Wimbledon Serves Up India Strategy: Beyond Cricket, Targeting Youth and Royal Box Influence

New Delhi: The hallowed grounds of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC), home to the Wimbledon Championships, have frequently welcomed prominent figures from the world of Indian cricket. From Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar to Rohit Sharma and Dinesh Karthik, these cricketing icons have graced the stands, highlighting a deliberate strategy by the tournament to enhance its appeal in India.

AELTC Chief Executive Sally Bolton has identified India and the US as key markets for expanding the Wimbledon brand. Recognizing cricket's dominant position in India, the tournament is seeking innovative collaborations rather than direct competition.

Brendan Dinen, Head of Marketing at Wimbledon, explained to TimesofIndia.com, "Cricket is much loved and certainly king for Indian audiences. So rather than trying to compete with that, I think it's about trying to find interesting ways to collaborate. Both sports are rich in heritage. England and India Test matches are happening now. So I think there's interesting ways to be able to bring that to life for audiences, so that they might want to come and watch it as well."

Crossover Initiatives

Wimbledon has implemented several initiatives to bridge the gap between tennis and cricket:

• Influencer Engagement: Partnering with an Indian social media influencer to experience a day at Lord's during a Test match, followed by an afternoon at the Wimbledon Championships.
• Broadcast Collaboration: Working with Star Sports to create a tennis-cricket crossover trailer that aired during the IPL season.

Despite its prestige, Wimbledon acknowledges the potential for further growth. Last year, the tournament garnered 60-70 million engagements across broadcast and social media platforms. With a potential audience of over a billion in India, significant opportunities exist, particularly among the country's young population.

Targeting Younger Audiences

Dinen emphasized the importance of engaging younger demographics: "Younger audiences and audiences of the future are crucial to us. It's clear in the activity that we focus on and our content strategy, whether that's for Instagram, YouTube and the sort of content we create."

The strategy involves creating content tailored for social media platforms and collaborating with influencers to reach these audiences.

Overcoming Challenges

The monsoon season in India poses a logistical challenge for hosting events. To address this, AELTC is collaborating with PVR INOX to broadcast the finals in theaters.

Additionally, Wimbledon aims to leverage the social media influence of Indian cricket stars like Kohli, Tendulkar, and Rohit by inviting them to the Royal Box.

Embracing Technology

While preserving its traditions, Wimbledon is also embracing technology. The tournament has partnered with IBM to integrate Artificial Intelligence (AI) into its app and website.

The "Match Chat" assistant provides real-time answers to fans' questions and offers match analysis.

Dinen concluded, "We continue to embrace technology, and it sits at the heart of the balance between heritage and innovation. And in terms of things like Virtual Reality, we work on areas such as gaming. We've brought experiences to life in places like Roblox. So we absolutely want to make sure we bring the brand and the Championships to life in new and interesting ways."