Thursday, February 27, 2025

The WTA and a Complete Unknown

Well, another season. Another new WTA marketing campaign. Guess how it went this time around.



Question: How difficult is it to sell the women's pro tennis tour as being a sports organization made up of athletes who play tennis, anyway? Apparently, excruciatingly so.

At some point, you'd think they'd just stop. But we're talking about the WTA, so there's no such luck. (Deep breath.) Thus, once more, into the breach we go.

After a multi-year period during which, for financial expediency, it essentially abdicated its long-time role as a promoter/protector of women's rights, be it via the Peng Shuai capitulation or the joining in on the sportswashing efforts of Saudi Arabia amongst other things, the WTA debuted its "new" branding strategy on Thursday, and it in many ways seeks to position the tour and its athletes... as an inspiration and/or promoter/protector of women's rights and opportunities?

Heehee. Seriously, you can't make this stuff up.

Clearly, there is nothing that the women's tennis tour (WTA) is more afraid of than being seen as the home of women's tennis.



Some of the stand-alone posts released today about individual players are fine (see Donna Vekic below, at least the first half before it devolves into another CarlaTalk about inspiring kids), but it's nothing that isn't done on occasion elsewhere anyway, including on the WTA's own social media platforms, and often as part of a player's personal social media presence and off-court efforts.

Because everyone promotes the WTA better than the WTA promotes the WTA, don't you know.



But, hey, Paula Badosa is going to "turn pain into power," Iga Swiatek "has no limits" (just like tennis!) and "boundaries are made to be broken." Wow, the effort it took to come up with such original platitudes must have been exhausting.



Though the WTA's #1 asset is its players (and their fans, at least the "sane" ones), the tour's marketing strategy only utilizes them after seemingly employing something along the lines of an Elon Musk mass email to all tour players, telling them to "list all the people you've inspired over the past week, and how you did so," with a response expected by 6 p.m. the following Monday. (I guess Aryna Sabalenka, the tour's #1 player, didn't respond since she wasn't even included in the initial rebrand video nor on any of the first "attempts" to sell it.)

Seriously, this "we're-bigger-than-tennis" focus is so wrongheaded and the "players-as-models" promotional efforts are by now more than a bit repetitive. These are virtual carbon copies of the other most recent marketing failures the tour has thrown up and out in recent years.

Years ago, the tour saw its only option for promotion being to dress up the players for pretty photos (they were nice, but how many times can you do it?), and then the move was to try to sell an inflated sense of the tour's self-importance on the world stage.

#RallytheWorld officially merges the two in the ultimate act of flat-out surrender, as it pretty much signals that the tour has no interest in promoting the *tennis* aspect of the Women's Tennis Association, nor the *women's* part of the name when it comes to promoting its athletes as, you know, *athletes* and the bread-and-butter of the endeavor (the game and *competition* -- this is still a *sport*, right?), and instead continues to try to center its individuals as leaders for social change and/or activists and inspirations who just happen to pick up a racket on occasion on their way to the big stage. You know, the same stage where they're going to change the world.

And, maybe, try to win a few tennis matches and titles, too? I guess.

(Shakes head.)



Oh, and the color change (from purple, with a long tie-in to the tour, to a weirdly electric shade of green -- reminiscent of the recent "louder, brighter" BJK Cup rebranding) is strange, and the logo is a big downgrade, as well... but I'm sure some "marketing analysis" says that it appeals to a wider variety of people since it doesn't focus on, you know, the *tennis* aspect of the organization. So what if it looks like some business that is *also* called the "WTA" but *isn't* the pro tennis tour. Meanwhile, calls for improvement to WTA TV, the ease of access when it comes to viewing/tracking the sport (i.e. the website, and/or more creative social media practices) and even the simple act of selling merchandise go unaswereed as of now. There is supposed to be a new website design in April (are you waiting with bated breath?).

As I've said before, as far as the logo, the WTA could take the NBA route (using an actual player, Jerry West, as inspiration) and make its logo newsworthy. Say, something like...



