HEAD
In 1968 the innovative ski manufacturer HEAD launches a tennis division. A year later HEAD introduces the first metal tennis racket at the U.S. Open. Since then HEAD has been a fair shareholder of the tennis equipment market, even buying the popular tennis ball brand Penn Racquet Sports. However currently no company is by any means the cash cow within the tennis equipment market. Pair this with the growing number of tennis players within recent years in the United States and there appears to be a need for a marketing campaign.
THE PROBLEM
New consumers in the United States tennis equipment market are unable to differentiate between Head and other brands.
THE ASK
Differentiate Head from competitors without altering the existing brand image.
Why Now?
The Social and Cultural Context
Tennis participation in the United States has been booming the past couple of years.
A 2018 study found tennis to be related to a longer life, more so than any other sport tested. Additionally, COVID pushed more people to seek a healthier lifestyle and towards outdoor activities. Both of these events may have pointed more people towards tennis.
Multivariable-adjusted life expectancy gains compared with the sedentary group for different sports were as follows: tennis, 9.7
In 2021, 164.2 million Americans participated in an outdoor activity, a 6.9% increase since 2019.
The Audience
Building a persona out of new tennis players
In 2022 38% of the overall tennis-playing population were people of color, up from 32.5% in 2019.
In 2022 he average tennis player salary was $51,738.
In 2022 the average tennis player age range was 20 to 30 years of age.
Let’s not forget the nature of people who gravitate towards sports.
Meet the..
Identity
Seekers
They know life is valuable so they strive to keep in good health. However, life isn’t satisfactory just yet…
something’s missing
Identity Seekers are figuring out how to become the “protagonist” of life that they know they can become. They have a steady job and a decent life, but believe they are still missing something to make their life fully fulfilled — identity. Because of this they find a need to prove themselves in competition and find a community of like-minded people.
Identity Seekers have role models who resemble themselves. Common thoughts might include: “That person is the same ethnicity as me, is left-handed like me, and plays tennis at a high level! I want to try playing tennis too!” or “That person went through adversity like me, but has proven themselves in professional tennis! That inspires me to play tennis too!”
Human Insight
Among psychologists there is a wide-ranging consensus about what our core needs consist of… These have been variously listed as: belonging, relatedness, or connectedness; autonomy: a sense of control of one’s life; mastery or competence… – Gabor Mate
Fulfillment can only be achieved once you have an identity.
Humans need identity as much as they need love and affection. However, some people are still finding themselves.
Task at hand: Prove HEAD equips people with a sense of identity.
Why HEAD?
HEAD has always pushed to innovate and improve their products. Personal improvement and empowerment fall within this ideal since it is implied HEAD’s innovations were made to improve their patrons.
HEAD’s sponsored athletes include the perfect role model figures that our Identity Seekers can align with. All we have to do now is create suitable narratives for our campaign.
Competitive Approval
HEAD just so happens to sponsor one of the best tennis players of all time, Novak Djokovic. Djokovic has been known to be the player the crowd wouldn’t root for. However, through the adversity Djokovic has proven time and time again by winning multiple Grand Slams (24) and a plethora of other tennis tournaments that he is undeniably one of the greats of the sport. Similarly, HEAD’s Jannik Sinner, a 22 year old Italian phenom, recently won the 2024 Australian Open. This was his first Grand Slam victory, in which he was not the favorite to win. In both cases, proven greatness and earned respect are the main storyline for these role models.
Ethnic Representation
HEAD also sponsors multiple athletes of color. The most popular and topical of which is Coco Gauff. Gauff won the US Open in 2023 and most recently made it to the championship match of the 2024 Australian Open. Other sponsored athletes of color include Sloan Stephens and Zhizhen Zhang. These tennis players can be seen as role models by being phenomenal athletes of color within a Caucasian-dominant sport.
Fulfillment
HEAD has sponsored ambassadors too. These ambassadors aren’t on the professional tour, but include retired pros which are active within the tennis community. One former pro is John McEnroe. who is still very active within the professional scene as a commentator. Another is Mansour Bahrami who is known for his hilarious exhibition matches. These ambassadors can act as role models through their achievement of living a fulfilled, healthy life.
the
BIG
idea
Write your Signature Shot.
Your voice will be heard
Make a lasting impression
Find your identity
Marketing Funnel
Conceptualizing the actions needed at each stage to fully implement the idea.
AWARENESS
Consumer Mindset
“What tennis brands are out there, I’ve heard of a few but haven’t really considered any.”
Jobs to Get Done
Let’s get the word out about HEAD. We’ll utilize a means to reach a broad audience, but still resonate with the Identity Seekers. Note it’s a good chance these people are already aware of HEAD due to athletic sponsorships and the popularity of Penn tennis balls.
Touchpoints
OOH ads, TV commercials, Athlete sponsorships, Social media giveaways, Attach more heavily with Penn
CONSIDERATION & CONVERSION
Consumer Mindset
“Okay so there’s there’s Wilson, Head, Babolat, and a bunch of others, but what makes Head more worthwhile than other brands?”
Jobs to Get Done
Now it’s time to really align HEAD’s brand with our audience so they feel inspired to buy HEAD products over others. Gather data on the persona of “Identity Seekers” based off the preposed demographics to tailor personalized ads and choose social media figures to partner with.
Touchpoints
Personalized ads on social platforms and web browsers, Partner with social media figures and other brands followed by Identity Seekers
LOYATY & ADVOCACY
Consumer Mindset
“I would recommend Head! I think their brand and message are great. How else can I support my new favorite brand?”
Jobs to Get Done
We got our foot in the door, but let’s make ourselves at home. Motivate Identity Seekers to talk about and vouch for Head products. Let’s provide a means for our audience to “be noticed by their new favorite brand” through a social media hashtag campaign — #HEADsignatureshot or #usedmyHEAD. In either case, promote social media users to upload their best tennis shot or trick shot using the hashtag to have a chance to meet Djokovic or Coco.
Touchpoints
Social media hashtag campaign, Apparel based on campaign
LOVE the thought process here. You took me through every step of the way!!
You make marketing fun and interesting! Keep up the good work 🙂