Fiend at Court Unplugged
The October challenge for the USTA Tennis Champions program was to distribute flyers promoting tennis. Harkening back to my own days as a youth soccer coach and parent, there were many days when I stumbled off the pitch emotionally primed to embrace the virtues of an individual sport. As the fall soccer season comes to a close, the time is right to distribute some flyers to encourage youth soccer players to give tennis a try.
My flyers were placed on cars parked at the local youth soccer complex in my home town. I am moderately concerned at how the printed message on the USTA flyers will be received in what is arguably the reddest part of a red state. The large print message is fine: “Tennis: Get Out and Play.” The subtext “The sport that lets you keep social distance without being socially distant” might not resonate in this part of the country.
It is a challenge to craft a marketing message that will resonate across all regions and target audiences. The distribution of the flyers prompted me to consider how marketing could be better tailored to direct market tennis in local areas. Perhaps that is the point of the exercise… to get people thinking about how to better promote tennis.
For the soccer fields, a more narrowly crafted message is possible. Here are some brainstorm level ideas:
- Not enough playing time today? Tennis: the sport where you play 100% of your match.
- Refs had it in for you today? Tennis: The sport where you do your own officiating.
- Teammates let you down today? Tennis: The sport where you control your own destiny.
- Did you let your teammates down today? Tennis: The sport where it is all on your own shoulders.
- Coach yell at you today? Tennis: The sport where there is no in-match coaching communication allowed.
I might still bear the scars from my own youth soccer days.