Just a notion. That's Magda Linette on the left, Serena (of course) in the upper right, with Anastasia Zakharova and Sharapova (in a former logo-like image) below, with an old WTA logo to the left.

As usual, the tournaments are better at using iconic (sort of) images of players to promote the sport without even having to use the player's name. Just this week:



Of course, in the WTA introduction article about the tour's "creative reinvention" (snicker) the new logo is compared favorably to those of the Nike swoosh and that of Apple and Netflix.

Now, don't laugh. Really... they pretty much do just that.

According to the article (filled with the sort of marketing gobbledygook often used to try to explain all the so-called thought that went into such things, though it mostly just comes off as a word salad designed to put people into a trance so they don't realize how awful everything is):

"The reality is, even the most powerful logos in the world cannot tell you what the brand is," said Sarah Swanson, Chief Brand Officer for WTA Ventures. "What infuses those brands with meaning is the marketing, the PR and the storytelling around the logo."

All of which the WTA is so good at, of course. (Excuse me while I chuckle at the thought.) And, also, I'm pretty sure that Nike and Apple's rise had a lot to do with the products, as well as some unique marketing aspects such as the entertaining Michael Jordan shoe campaigns, and the various, effective advertising slogans tied to the release of new tech-product lines (and Steve Jobs personally).

Swanson is touted for her "marketing chops" from her time with the NFL, the #1 sports league in the U.S.... but one which barely promotes itself in the States because it doesn't have to. The NFL's only real branding strategy involves spreading the game globally to *other* countries, with games in places like the U.K., Spain, Brazil, Germany and (soon) Australia. But the WTA is *already* a global brand, and any marketing strategy needs to involve *something else* to stand out from the crowd. Talking about "spreading the game" and "what makes (so and so) tick" doesn't cut it.

Swanson also notes the rise of the WNBA and women's basketball with the recent arrival of Caitlin Clark, but fails to acknowledge that Clark's impact (in college and the pros) was always based on her athletic excellence and the excitement that she and her fellow players bring to the court, not the eye-rolling notion of "what matters to her (or Angel Reese, or others) most." Fact is, the growth of women's basketball only highlights how badly women's tennis has fumbled its many advantages and opportunities for its own growth over the years.

Swanson talks of the personalized videos of WTA players, the "true brand ambassadors," as if the idea is the result of a true brainstorm, though it's precisely the same thing the tour did in its last two marketing pushes that died out within weeks (if they lasted that long). The videos released on Day 1 were preoccupied with the usual "inspiring the next generation," I play for (whatever) notions that previously bored everyone to tears.

Colors and images aside, the tour just refuses to lean into the entertainment aspect of the sport, the fun of competition, the unique personalities (aside from who they inspire), the rivalries, the multi-generational mix, the patented, overall "craziness" (IYKYK) of women's tennis, or to do anything "out of the box" in the slightest. All that is what sets the sport apart and engenders such loyalty from fans, and could begin to create new ones by giving newer "outsiders" a reason to pay attention.

But #RallytheWorld is another big, long yawn. All they'd have to do is slap the slogan "Hey, It's the WTA" on everything and it'd be an improvement.

No one is watching women's tennis because "they want to bring (insert high-minded ideal here) to the world." This endless stream of new marketing campaigns every 2-3 years always tries to position the WTA as something "greater," "bigger" and more "important" than just a sports organization. If you have to constantly remind everyone of that... then maybe you're just not that at all.

The WTA was born out of a higher ideal 50 years ago by the Original 9, but now it's a business, and every move the tour has made in recent years have been nods to that reality. And there's nothing *wrong* with it, as long as the tour doesn't continue to try to act as if that's not the case. Meanwhile, while trying to pat itself on the back it continues to turn that same back on promoting *anything* entertaining when it tries to market itself.

Being the "most interesting tour" in the world is a good thing, but I guess the WTA's Powers That Be aren't secure enough in that fact to push the #1 selling point of the tour/sport. Still, Swanson calls the WTA a "confident brand." Sure. Sure it is.

