El Gaffney

Tennis Anyone?

In the midst of college football’s most important pre-bowl games, college basketball starting to heat up, weekly NFL excitement, post-Euro 2008 qualifiers, and even some solid NBA action, not much attention has, or will I imagine, be given to tennis. I wish that was not the case, especially with this awesome news…
The United States has won the Davis Cup for the first time since 1995 (12 years is the longest span without a title) at the Memorial Coliseum in Portland, OR (which is the first time the U.S. has hosted since 1992). Yes, that was a run-on sentence, but I figured if I didn’t know the historical stats before reading the article, odds are you won’t either. And for anyone who wants to learn more—like that the Davis Cup was conceived by 4 Harvard students in 1899 and was first played in 1900 against Great Britain—check out the Wikipedia entry. One last sentence of info: It is a 16-team/country tournament put on by the ITF (International Tennis Federation), and the U.S. beat the Czech Republic, Spain, Sweden, and then Russia (in that order) to take the title.

So congratulations to Patrick McEnroe (captain), Roddick, Blake, the Bryan Brothers, whom (as a doubles player myself) I believe are the most fun players to watch in the world. Watching Bob Bryan, a lefty, serve 4 straight aces in a game at the Open this year was one of the most ridiculous sports feats I’ve witnessed in person. (There should be a name for that, but I don’t think there is. Anyone? What’s the opposite of the golden sombrero.) He was also the model for American Express’ serve analysis that they offered for free in Bryant Park.

I’ve always been a fan of doubles. I’ve enjoyed playing it mostly for the strategic aspect (as well as the fact that it allowed me to more easily hide my appalling backhand). And I’ve enjoyed watching the strategy that great teams employ (as well as the speed of net play and the energy that comes from having a partner with whom to celebrate – just look at the Bryans’ patented chest bump). I’ve also always been a fan of team sports, so making this individualistic sport a team one for this tournament has always been appealing…even if I can never find it on T.V. And finally, I like an international competition…even it’s no World Cup. Even as an accomplished singles player, Andy Roddick has talked about how this tournament holds the most importance to him for this reason. And that’s the main reason I’ve always supported him. He cares as much about growing the sport of tennis in the U.S. as anyone in the USTA., and he acknowledges he can’t do it alone.

Anyway, I’m pumped so I posted. As Mike Bryan put it, “No words can explain how we feel right now, except Woooooooo!” The energy around this event is really good for the sport, and if I ran the USTA, I’d work more closely with the ITF, invest more in getting it on air and making people aware of it, and link it closer to their youth tennis initiatives. Yes, I know there is a significant challenge in that it takes almost a full year to complete (first round in Feb and just finished now). However, as a planner this is a challenge I’d love to take on…with a team!

Tags: america, daviscup, tennis

U.S. (of American Express) Open

By now, you’ve all heard the phrase Branded Utility. To recap, it refers to brands creating something that is useful to their customers. It’s not only a response to the spam that is most advertising, but also a way to take advantage of the tools provided us by new technologies, specifically web 2.0. Most of all, it is the challenge and vision to make things that people really want and need; that have real value to them.

We’ve seen more examples of this type of branded utility lately, with Charmin’s Times Square toilets to Nike+(iPod). These types of branded utilities pull in customers, rather than push a message out to them. It makes a deeper connection with them or becomes more integrated in/important to their lives. So if that is the goal, then the strategy is to understand people better and discover meaningful ways in which they can contribute to their lives. Arguably this should be easier for the customers a brand already has, but sometimes these are the people that feel ignored as brand look to get more awareness, more trial, and more acquisition.

However, over the course of the two-week U.S. Open, I saw and took part in a brand executing on the idea of branded utility to near perfection. That brand was American Express. Amex has long been a sponsor of the U.S. and long had an obvious presence on the grounds; yet, these past couple of years they have leveraged a major sponsorship in a bar-setting way. Instead of being happy with logos galore and a couple of booths, they have extended this through truely valuable brand experiences…and they have made both their customers feel valued and provided utility to all tennis fans.

This year, they offered branded utility in two main places: Flushing Meadows (the tournament site) and Madison Square Park and Rockafeller Center (in Manhattan).On the Open grounds, two things (utilities) really stood out: Radios at the Open with commenting by John McEnroe and TVs for other courts for cardholders. Additionally, cardholders got access to advance ticket sales (a utility for cardholders) and the U.S. Open club for eating better food with less of a wait.

