I JUST DON'T SEE THE POINT !!


I am a big fan of tennis - playing, watching and talking about it. So for many years now I have watched the climax of the clay court season at Roland Garros before we switch to the fair lawns of England.


Lovely red clay, great Roland Garros branding and superb sponsors from the global arena that make the commercial wheels of the world of tennis go round. Six of the ten are French, naturally, two are European classics and two are American.

So who are the sponsors? Headline sponsor since 1973 and recently renewed until 2016 the great supporter  of French and global tennis, BNP Paribas; who this year are reaching out globally with a new English written tag line of "The Bank for a changing world" - La banque d'un monde qui change....how true a strapline! 

Powerhouse brands such as Adidas of Germany and Agassi-supported Longines of Switzerland complete the European roster at Roland Garros, while IBM and FedEx give the French Open their global content


The other five French brands associated with the French Open,  Peugeot, iconic tennis apparel brand Lacoste, mineral water Perrier and French television network OrangeSport, a specialist in soccer, tennis and cycling.
Powerhouse brands such as Adidas of Germany and Longines of Switzerland complete the European roster at Roland Garros, while IBM and FedEx give the French Open a totally global feel.




Then there is a "brand" I have seen for the last 4 years now and had no idea who they were. In all honesty I couldn't be bothered even to find out since they had made no effort to connect with me. 


This bizarre sounding name of "Afflelou". French patisserie? French Chateau? 

 No. Apparently, they make eyewear.

So where is the great sponsorship activation? Advertising? Supporting website? Social media campaign? Quite frankly let's be honest is there any supporting spend behind this brand apart from some court side branding?

According to the Afflelou website here is why they have a passion for tennis and Roland Garros:

"Between ALAIN AFFLELOU and Tennis, a real story was born. After the sponsoring of Amélie Mauresmo and of The Roland Garros tournament, it is now to the Davis Cup French Team to be supported by Alain Afflelou. Beyond his sponsoring, it is for our brand name an incredible opportunity to get associated with a sport practiced by more than 4 million French people among which 1 100 000 people are members of The French Tennis Federation"

Oh dear!
A few suggestions Alain:

1. Get someone to write your website in grammatical English -  and tell us about the story of Tennis and Afflelou...if there is one.
2. Activation - buying sponsorship rights is only the beginning of the partnership. Rights are not just about "badging" or even tickets to the event. Think about how activating the sponsorship rights will help you achieve your brand, marketing and  business objectives. 
3. Integration - your advertising, website, your social media campaign; and make them multi-lingual to aid your brand's global expansion.
4. Relevance - sponsor a player who wears glasses - Janko Tipsaravic for instance who has had a fantastic year, wears very distinctive (Oakley) glasses, or semi-finalist Yaroslava Shvedova (Oakley).
5. Make a campaign fun....what would Djokovic look like with glasses on? Genuine engagement with current customers and new potential ones.
6. Make it educational with on event activation - eye tests at the Championship
7. Hey, why not create an app, everyone else is?!
8. Are your objectives SMART? I know this is sales terminology but it definitely applies to marketing too.

Sponsorship is there to heighten brand awareness, provide positive publicity, create new connections, convey the brand personality, differentiate the brand, and communicate it's relevance to a target audience with a perfect match with a sport.

So, Mr.Afflelou, I am sorry but you get "nul points"