Truth is, individual players *are* inspiring and go about taking such initiative with their "personal brand" (or are led to due to real-world realities, ala in 2020 and with the Ukraine war). But the WTA tour is not that. It's a sports organization that desires to operate in the black, as it has made abundantly made clear in recent years. A marketing strategy that tries to have it both ways is laughable in 2025.

Whomever is to "blame" for another marketing miscue, this makes three consecutive "different" campaigns in a short period of time that all erred in exactly the same ways. It's pretty clear that the tour's marching orders must be to come up with something that positions the WTA as being "about more than tennis" and the players not so much as female athletes who are the best in the world at what they do but as being "more" than just sports figures and to focus on how they inspire new generations, yada yada yada. (Sure, Jan.)

I mean, how many different ways are there to do that? Just one really, and it's dreadfully boring. And no logo and/or color changes can hide that fact.

So it's no shock that we've got yet another uncreative, dead-on-arrival marketing campaign that'll be forgotten and discarded within a week or two, but here we are. Yet another lost opportunity.

Welcome to the crowded room, #RallytheWorld. #FortheGame and #ItTakes say hi.




All for now.





futuristic-fonts



[February 27, 2025]


A tip-in to this. In 2022, when the Washington Commanders finally unveiled their "rebrand" after *two years* of "research," the press releases were similarly wordy, dizzying mash-ups of phrases that tried to display how smart the "creative team" were and how so much thought had gone into all the changes.

But any "normal person" looked at the whole mess for five seconds and said, "That looks like s***." And it did. "Did you just come up with all this yesterday?" It sure looked like it.

That's how I feel about this re-hash of all the other poor WTA campaigns over the past 5-6 years.


[March 2, 2025]


Meanwhile, it all started with this rather awkward "hype video" (and only got worse from there)...



I've already done a post where I highlighted the latest (the third since 2019!) rippin' disaster of a new WTA marketing campaign/rebrand here. But that doesn't mean a few more dips into the proverbial pool can't be taken.

As noted in the other post, this latest in the endless streams of "rebrands" and failed publicity pushes won't likely do any damage, but how many times can opportunities to "gain ground" be squandered before it actually does.

Thing is, at this point, it's difficult to tell what the aim is of these constant WTA rebrands and/or "marketing campaigns," because they never seem to be about selling or promoting the sport, the tour, or its players in any way that will attract new fans or re-excite longtime ones. And shouldn't that be the goal, since we are talking about an organization whose product is a sport, not a shoe or clothing line? I mean, if not, then why not?

And, you know, what are they even doing then?

Some have pointed out that one of the original videos in this campaign used "feet and inches" in regards to court dimensions as a sign that the WTA is "U.S.-centric." Well, this rebrand *was* apparently overseen by someone who previously worked for the NFL's marketing wing, and the tour's corporate heardquarters *are* in Florida, so that *would* make sense.

But if this campaign and changes are designed to garner more U.S. viewers and business, then it's an even worse effort than it would otherwise be, since none of this will make even a ping of a dent in the U.S. sports environment, even while there have been so many gains by other women's sports (i.e. basketball, soccer, golf, gymnastics, etc.) in the States in recent years, some of which were even mentioned in the introductary article about the WTA's "creative reinvention" on the WTA website.

The WTA has likely already missed its window for returning the game to even something *close* to its former standing in the U.S. just in regards to coverage and attention when it comes to *women's* sports, let alone aspiring for anything more. As interest in women's athletics has blown up in the U.S., the WTA has been passed by multiple times over by various leagues and associations while the tennis tour has continually squandered the head start that it had in the name recognition arena, fumbling through inaction and wrongheaded decisions the many across-the-board advantages that it once enjoyed.

