After a quarter century, Citizen is off the clock at the U.S. Open Tennis Championships and Rolex is on. Citizen Watch is ending its deal three years early, and Rolex is stepping in under a new long-term contract as the new official timekeeper of the last tennis Grand Slam event of the year.
Rolex also will get sponsorship of the U.S. Tennis Association-owned Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, as well as the USTA National Training Campus in Orlando. The USTA owns and operates the Open.
Asked why Citizen had ended its deal after 25 years, Lew Sherr, chief revenue officer for the USTA, responded, “Business objectives sometimes change.”
Citizen has kept time at the year’s final Grand Slam event for the past 25 years but is ending its deal three years early because of a change in “business objectives.” getty images
Jeffrey Cohen, president of Citizen Watch America, said in a statement, “Citizen has been a proud sponsor of the U.S. Open for the past 25 years. We look forward now on focusing our efforts on our newest collaboration with Disney and Marvel.”
Conversations began in January between Sherr and Laurent Delanney, associate director of sponsorships for Rolex, after the USTA approached the Swiss watchmaker. Sherr flew to Geneva several times to close the deal, terms of which he would not disclose. Neither side used a marketing agency, Sherr said.
The U.S. Open brand is associated with being brash and outsized, while Rolex is known more for its understated elegance. Sherr did not deny the surface disconnect.
“There is no question we are the spectacular Slam, and our energy is derived from New York,” he said. “Having said that, I think there are many, many common themes.” He cited “best in class,” “precision and performance,” “global reach” and the wealthy audience each brand markets to.
Delanney, a former ATP executive, could not be reached for comment.
Marketing experts said the brands could work together, but it would take a good ad campaign to explain how the two mesh.
“In this regard it is a bit of an unusual fit for Rolex,” said Bob Basche, a partner with Sygnificant Productions, a creative media and events company and a longtime marketing executive with experience in tennis. “But they can overcome that with their ad campaign.”
For Rolex this further cements its ties to tennis. It sponsors Wimbledon, the Australian Open, Davis Cup and Roger Federer. With the Western & Southern Open, Rolex now has all nine of the top ATP events.
A Rolex clock eight feet in width will hang on the plaza-facing facade of the Open’s main venue, Arthur Ashe Stadium. Clock towers will dot the grounds, and, Sherr said, Rolex plans a large hospitality presence. In stadiums, Rolex logos will appear on the backwalls.
