HILTON HEAD, SC, USA – A new promotion from the tennis industry, designed to drive customer awareness of tennis while helping to stimulate retail sales, will offer a once-in-a-lifetime chance for a lucky winner to serve for $1 million and win a trip to the US Open.
In the unique promotion, called “Racket Up, America!“, anyone who buys a new tennis racquet of any brand, and at any tennis retailer or pro shop, from July 15 until September 30, could win a chance to serve for the $1 million grand prize, along with a trip for two to the finals of the 2010 US Open. The serve for $1 million will take place at the BNP Paribas Showdown in New York’s Madison Square Garden on March 1, 2010, during Tennis Night in America.
Consumers register their racquet purchase at www.playtennis.com/million and they’re immediately entered to win. Also available will be other prizes totaling $10,000.
“‘Racket Up, America!’ is a collaborative industry effort to further stimulate business at retail and a first step in our focus to pursue other opportunities to support the economic health of our industry on a broader level,” says Jon Muir, the president of the Tennis Industry Association. “The other benefit for this promotion will be to utilize this from a general PR aspect to bring more excitement and interest in our sport and still continue the momentum of frequent player participation growth in tennis that we have experienced over the last few years.”
“Frequent players, those who play at least 21 times a year, are considered the heart of the tennis market, since they buy the most equipment, book the most court time, take the most lessons, etc.,” Muir added. “For this industry to thrive, we need to continue to grow our frequent player base, and we will continue to look at ways we can do this, so that it will impact the business side of tennis throughout the industry as well.”
Tennis participation has been increasing in recent years. According to an annual USTA/TIA study, total participation grew 7% to nearly 27 million from 2007. Frequent players, those who play at least 21 times a year, also increased 7% since 2007 to 5.62 million. In addition, research by the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association shows that tennis participation has far outpaced that of all other traditional sports, growing 43% in the last eight years.
“We want to keep the momentum going,” Muir said. “The message that tennis is a fun, healthy activity is getting through to consumers, and new programs and formats that all of us in this industry support are showing positive results from a participation standpoint. But as an industry we also need to focus more on bridging the relationship between growing participation in tennis and having a healthier industry overall.”
“The ‘Racket Up, America!’ promotion and the way the industry has been able to gather unified non-branded support to grow the game has really helped tennis stay ahead of other participation sports,” Jolyn de Boer, the executive director of the TIA, said. “We think this collaboration, across all lines in the tennis business, will serve us well in this economy and position us for continued growth when the overall economy picks up again.”
The TIA has put together advertising and marketing material that tennis shops and facilities can use to help promote the contest to consumers. To download free “Racket Up, America!” marketing materials and find more information about the promotion, go to playtennis.com/partner.
The partner website has “Racket Up, America!” ads, web banners, fliers, press release and email templates, and other material, much of which can be customized to suit a particular business or retail shop. Also available are fliers that can be distributed with each racquet sale, urging consumers to register their new purchase. More information on “Racket Up, America!”, including official rules and details, are at playtennis.com/million and playtennis.com/partner.
