Wednesday 15 January 2025
Only a couple of days after the start of the 2025 Australian Open, we can already safely say; The first Grand Slam of the year has hit the ground running, crushing records from previous years. On the first Monday the single-day attendance record has been set at 95,290 visitors, surpassing the previous 94,854 record from Super Saturday 2023. This puts the overall main draw tournament cumulative attendance at 176,989 just 2 days into the event!
Groundbreaking numbers which highlight once more that the Australian Open is a world class sports event, leading the way for many sports organisations around the world. From a sports marketing & business perspective, what can we learn from this global leader?
👉 Partner activations left, right and center
From M&M’s to Redbull, to New Balance to Mecca and many more. This year the AO offers a wide variety of opportunities for partners to engage with fans. Or rather, for fans to engage with partners. All the activations are focused on delivering an additional experience for the visitors. Expanding their event attendance beyond the tennis itself & also attracting new audiences. A true win-win-win situation. Direct fan access for the partner - broader experience for the fan - and more commercial value for the event.
👉 It's all about delivering the ultimate experience
The event has evolved from a sports event solely – to an all-in experience for fans. Every detail has thoroughly been thought of. From the buoyant music that causes jitters in your stomach as you cross the bridge to the venue to the newly introduced Courtside bar at court 6 where fans can get up close to the next generation of champions with open-air front-row seats. It’s evident that experience is key. This also translates to digital. The AO app provides a real-time venue map, schedules, scores and even matchday highlights, documentaries and all you need to know about your favorite athletes. QR-codes are available for fans to get the opportunity to see themselves on the big screen in Rod Laver Arena or just to win one of the many incredible prizes provided by event partners.
👉 Gaming & Gamification attracts youth
One of the successful activations is the Game On house – Powered by Fortress. Enter this house and test your skills or just to enjoy some friendly competition against your mates. The house offers VR-Tennis, TopSpin 2k25 (console gaming), Retro gaming and a sort of hand played tennis on a LED floor where 4 participants compete for the title to win. The house was full of youngsters engaging with all of the games for hours in a row. It shows once again the power of low-entry gaming and how it captures the attention of youth. Anno 2025 Sports organisations have to at least consider how gamified elements of sports can help them attract a hard to capture young audience.
👉 The rising power of the individual athlete and direct to fan connections
The next wave of sports marketing is athlete driven. They have become the new powerhouses for reach, fan access and engagement. This is reflected well by the AO and its partners. The AO offers tailormade individual athlete highlights throughout their app, Federation Square is covered by Adidas with Zverev prominently at the forefront of the campaigns. But also Asics works together with their sponsored athletes on new and innovative ways to capture fan attention. It’s a smart strategy to grow fan engagement beyond the channels of the event or brand itself by also tapping into the growing direct-to-fan relationships of the players. For example through their social media fan bases.
👉 Elite sports as catalyst for community sports participation
Heroes inspire the next generation to start participating in sports themselves. And for tennis, what better place to view your heroes than at the Australian Open. The event is a platform to spark enthusiasm and interest amongst children to start their own tennis journeys. Tennis Australia strengthens this proposition by enabling all visitors in the categories 0-4 years old, 4-8 years old and 8-12 years old to not only view their heroes, but to simultaneously participate in tennis skill games. Having set-up multiple skill games across the park for fans to engage with the sports themselves. It shows Tennis Australia’s ambition to promote sports participation.
👉 Premium broadcast & media is a must go area
A world-class event deserves world-class distribution. Real-time match coverage on multiple screens across the entire venue without any lags. In-match data statistics on screen, dynamic LED boarding across the major arenas. The AO has it all and proves they deliver the best possible experience for all of its visitors. Not only at the event but also their viewers all across the world. This not only delivers the highest satisfaction for its viewers, but also creates new opportunities for partners. For example, the Rod Laver Arena has 3 levels of LED-screens. Ground floor, first floor and second floor. And it’s all-round the stadium. The possibilities of broadcasting campaigns because of this, gain so many new angles and possibilities that as a fan, it feels like you are in the middle of the campaign itself by just sitting in the stadium.
👉 Introducing new sport formats
The possibility for fans to engage with new racket sports is enormous. At the event, fans have the possibility to try out tennis, POP, Padel or Pickleball and experience various ways of playing racket sports. The elements of the different variants are all quite different and it seems there is demand for everyone. It shows the possibility for Sports Federations to try out different game formats which potentially attract (different) audiences to their sports. For most Sport Federations, new formats of the sports are already being created. Either within their own control, or outside of their control. Federation CEO’s and Boards definitely need to make the strategic consideration whether they let these new initiatives go or embrace it as part of their own portfolio.
👉 Sports for broader positive impact
The AO together with its partners is paving the way with not only focusing on delivering an outstanding event, but also using the event delivery for a broader positive impact. It’s clear topics like sustainability, waste-management, reduction of carbon footprint and including local communities aren’t being overlooked. For example an AO ticket gives you free access to tram transit, KIA transports staff and players in electric cars, recycling bins are everywhere and the event is predominantly delivered by local volunteers. It shows the growing responsibility of sports rights holders & organisations to use sports for good but also highlights the growing interest of commercial partners to contribute to these positive impact variables.
👉 Smart stadiums deliver bigger commercial returns
Rod Laver Arena offers completely automated bars. Fans just simply scan their payment card and get access to the shop. Based on AI powered camera’s for facial and product recognition, the bar then calculates the price of the products fans have taken and transacts with the payment method as soon as the fan walks out of the store. The whole process is smooth, there are no waiting lines and there is no delay so fans get back to their seats as fast as possible. Even though I personally love the human interaction, this definitely seems the future of stadium food & beverage interactions.
