25-35.
Bringing more spectators through the gate is crucial to Tennis Canada’s mandate of promoting the development of the sport in this country, he adds.
Government funding now accounts for just 2% of the organization’s operating budget, McPherson explains, and is going to shrink further.
‘We use the tournaments to generate funds which we then put back into developmental programs,’ says McPherson. ‘Having more people on site or home in front of the tv being exposed to the events serves an important benefit to us.’
Tennis Canada promotes the du Maurier Open championships with radio, tv and newspaper advertising.
Each year it runs supplements in The Globe and Mail and The Financial Post. These include ads from the sponsors, thus extending their involvement with the tournaments.
This year, the organization made some adjustments to its media plan in order to reach a younger crowd. Among these: a greater presence in The Toronto Star, and the placement of tv advertising around The Late Show with David Letterman.
Next year, says McPherson, Tennis Canada will also buy time on radio stations targeting younger audiences, and place supplements in additional newspapers.
Toronto’s Taxi Advertising & Design has been Tennis Canada’s agency for the past three years, but McPherson says the organization will not use an agency in 1997.
To date, the organization’s repositioning strategy has proven successful.
The median age of those attending the 1996 Toronto event dropped to 35. The crowd remained affluent, with a median income of $89,000, and was split just about evenly between men and women.
McPherson says that promotions and sponsor-driven ‘events within an event’ have made a major contribution to the repositioning of the du Maurier Opens.
Sponsorship has been growing steadily – and extending well beyond the traditional pool of upscale companies such as Mercedes-Benz Canada, rado and BMW Canada.
One of the new breed of sponsors is Toronto-based Lever Pond’s which has associated its Lever 2000 deodorant soap with the Opens since 1992.
Valerie Brown, Lever 2000 brand manager, says the company initially got involved because of the logical fit between deodorant soaps and sporting events. Now that Tennis Canada has adopted a new focus, the company is even more enthusiastic.
‘It’s really the direction they’re taking that impresses us,’ she says. ‘Tennis is a fun and affordable sport, and it fits Lever 2000 and its healthy family image.’
This year, Lever 2000 extended its sponsorship involvement in two ways: through a consumer promotion with an in-store draw that offered the chance to attend the semis and the finals, and by placing tv advertising during the broadcast of the event.
Lever 2000 also sponsored Tennis Canada’s first annual Family Day, held at both of the 1996 tournaments. All families were admitted free on the first Monday afternoon of the championships.
Tropika International was a first-time sponsor in 1996. It plans to be back with the du Maurier Open in Toronto next year, and will be working with Tennis Canada to increase its presence at the tournaments.
This year, Tropika employed both sampling and concession stands to put the spotlight on its Game Thirst Quencher sports drink and Chudleigh’s Fresh Pressed Apple Juice. It also sponsored a Tropika Day, which it hopes to repeat with a bigger splash next year.
Tropika president John Ashbee says Tennis Canada is a good fit with the grassroots marketing approach of his company, which launched in this market just a year ago.
‘We wanted to promote [our products] in a sports environment that was family-oriented, rather than sponsoring football or basketball,’ he says.
Tropika used the du Maurier Opens as part of the product launch for Chudleigh’s, a premium brand introduced this spring, and as a pre-launch for Game, which will get a full launch next year.
Evian bottled water, from Great Brands of Europe, has been the official water supplier to the Opens for the last eight years.
Della Kyle, special events marketing manager for Evian, says the company first got involved because of a brand marketing objective which focuses on health and fitness.
What’s attractive about the du Maurier Opens, she continues, is the demographic and psychographic makeup of the spectators. They are upper-income, highly-educated and predisposed to premium products – all of which describes the target market for Evian.
Evian has increased its participation over the years, recently introducing a charitable aspect to its involvement. The company has developed a Big Sisters program around its tennis sponsorship.
Evian is also associate sponsor of a two-for-one ticket day for women, which takes place on the first Tuesday of the event.
Sponsorship has long been essential to the existence of Canada’s premier tennis showcase.
Until 1979, the Canadian Open was a mixed tournament held exclusively in Toronto. When it ran into serious financial difficulties, Tennis Canada’s primary sponsor, Imperial Tobacco of Montreal, stepped into the breach, and the event was reborn as the Player’s Internationals.
In 1989, Tennis Canada began to alternate the men’s and women’s competitions between Toronto and Montreal from one year to the next. Both competitions took on the du Maurier Open name last year.
