2023 Silver Sports

Entrant: LTA

Client: LTA (formally Lawn Tennis Association)

Entry Title: Tennis Opened Up

Executive Summary

Since 2017, tennis participation had been in decline. With a remit to grow the sport, the LTA needed to engage with players to reignite their love of the game.

Strategy

Local tennis clubs had historically served as an intermediary between the LTA and the tennis community, so there was little opportunity to engage and influence, presenting a significant barrier to growth.

The LTA had repositioned and relaunched its customer proposition, widening appeal beyond clubs to park and school players, introducing padel to the tennis community, welcoming fans for the first time and engaging audiences outside of the peak summer window to reposition the sport, aiming to make tennis an all-season activity. LTA Advantage was born!

Creativity

Recognising an improved proposition alone wouldn’t suffice, the LTA undertook a comprehensive communication strategy overhaul and initiated personalised, multi-channel communication leveraging first-party customer data.

LTA Advantage provides exclusive content features and benefits. For example, content show series ‘Inspired By’ gives the audience exclusive access to top analyst and coaching talent; looking at the world of the professional game and translating it into tactical advice and tips, to enable players to try these out and better their own game and provide fans an unique insight.

Results

The strategic approach nurtured relationships, fostered behavioural loyalty, increased participation and generated commercial value.

The database has grown by 150%, motivating 212,000 more people to play tennis.

The Team

LTA - Caroline Lepetit, Head of Customer Strategy & Marketing - Ben Francis, Customer Engagement Manager - Damian Scott, Data Strategist - Julie Porter, Chief Operating Officer - Joe Stowell, Digital Manager - Angus Clements, Digital Content Editor - Laetitia Redbond - Amanda Snell, Customer Engagement Assistant Manager - Steve Ankers, Customer Engagement Executive - Mark Foster, Partnership Acquisition Manager - Jenna Smith, Digital Product Manager - Matt Hatton, Head of Digital Transformation & Programme Manager - Jess Menon, Analyst

Fisheye Strategy - Natalie Wells, Consultant

Verkeer - Nick Wassink, CEO - Hannah Thorpe, Managing Director - Imogen Davies, Director of Client Strategy

Contributors

Fisheye Strategy, The & Partnership, Deloitte, Verkeer and Whisper