Wimbledon Courts India: Cricket Stars, Influencer Partnerships Drive Growth Strategy

New Delhi: Wimbledon is strategically targeting the Indian market by leveraging the immense popularity of cricket. High-profile Indian cricketers, including Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, and Sachin Tendulkar, have been frequent attendees at the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC), the organizer of the prestigious Wimbledon Championships.

In 2015, Kohli and Tendulkar were seen together, and last year, Tendulkar engaged in a conversation with Roger Federer, an eight-time Wimbledon champion. A photo of Rohit Sharma on Wimbledon's Instagram account garnered a record 4.5 million likes, marking their most engaging post to date.

This strategic move is part of Wimbledon's broader effort to expand its global presence. According to AELTC Chief Executive Sally Bolton, India and the United States are key markets for further growth of the historic brand.

Brendan Dinen, Head of Marketing at Wimbledon, explained the strategy in an interview with TimesofIndia.com: "Cricket is much loved and certainly king for Indian audiences. So rather than trying to compete with that, I think it's about trying to find interesting ways to collaborate. Both sports are rich in heritage... I think there's interesting ways to be able to bring that to life for audiences, so that they might want to come and watch it as well."

Wimbledon is exploring various collaborations, including partnerships with Indian social media influencers. "So we are working with an Indian social media influencer who will get the day of a lifetime. They will be taken to Lord's during the Test match on 10th July. And we'll then bring them into the grounds of the Championships in the afternoon to document and bring to life for their audience," Dinen stated.

Another successful initiative involved a collaboration with Star Sports, their broadcast partner, who created a tennis-cricket crossover trailer that aired during the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Wimbledon recognizes its potential for further growth, despite its prestigious status. Last year, the tournament recorded 60-70 million engagements across broadcast and social media platforms. With a potential audience of over a billion, the scope for growth is immense, particularly in India, with its large and young population.

Dinen emphasized the importance of younger audiences: "Younger audiences and audiences of the future are crucial to us. It's clear in the activity that we focus on and our content strategy, whether that's for Instagram, YouTube and the sort of content we create... ensuring that we can have the content and different parts of the Championships, with tennis at the centre of that approach - whether that's through social media platforms or working with influencers and content creators - to be able to look to be able to engage those audiences."

He added, "India is a sport-loving country. Obviously, cricket is king, but Wimbledon is also a broad mainstream event. So there's certainly an opportunity to engage wider audiences, not just younger audiences, but those are really integral and important to our plans."

To further engage the Indian audience, Wimbledon is considering hosting events in India, but the monsoon season poses a challenge. As an alternative, AELTC is partnering with PVR INOX to broadcast the finals in theaters.

Wimbledon also aims to attract attention by inviting Indian cricket stars to the Royal Box, a space often filled with celebrities and royalty. While no firm plans are in place, this could coincide with the Indian cricket team's tour of England for the five-match Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.

Staying true to its traditions, Wimbledon is embracing technology to enhance the fan experience. They are implementing Artificial Intelligence (AI), in collaboration with IBM, on their app and website.

During live matches, the 'Match Chat' assistant powered by AI can answer fans' questions, offering immediate responses and match analysis. This technology allows spectators to engage more deeply with the tournament.

"We continue to embrace technology, and it sits at the heart of the balance between heritage and innovation... We've brought experiences to life in places like Roblox. So we absolutely want to make sure we bring the brand and the Championships to life in new and interesting ways," Dinen concluded.