News You Can Use
On the day of opening play in the US Open this year, the USTA announced a plan to use the tournament as a platform to promote awareness of key initiatives to promote and develop the growth of tennis in the United States. In addition to raising the visibility and awareness of social issues, “Rally to Rebuild,” “Net Generation,” and “Tennis Industry United,” were featured.
Also included in the US Open media blitz is a recently produced commercial that is a part of the USTA “Get Out and Play” initiative. Just in case you are one of those avid tennis players that never watches televised professional tennis, here is an embedded link to the spot.
I am not in the advertising industry, but from from my consumer perspective the commercial is really well done. It is by far the most effective “call to action” for the general public that I have seen targeted at the promotion of playing tennis in recent memory.
More significantly, judging by the increased swarm of players at my neighborhood courts the past three weekends — the campaign is working. Starting Labor Day weekend, the courts have been crowded with tennis players almost every time I ventured up there. Even better, a lot of the new participants do not appear to be established tennis players.
In an article published by Sports Business Daily, Amy Choyne, the USTA Chief Marketing Officer, is quoted as saying that this is the first nationwide campaign in at least five years. That commercial is a part of the new focus at the USTA to focus on “services instead of programming.” Choyne is also quoted “We’re trying to reach a wide audience of people.”
Sports Business Daily observed that in previous years, the USTA might have only directed a campaign like this internally to its 600,000-plus members. It appears that the USTA has learned that to grow the game of tennis the sport has to be marketed to people who are not engaged in the sport. As noted in previous posts, I do not recall seeing an advertisement promoting tennis outside of an established tennis channel in recent memory.
At the same time, the free statistics provided by iSpot.tv indicates that the last airing of the “Get Out and Play” commercial was on September 14. That correlates to the conclusion of the US Open. Reading between the lines of Sports Business Daily article, the intent is to broaden the target market for the advertising. I am eagerly watching for it to appear on other channels.
In the meantime, the 30 second commercial has a local slant, as it was filmed in Dallas, Texas. By my eye, there are only two locations used for the parts of the commercial where tennis is being played. One of those is clearly court 17 of the T Bar M Racquet Club.
For reasons that defy my own understanding, I spent an inordinate amount of time during the US Open trying to figure out the location of the second tennis site. I have come up completely empty in that endeavor which surprises me. Locating random tennis courts using satellite imagery is one of my super-powers.
As an additional observation, I believe that one of the actors in the USTA “Get Out and Play” commercial also briefly appears in the “Dak Prescott” version of a commercial for the Sleep Number Bed. That commercial is also currently running in the DFW market. Or maybe I am seeing things. Hours of studying satellite imagery messes with your mind.
This is clearly one of those cases where I need help. A footnote to this post announces a contest to identify the second location. Wait… were you thinking that I needed another kind of help?
- US Open to Serve as Platform to Support Grassroots, Tennis Industry, Racquet Sports Industry Magazine, August 31, 2020.
- USTA Campaign Promotes Tennis As Social Distancing-Friendly Activity, Bret McCormick, Sports Business Daily, June 11, 2020.
- United States Tennis Association TV Commercial, ‘Get Out and Play’, iSpot.tv, viewed September 18, 2020.
Second “Get Out and Play” Court Scavenger Hunt
Here is what I have gleaned from the commercial:
- It appears to be a two-bank set of courts which suggests park, middle school, or community association ownership. It could be larger than two, however.
- The courts were very recently re-surfaced judging from the sheen on the paint.
- There were no wind-screens, though there could be some now so they would be new if present.
- The courts are also in a fairly open area with nearby residential structures or a place where people park cars in close proximity to those structures.
- The nearby residential structures do not appear to be new construction.
- The trees are relatively small, which suggests fairly recent construction. or a tornado.
- The courts have no lights.
It is possible that the courts are new construction and thus do not appear on current open source satellite images.
There will be a prize (probably a Fiend at Court T Shirt) to the first person who correctly identifies the location to me. Happy Hunting.
