Tennis in Australia was in trouble.

Tennis was the fastest declining 'participation' sport in Australia, at a rate of -23% since 2006, with the decline the largest amongst 25-44 year olds - primarily Millennials.

Tennis Australia, the sport’s governing body, answer to this was to launch a new participation program – Open Court Sessions, a social and fun way to play tennis.

As this was a completely new offering, we were tasked with creating awareness, driving engagement, and generating participation in the new program using the 2020 Australian Open as a backdrop to create excitement.

In short, we needed to launch Open Court Sessions with a BANG.

Attract Millennials to tennis by offering a fun, social activity that:

• Centres on tennis

• Delivers on ‘status’ expectations

• Shifts tennis perceptions from “traditional sport” to “social activity”

But the ‘social activities’ space is cluttered. Standing out was difficult.

Radio had strong engagement with Millennials.

• 39% say radio gives them something to talk about

• 46% follow their favourite radio talent on social

We had an opportunity to combine this love of radio with heightened tennis interest during the Australian Open.

The idea: Open Water Tennis.

Provide Millennials with the ultimate status – the opportunity to play tennis on Melbourne’s iconic Yarra River during the Australian Open!

Open Water Tennis was exactly what it sounded like – a giant, hot pink, floating tennis court that captured imaginations and generated buzz about Open Court Sessions.

Made more iconic by our partnership with popular radio talent, Jase and PJ.

OPEN WATER TENNIS came to life with ARN and KIIS 101.1 DJs, Jase & PJ:

• Giant, hot pink floating court for public participation

• 2 x 12-hour marathon tennis match world-record attempts livestreamed on Facebook Live

• Three-week sponsorship including integrated segments and talent voiced spots

• Training session online content series featuring high profile Melburnians (Melbourne celebrities you won’t know…but who Millennials love)

• On-air and social mentions to maximise reach and engagement of the OPEN WATER TENNIS stunt

Branded spots and live reads delivered awareness for Open Court Sessions.

On-air integrated segments created anticipation of the stunt.

We leveraged Jase & PJ’s followers to deliver engaging content across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter with content amplified via paid activity to further extend reach and engagement.

For increased amplification, we captured the attention of Australian Open attendees by floating the court on the Yarra River, near the AO site.

Objectives achieved and exceeded on a tiny budget (<$150,000 USD).

• 1/3 Millennials reached 10x over the campaign (not including pedestrians or TV coverage)

• 1.3m livestream views across Australia – 40% higher than same time TV viewing of the Australian Open and 69% higher than Australian Superbowl viewers!

• PR coverage across 2 x Australian TV networks valued at 75% of investment

• 30+ pieces of content amplified across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter delivering 708,732 engagements

• 60% of transactions were Millennials with 46% engagement rate, proving appeal

• +109% search impressions during the stunt compared to general activity

• +5,000 sessions booked during the campaign equating to 10,000+ people participating

In summary:

• People participated in their own Open Court Session

• A big stunt gained social traction and seized attention

• You could say we knocked the ball out of the park (but that’s baseball not tennis)