Australian Open
There’s tennis, then there’s the Australian Open
The challenge
The AO is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments held annually. With a passionate fan base in over the hundreds of thousands, the open had evolved from a happy summer sporting event into a far larger festival experience that took over the city of Melbourne every year.
It’s brand however, did not reflect this.
The task: reinvent an out-of-date brand and shift perceptions from a summer event to a future-focused entertainment brand.
Brand launch video
The solution
Compared to the other Grand Slams that were steeped in tradition, the Australian Open was home to many firsts – one of the first to introduce equal pay for men and women, the first to introduce retractable roofs for their stadiums and the first to introduce new styles of game formats.
The brand idea ‘Game Changer’ was born. Designed to create a whole new level of engagement with tennis across the full brand experience. The idea informed not only the new visual identity but also enabled AO to connect with a broader consumer target (more than simply tennis fans). From tennis, to music, to food, to messaging and campaigns - the strategy was able to push the brand to be a perfect demonstration of how different and modern the tournament was.
I worked on the full rebrand project as well as the tone of voice development, campaign comms strategy and ongoing brand guardianship for over 3 years post launch.
Results
Record breaking 750K people attend in the first year of the new brand
Social media audience grew by 6% to 4.5 million
Delivered on promise of creating new levels of engagement for tennis fans and entertainment enthusiasts
Deliverables:
Brand Positioning – Brand Strategy –Brand Architecture – Tone of Voice –Campaign Strategy – Campaign Messaging – Brand Guardianship
Client
Tennis Australia
Creative Directors
Mike Staniford and Matt Morgan
Agency
Landor
Strategy Director
Nick Davis