In Madison Square Park, the main attraction was their live screening of the tournament on a big screens, where on those beautiful days (which lucky for the Open organizers, all of them were) people gathered to watch together. They had big tourney drawsheets up as well. Additionally, however, they offered all park-goers the opportunity to get an on-site Serve Analysis from a tennis pro as well as the video tape sent with more comments. Sure the comments are the same for everyone through email, but you get and have the video forever.

So you can tell I’m a fan of how Amex made being useful a priority. My only question is: Did all this utility come at the cost of entertainment? Of course, they had an amazing on-site presence for the over 650,000 attendees (it is the most attended annual sporting event in the world). But should Amex have spent a little more money trying not to annoy the around 100 million people who tuned in (many for most days and nights) with the same Johnny Mac commercial at every break for two whole weeks of matches? (By the way, is dispute resolution the most important message for Amex to get out these days? And if so, wouldn’t have sponsoring the ball cam and challenges been more appropriate? They couldn’t have outbid chase, who now has a 5-year deal on the review cam?)

Either way, I applaud Amex – tennis clap…and it seems to be applying this same customer understanding to other areas of business. Recently I read on Zeus Jones that Amex’s iPhone price protection covers the recent drop in price.

If anyone has other example of Amex’s branded utility at the U.S. Open or otherwise, or of the exact opposition behavior or policies at Amex, please comment below. (Sorry for all the or’s. Oops I did it again.)

Tags: amex, brands, nike, tennis, usopen, utility

Inbox of Immaturity

As mayhem ensues about a 20-minute walk away (at the Apple store), here are some late links to keep you from doing that last bit of work. Most importantly and immaturely, this picture, which may keep you from sleeping as well.

Farley’s back.
Here’s some research that Jake fully supports.
No, that’s de butt, and I also like tennis. Peep Slate’s Blogging Wimbledon.
Disappointing and upsetting sports news this week in hot dog eating and pro wrestling.
More fun was this year’s NBA draft – though who knows if Oden will make this list in a few years. Well, at least it’s better than this contract.

Tags: ioi, tennis

I Watched Age of Love So You Don’t Have To

You could really stop reading right there. But in case you want some answers, here’s what I am anticipating:

What is Age of Love anyway?
It has been dubbed “the ultimate social experiment.” One man, ex-tennis star Mark Philippoussis, looks to find one love within a group of 13 women – 7 of whom are in their 40s and 6 of whom are in their 20s. In the end, we will see not if, but how age matters. (Note: one woman is 39, so hopefully he picks her and the whole experiment loses its merit.)

Why did you watch in the first place?
I admit I’m usually quite entertained by reality TV and like keeping up on it for pop culture IQ purposes. NBC is at the top of my consideration set for new programming (though quickly losing ground to ABC after the recent Bachelor and my favorite show on TV, Brothers & Sisters). Plus, I’m a tennis fan.

What did you think of the women?
We’ve only met the older group, so of course I’ll probably watch next week to see the “cat fight” between cougars and kittens — NBC’s words not mine! But the older group did not look their age and some may say didn’t act it. I don’t know if I’d say the latter. They definitely seemed young at heart, and although there was still the “some of the women are hogging Mark” comments, that seems more about competition and overall the women acted classier than typical/younger show contestants.

What did you think of Mark P.?
He does not have a poker face. He was completely stunned (and not in a pleasantly surprised way) by the age of the women and it showed. He’s pretty uninteresting and bland so far. And not in a way that’s kind of fun to make fun of. However, in reading up on some press, I experienced shock to find out he’s actually 134th in the world of tennis. I had no idea he was still playing. I wonder if anyone will start to call him by his nickname, Scud (for his fast serve).

What’s your rating?
1 star of 5.

Why not zero?
Mark’s inability to hide his shock was mildly amusing as are the 48 year old assistant to the Lakers president’s confessionals. I think the interaction between the different aged women will seemed scripted even by reality standards. Regardless, that tension will just make me feel awkward. As said, I’ll most likely watch next week. That’s all.

Tags: ageoflove, realitytv, relationships, tennis