Additionally, a "rebranding" (rehashing, really) that is centered around social media "signals" and stylistic alterations on the tour's website really doesn't have anything to do with attracting more and/or bigger business partners, right? That sort of push isn't really aimed at "bigger" targets, but instead potential fans and (if they're lucky) media coverage based on those changes, correct? So how does any aspect of the current/new/old strategy address *those* areas in any sort of way? I can't see a single one.

Most of the attention it's gotten has come via criticism -- from all directions -- about how poor the whole thing is.





(Maybe the WTA needs its own sane version of DOGE if this is what the tour is wasting its money on.)

Three different almost identical attempts since 2019 have only seemed to preach cliched ideals such as "bravery," "inspiration," or variations on whatever buzz words were used the *last* time as the rebrand ties (again) to position the tour in its longtime (but no more) role as being a "social activist" and/or aspirational organization even as its own recent business decisions have played against such a moniker having even a tiny bit of validity.

No one is going to start following the WTA because the WTA tells them that others are inspired by the players, they're going to want to pay attention because *they* want to be inspired by -- or at least *entertained* due to the competition and personal stakes involved that whirl around -- those players.

Individual players still bear that sort of "more than a player" branding, and the ones that do (Svitolina, Keys, Gauff, Jabeur and others) have done a fine job for themselves on their own. Leave them to their own devices, while you (the WTA) worry about promoting the *sport* itself, hoping to reach areas that normally turn a blind eye. Shining a light on the players, naturally, would play a big part in that. But the WTA's campaigns never highlight the players as athletes and competitors striving for great personal accomplishments, while creating entertaining moments -- some brilliant, some disappointing, some crazy -- that can be enjoyed by all.

The tone of these things is always along the lines of, "women's tennis isn't what you think," then goes about presenting the most basic, boring and pretentious version of what the tour seems to think would be the "most acceptable" version of the WTA in the most areas of the world, nevermind that hardly any of those areas will ever see any of it.

As it is, the latest repetitive campaign itself does no lasting damage. But then there's the "Tennis, There's No Tennis Being Played Around Here" logo change.

I mean, when even Kiki can see it...



So, is this the logo for the Women's Tennis Association, or the Western Textile Alliance? You'd really never know. Well, I mean, unless you're in on the "coy" touches pointed out by Sarah Swanson, Chief Brand Officer for WTA Ventures, who notes that the green rectangle acts as "the portions of a (tennis) court" and the little slash under the "A" gives "the hint of a bouncing ball." Umm, allll right.



Of course, the key to understanding the logo is to recognize that there is nothing that the women's tennis tour (WTA) is more afraid of than being seen as the home of women's tennis. It hurts efforts to try to do business within countries and cultures who don't want their women and girls playing sports, don't you know.

Meanwhile, just to give some examples of the trio of cut-and-paste campaigns -- from #ItTakes to #FortheGame to #RallytheWorld -- here are some semi-random examples of posts from each one, with the only real difference being the lamely contrived hashtags and different colors and/or logos. One from each...



And the "new" versions...



Other than the styling, there's really no difference.

And let's not even get into the lack of identification of the players involved in some of the involved posts, like this one...



What nation? And who is she? It's Alex Eala (PHI), but she's hardly a familiar face to most... and the majority wouldn't know her if they missed the post that immediately preceded this one on the WTA's social media that included a brief video.

Rinse. Wash. Repeat. The last two campaigns died out within a few weeks, and this one will do so, as well. Money down the drain. It's more than a little bit offensive when so many people ask and/or wish for the best for or from something/someone (in this case, the WTA), and those on the inside in charge of doing things to make that happen don't really seem to care, or worse, seem to only display varying levels of incompetance when they "try," even while seemingly expecting to be lauded for the effort.

(If the WTA was the White House, would this be where we're all asked, "Where's the gratitude? Have you said thank you once?")

kosova-font



When the WTA was heatedly trying to hype this latest "new era" (really just another attempt at repeating the last one, which was an attempt to repeat the one before that) early last week before the "big announcement" on Thursday, it caused me to remember the excitement that immediately revolved around another tennis campaign just last year.

Remember this...?



