Let’s drink to tennis season
We all know about the meteoric rise of Fever-Tree. And it seems the brand is continuing to build upon its position as the UK’s favourite tonic. You could say, Fever-Tree has the art of marketing in the (sports) bag.
Not only has the brand launched ready to drink gin and tonics, but it’s the new name for Queen’s tennis championship, traditionally known as the warm up to Wimbledon.
Racquet sports enthusiasts can buy tickets to the Fever-Tree Championships at the Queen’s Club London – but will they get a free gin and tonic, that’s what we want to know. Yes, that’s right, the tennis event has been renamed and rebranded around the drinks brand. The site bears some lovely illustration, and in our opinion, the premium nature of the brand is a good fit with the event.
Yes, it’s hard to believe, but Wimbledon is practically upon us once more. We’re a sporty agency, and we admit, we’ll be the first to shout ‘let’s get a court!’ as local tennis courts around the country become chock-a-block full of fair-weather tennis enthusiasts at this time of year.
Like the British weather, for food and drink brands, it’s a guarantee that brings out the pound. Last year, the amazing weather and the FIFA World Cup led to an uplift in off-trade and on-trade sales. Feel good factor was coming out of our ears, until the semi-finals – but we all kept smiling, because it was just a perfect summer.
Sports, drinks and socialising. What could be better?
Fast-forward to 2019, and while we can’t control the weather, we can look at what’s on the menu this summer. So far, we haven’t seen a sip of Pimm’s mentioned anywhere, but Stella Artois is confirmed as a major sponsor of Wimbledon, along with Evian, Robinsons and Lanson.
Given that we’ve been working on sourcing examples of sustainable packaging recently, we are interested to see where the bottled water industry’s future lies. Will glass bottles be allowed on court? Can spectators pour refills of Evian water without having to buy more plastic? If anyone reading this is lucky enough to have tickets, please let us know.
While we’re on the subject of brand sponsorship and good design, where does this leave the beer market? Do British tennis fans mix well with beer brands? Or is Stella Artois riding on the coat tails of the French Open sponsorship?
We expect the brand will have a moment of reinvention, as per Carlsberg’s repositioning – or at least, we hope so. And yet, we can’t help feeling there’s a lot to do here. Will Stella Artois move off the base line or will it hit all the aces?
Here at Purple, we’re working on a range of alcohol-free beer brands, designed to keep the party going without the hangover. Peroni Libera is just one of these brands. They’ve got big plans this summer and if Christmas was anything to go by, the alcohol-free category is on the rise. Now that feels like a good fit for a sports tournament, right?
While we’re blowing our own whistle, we’ve also designed the new look and feel for Asahi Super Dry, the premium Japanese beer brand. It’s an exciting time at the agency and we can’t wait to see what’s coming next. Meanwhile, there’s sure to be a few pulled tendons in the office from all this tennis fun. The only thing the rest of us will be hitting is the bar…
Katie Quaite, Senior Copywriter