Category: Best Use of Special Events and Stunt/Live Advertising
Advertiser: HEAD SPORT
Product/Service: HEAD YOUTEK IG INSTINCT
Agency: AIMAQ VON LOBENSTEIN CREATIVE BRAND CONSULTING
Agency: DIAMOND DOGS WEBCONSULTING
Executive Creative Director: André Aimaq (Aimaq Von Lobenstein)
Creative Director/Director/Copywriter: Marc Wientzek (Aimaq Von Lobenstein)
Art Director: Djamila Rabenstein (Aimaq Von Lobenstein)
Art Director: Mario Nussbaumer (Aimaq Von Lobenstein)
Copywriter: Nadia Al-Mardini (Aimaq Von Lobenstein)
Director/Director Of Photography: Karim Koulaksis
Sound Desgin: Alexander Geiger
Programmer: Daniel Kettmann (Aimaq Von Lobenstein)
Project Manager: Andrew Lux (Head Sport)
Account Director: Marén Echtermeyer (Aimaq Von Lobenstein)
Media placement: Online Product Film/Sharapova - YouTube, Facebook, Head.com/tennis - 27.07.2011
Media placement: Online Product Film/Djokovic - YouTube, Facebook, Head.com/tennis - 19.08.2011
Media placement: HEAD Press Conference - Live, BBC, CNN, ESPN2, E!, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, SKY, BloombergTV, YouTube, Facebook, Head.com/tennis - 24.08.2011
Insights, Strategy & the Idea
The brief was to promote the launch of the new HEAD YouTek Instinct racquet, played by Maria Sharapova, on a limited budget of €10,000. Since tennis is a niche sport and tennis players across the world had to be activated and made aware of the product launch. Unfortunately, they are not very brand loyal and make their purchasing decisions based on peer recommendation. On the other hand, tennis players are very keen followers of their favourite tennis players – a fact, we decided to focus on, promoting our new racquet. We came up with a unique idea, which not only entertained tennis players around the world, but also spread the brand HEAD across all major television networks.
Creative Execution
We used two of the top tennis players in the world, men's No.1 Novak Djokovic and women's No.2 Maria Sharapova, to create a buzz about the racquet introduction in an unprecedented way. First, we created a product film with Maria talking about her new racquet, which was placed on head.com/tennis, youtube.com/headtennis and Maria's Facebook page with over 7 Million fans. Next, we shot the same film again with Novak imitating Maria. This film was then posted by Novak on YouTube and Maria's Facebook page. An open dialogue between the two players started across their own and HEAD's Facebook pages.Within two days of this post, Novak doubled his number of fans to over one Million. Finally, at the international press conference to the racquet introduction, Novak took stage dressed as Maria, causing national and global TV networks to report about the stunt featuring our new racquet.
Results and Effectiveness
This event reached an unprecedented 800 million television viewers across the globe – all during prime time and in the sports block, which is viewed by most tennis fans around major tournaments. Pre-orders of the racquet skyrocketed, making this product launch the most successful ever in the history of HEAD Racquetsports. Over the months following the introduction, HEAD became the most popular tennis brand on facebook with the highest fan engagement. Other top-10 tennis players, such as Tomas Berdych and Marin Cilic, decided to play the new HEAD Instinct, giving it additional exposure on the Tennis World Tour.