I talked about it here just over a year ago.

Thing is, the ATP never really followed up the initial buzz. It never much became a *campaign* and was just a one-off that went viral for a day or so, had a few posts in March/April (even after they'd gone to the trouble of creating fake IG accounts for the "characters" in the ATP story), and then it all just withered away. There was no WTA sequel, which so many players had asked for. And rather than build an identity out of a great idea, using short spots all year along, the whole thing was forgetten in the spring.

I thought at the time that it was weird to drop that long video all at once, unless there were going to be additional ads later in the year. They easily could have edited that piece into many smaller ones and used it all year long, placing ads during tennis coverage (on Tennis Channel, Eurosport, during majors, etc.) ala the old ESPN SportsCenter ads that I used as an example of the tone for one of my "fake marketing campaigns" for the WTA a while back.

So, even when one of the pro tennis tours manages to get creative and stumble onto a great idea, they lack the will to take advantage of the opportunity (even when the players involved seemed really into it, and others wanted part of the action).

It sort of feels like after the creatives were behind this idea, the ATP went with it, but only until *someone* with decision-making power "didn't get" the tone and potential of the campaign, and the plug was pulled because, I don't know, maybe someone got antsy that the "story" aspect of the whole thing might make some think that the actual results on tour were preordained (i.e. fixed). Just a thought.



[March 9, 2025]


All right, I haven't emptied the bucket on this *quite* yet. I've been chipping away at more thoughts on the rebrand (and the WTA's inability to market itself creatively) all week long, so here's one final (I hope) go-around with some new thoughts about the whole situation, built (of course) upon no actual marketing or branding expertise other than that I (and so many others) know a dead carcas lying on the side of the road when we see it and understand that poking it with a stick won't suddenly bring it back to life.

This caught my eye (and ear) the other day: I think Volynets confused #WTARallyTheWorld with #WTAItTakes (listen until the end of the video). Understandable.



This is maybe *the* best example so far of the carbon copy nature of this campaign in relation to previous attempts. It literally could have been lifted directly from the #WTAItTakes collection (an approach which was then later regurgitated in the #WTAForTheGame campaign).

It really would be interesting and informative to know if the WTA's marching orders on these things is to take this approach, and/or whether the people that came up with the latest campaign -- so-called "branding specialists" ChapterX and Nomad Studio (both based in GBR) -- ever actually took a look back at the previous "rebrand" and marketing attempts to avoid just repeating past mistakes.

Apparently, what resulted came after a "year-long collaboration" with the WTA, which is in ways both hilarious and sad. Here is the Nomad Studio work page regarding the rebrand (here is the same thing from ChapterX). I mean, the presentation *looks* nice, but I think if you investigate past the bright colors and cliched marketing phrases it feels more "surface" than anything, especially since what we've seen (so far, at least) to date in the new "strategy" has been a head-to-head competition to determine whether it's more boring, or rather actually just more pretentious. And, hey, it's 2025 so "cringe" should probably be an option on the board, too. Needless to say, it's an intense pitched battle worthy of the newly "powered-up" and "bold" WTA logo and colors, I will say that for it. (Wink.)

Also, I finally read about what Sarah Swanson, Chief Brand Officer for WTA Ventures and apparently the "first hire" by WTAV CEO Manager Marina Storti, was involved with in her time with the NFL. It was the "Helmets Off" campaign, which focuses on players off the field. So, if Swanson had any hand in the final direction of #RallyTheWorld (and she was front and center in the WTA announcement article), what resulted is no surprise.

Thing is, while this article (from 2022) hits at some of the work that that NFL campaign has been involved in when it's come to reaching new potential fan bases -- and is clearly something the WTA would like to try to replicate -- the WTA isn't really in the same position as the NFL. "Helmets Off," as described in the above article, has done a lot of good revenue-producing work that has attracted new business partners, generated good P.R. by highlighting charitable work, and helped establish individual players an entities aside from their teams and league (though one can argue whether it can take any credit for Super Bowl-winning players earning major endorsements and ads, as the article seems to throw into the mix), helping to carry out an "everywhere all the time" strategy that just adds to the NFL's ongoing success.

