The USTA "over the next three weeks will leverage its
crown jewel, the U.S. Open, in marketing efforts to promote
the sport -- especially to kids," according to Jeff Jensen
of AD AGE. The Open "marks a transitional point in the
business plan implemented by the USTA in late 1995," as
"having been focused on stabilizing the organization's
financial situation over the past two years, the USTA is
turning its attention to growing the game at the grass-roots
and national levels." Pierce O'Neil, USTA Dir of Sales &
Marketing: "There's no doubt we want tennis to be more
appealing to kids. That's where we as an industry need to
do a better job" (AD AGE, 8/18 issue).
TENNIS PARTNERS: In renegotiating TV and sponsor pacts
in '95, the USTA "created packages that included grass-roots
programs and rights to under-leveraged secondary events."
In its business plan, the USTA has five Corporate Champions
partners -- Nissan, IBM, Citizen Watch Co., Heineken USA
and Prudential Securities. The program will generate $26M
in revenue for the USTA in '97 and $30M in '98. IBM, which
will handle the Web site for the U.S. Open, will "soon build
a permanent Internet home for the USTA." O'Neil said that
the Corporate Champions program "could best handle eight
marketers." Steve Davis, Heineken's VP/Marketing: "The
USTA's package allows us to own a sport. Tennis is upscale
and has great demos that match our 21-to-35-year-old
consumer. We wish we could be a bit younger, and so does
tennis, so we fit well there." During its Open coverage on
CBS and USA, the USTA "will break two spots in its tennis-
advocacy effort, a 60-second PSA and an updated version of
last year's award-winning 'Boy vs. Wall' spot, all handled
by Grybauskas Beatrice, NY. For its Open coverage, USA
Network reports its gross ad sales are up 16-18% from last
year with BMW of N.A., Visa USA, Johnson & Johnson, and
Gateway 2000 among "its biggest buyers" (AD AGE, 8/18).
NEW HAVEN LOW: At the ATP Tour's Pilot Pen, 5,542
attended Sunday's final. For the event's 13 sessions and
qualifying, attendance was 82,651 -- 47,984 "fewer than last
year's New Haven low" (HARTFORD COURANT, 8/18).