But that NFL marketing arm doesn't also have to worry about promoting the *league* and game itself, unlike the WTA. The two are on two totally different planes of existence. Aside from taking football to markets outside the U.S., and maybe the push to make flag football a thing (hey, they got it into an upcoming Olympics), the NFL doesn't need to promote the *game* in the U.S., as its broadcast partners do all that *for* it since the NFL is already established as the #1 sport/league in the country and *everyone* fights each other to get even a sliver of the action.

The WTA has no such advantageous partnerships, and needs to do much more work itself to sell the *tour* and sport, as well. The WTA seems to want to do almost anything *other* than promote what happens between the lines, and while the players' individuals personalities *should* play a huge part in any winning strategy that the tour would come up with the recent attempts have in no way followed in the footsteps of the sort of campaigns that have been highlights of the branding of many NFL players off the field, ala commercials and spots that use humor as part of the package to get attention along with the sort of "inspirational" aspects that the WTA harps on again and again.

The ATP tried some of that last year with its new (brief) it's-all-a-story campaign, but seemed to give up on it without much follow through even after it got the sort of immediate attention that the WTA craves for any of its efforts (which usually only attract derision, for good reason).

Thing is, even if someone would come up with a reasonable campaign, the confidence is pretty low when it comes to the tour's ability to actually effectively implement it, which ultimately makes this all a practice in "busy work." A week in, and the social media team connected to the #RallyTheWorld effort already seem to be over the whole thing (maybe because they already realize that it's D.O.A.?). Not to mention the early technical difficulties and other questionable decisions.



It's noted in the promotions that Billie Jean King was amongst those consulted for the rebrand but, with all due respect, that needs to stop. The ideals that BJK stood for during the founding of the WTA tour have little relation to what the tour, as a business, is in 2025. Honoring the past is a good thing, but trying to act as if time has not passed is not a winning formula for the WTA when it comes to presenting itself to the "outside world." The tour athletes don't need to be "validated" by pushing that they stand for something *more*... let them stand as the best at what they do, with a few twists and turns, and see how that goes. This time around, the campaign's "new" strategy seems to just be to have the players say the same tired phrases rather than simply put similar sentiments in graphics under their photos, as was the case in past efforts.

Of course, none of it has anything to do with what anyone gets on a *daily* basis when following the WTA tour, and tennis in general (a sport with action *every* day from January through November).

Another example. Love Dasha, but, seriously, MY TENNIS GODS. "I want to inspire the next generation, especially kids." Really, that's the cliched script they have Saville -- one of the funniest and most creative souls in the sport -- reading from in this video.



Guess what the WTA campaign was named that came *before* both "For the Game" and "It Takes." It debuted in 2015, and was called "Power to Inspire." Truthfully, I can't even recall it, which says a lot, though I guess one can guess its direction from the jump. So this same effort has now entered its second decade, and fourth different nearly identical marketing strategy. Shouldn't going 0-for-4 get you cut, or at least benched for a while to give someone and/or something else a chance (or, you know, "change coaches" or something)?

The most recent campaign prior to 2015 was "Strong is Beautiful" in 2012, another "nice photos" effort (but the best version of it that the WTA has come up with to date, and one that some at least a little staying power). More interesting was "Looking for a Hero?" in 2009. It was at least an attempt at something different, casting the players as undercover "superheroes," even if the execution might not have taken the natural route that could have made it an epic campaign. Why not give that, or something creative in similar ways, a chance sixteen years later?



It feels like that campaign was a bit ahead of its time. It could be done so much better now (and would likely be well received from the players on down, too), and not just as far as technology. Remember, the WTA didn't debut on then-Twitter until *late* 2008, so it didn't likely push the social media angle like it could so much more naturally now. The idea of utilizing the sort of cool animated content that has been so well done by some of the majors' social media accounts in recent years is certainly intriguing (spend some money on finding someone to do *that*), and if done well would get some initial attention in the age of Marvel and superhero movies galore.

Aside from the three "fake marketing campaign" themes I've utilized here in recent seasons, I even took a stab (as far as I could) with a few things with a similar vibe a few years ago...



Meanwhile, after almost painfully stressing at the introduction of this campaign to say that the WTA wants to put the players "front and center" in "get to know them" ways, #RallyTheWorld's second week saw the standard of going with *two* posts per player (the first which identified the individual, the second which just included a video), which was the practice through the opening weekend, reduced to just one (w/ only the video, and without even an identification of the player involved), so the withering away has already started. I mean, surely the best way to highlight the athletes as individuals -- including not-exactly-familiar-faces such as those of Magdalena Frech, Ann Li and Asia Muhammad -- is to make everyone outside of a relatively small group of fans have to take wild guesses about just which player is being highlighted, right? Nothing like leaving the "work" to some random fan to *hopefully* identify the player in the replies.

Finally, by the end of the week, the WTA's social media seemed to grudgingly (i.e. only on occasion, as in the following posts, which went up within an hour of each other) begin to identify the spotlighted players, but hardly in an easy-to-see fashion.

NOTE: the Taylor Townsend post includes her name, but is cut off when embedded in this post, while the Zheng Qinwen post did not include her name. All the more reason to identify the players within the body of the post (as they do the photographer).




The hit-and-miss identification continued, often in the positively "groundbreaking" #WTAOffCourtFits series. This one did *not* include a name. How many people likely could identify her?



Pssst... it's Robin Montgomery.

Kinda makes you wonder if the people doing the actual posting on the WTA's social media pages have any idea who the majority of the players are that they're posting photos of, you know?

This Adweek "article" is money well-spent, I guess, since it's really just a press release posing as a positive critique (you know, just like the pretty much identical "news" on SI.com and other sites). Not that much of anything it says has much veracity. It *does* note that WTA Ventures increased revenue by 25% in 2024, so it looks like that arm is doing well attracting business behind the scenes. Good for them, as well as the increases in other areas. Of course, all that would seem to be totally separate from the rebrand itself, and the complete wrongheaded notions about what will break through and garner the tour the attention that for decades it has been unable to figure out a way -- beyond just letting its stars do all the work on the court -- to turn into positive vibes when it comes to the marketing side of the WTA.

Again, I point to past situations with the Washington Commanders franchise, where during the last regime the group leading the business side of the organization *did* manage to increase revenues and make new deals and partnerships that had eluded the franchise previously due to inept and arrogant practices, but those were things the public didn't *see* on a daily basis. What *was* seen -- the "branding" and marketing -- was still atrocious, sometimes comical (misidentifying players in promotions, mispelling legendary players' names and generally coming off as a "Mickey Mouse organization" when it came to selling itself and, you know, looking the slightest bit competent), and *that* played a larger part in the overall public image of the team. Revenues and common sense don't necessarily operate shoulder-to-shoulder on a 24/7 basis.

So, when this campaign finally disappears, the logos/colors become background noise, the latest campaign goes "poof," and the defining opinion on the changes is merely "indifference" (countdown, in 3...2...1...), while revenue also (hopefully) increases from deals made by people who had nothing to do with the latest "strategy," I fully expect the WTA to act as if this was a rousing "success." I mean, until they go through this process again in three years (w/ something "brilliant" like #WeAreTheWTA, or maybe #WTAAllForOne) and reintroduce the same well-worn ideas as somehow "new."

Really, just telling an agency to start with Li Na's timeless "Welcome to the crazy women's tennis tour" line (which would key on the WTA's unpredictability and excellence) and to go from there could hardly produce something as "damp washcloth"-like as resulted this time around, even while all the accompanying bright colors and flash of the rebrand seems to promise so much more.

Thankfully, the Most Interesting Tour in the World, full of players who've Got the Beat, continues to be a Simply Irresistible product for those who know and see the WTA for what it is and has the capacity to be. Good luck on getting a high number of *new* converts to recognize it, though, when the WTA itself refuses to see the forest for the trees.



[March 16, 2025]




Yes, it's also the fourth attempt in a decade to (poorly) push the same tired narrative that does nothing to sell the tour/sport.


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Meanwhile, not another critique of the WTA rebrand, but an abbreviated take about a possible "fake" campaign:

Called "Heroes / Every Day," it could combine the ahead-of-its-time 2009 "Looking for a Hero?" marketing strategy with the current decade (and four campaigns) long attempt by the tour to sell women's tennis by positioning the athletes as off-court "game-changing" inspirations for girls, women and others around the world.



The difference is, "#HeroesEveryDay" could be more versatile, and not be *solely" dependent upon pulling off the continued (to date) failed attempts to entertainingly present the WTA's generally-quite-pretentious and preaching-to-the-already-converted vision of itself to potential *new* fans and investors.

It could still utilize the off-court inspiration ("everyday" heroes, every day) angle that the tour so clings to, but combine it with highlighting the on-court heroics the players routinely take part in on a daily (Every Day) basis all year long, leaning into the fact that the WTA is *always on*, i.e. with a season that lasts nearly eleven months, meaning *someone* is doing *something* great pretty much every single day of any calendar year.

In addition to this, the "heroes" aspect could escape the "overly earnest" tone that the tour has for so long preferred, allowing the campaign theme to be punctuated by "superhero"-style photoshoots, filmed "action" ads and short animated pieces (or comic book-style paneled images) featured on social media and starring the tour's top personalities, up-and-coming faces and maybe even greats from the past who have "already saved the world" and passed the baton along to other generations over the decades.

Products such as life-size posters and cardboard stand-ups, special edition phone covers and t-shirts that could work to individualize the athletes, as themselves or their "alter egos" (or maybe both!), in an attempt to engage fans who can then play along with how their favorites are presented and envisioned across the entire WTA landscape, literally wearing their allegiance on their chest, smartphone or bedroom wall.

Just a (quick) thought.






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RELATED POSTS:
"They Got the Beat: The Birth of a Fake WTA Marketing Campaign" (2019)

"Simply Irresistible: (Another) Birth of a Fake WTA Marketing Campaign" (2021)

"Credit Where Credit is Due (aka Kudos, ATP)" (2024)

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 11:47 PM 

2 Comments:

Blogger Todd.Spiker said...

A tip-in to this...

In 2022, when the Washington Commanders finally unveiled their "rebrand" after *two years* of "research," the press releases were similarly wordy, dizzying mash-ups of phrases that tried to display how smart the "creative team" were and how so much thought had gone into all the changes.

But any "normal person" looked at the whole mess for five seconds and said, "That looks like s***." (And it did.) "Did you just come up with all this yesterday?" (It sure looked like it.)

That's how I feel about this latest re-hash of all the other poor WTA campaigns over the past 5-6 years.

That said, thankfully, the current product in Washington (now under new management) is now managing to overcome the ineptitude of that rebrand. I suspect the same will be the case with the WTA.

Thu Feb 27, 11:58:00 PM EST  
Blogger Diane said...

Preach!

"Authenticity that can't be faked"--I laughed out loud, then realized again how many people (maybe even the WTA) have bought into this.

It seems to me (and I speak as a former public relations specialist) that it wouldn't be so difficult to promote the game of tennis and the tennis players at the same time. Unlike some sports organizations, the WTA has a wealth of smart, funny, very articulate players who could talk about everything from world affairs to Lego construction to class literature. But the organization just keeps preaching (sort of) to the choir instead of letting the rest of the world discover the riches.

A potential problem, I know, is engaging players in media responsibilities when they should be training, resting, etc. Maybe fewer stupid exhibition events? I don't know. And these days, when so much can be done via Zoom, or other electronic methods, the inconvenience is minimal.




Sat Mar 01, 10:37:00 AM EST  

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