The LTA , the national governing body of tennis, is aiming to piggyback the run up to next month’s Wimbledon Championships with a new integrated advertising and branded content campaign aimed at inspiring more children aged 4-11 years to play tennis.
It is the first work from BMB, which was appointed in January to bolster the “Tennis opened up” mission and the junior programme, LTA Youth, in a move designed to grow the sport by making it relevant, accessible, welcoming and enjoyable to all.
The organisation, previously known as the Lawn Tennis Association, has enlisted the help of British professional tennis players Emma Raducanu MBE and Jack Draper to introduce a new generation of tennis players to the game.
Raducanu opens the TV spot, as she serves to Draper. On return, we see the tennis ball morph into one of six new animated “Tennisable” characters called Ace.
Ace joins four others Slice, Spin, Dash and Smash, as well as Bounce, who is voiced by deaf actress Rose Ayling-Ellis, known for her role in Eastenders and for winning Strictly Come Dancing in 2021. Each character showcases their own personality traits and tennis superpower.
Launching in 60-second and 30-second spots online and broadcast media on ITVX and Sky this week, the characters will also feature in a six-episode LTA YouTube content series designed to teach kids the basics of tennis, whether or not they own a racket or have access to a court.
Each episode features an individual Tennisable, who demonstrates ways to develop a particular skill whether it be speed, competitiveness, resilience, technique or brainpower, all while having fun.
The campaign will run for three months through the summer from June and will include TV sponsorship on Network/Boomerang, BVOD and digital on TikTok, YouTube and Meta, and experiential components in schools.
An initial batch of 55,000 physical LTA Tennisables will be distributed to schoolchildren across the UK through the LTA’s school outreach programme, and the Tennisables will be on site at the LTA’s summer events. Each tennis ball featured in the events will also come with its own QR code, which accesses the LTA website where the content series will be hosted.
Regardless of whether they play tennis or not themselves, research shows that parents are motivated to support their children’s interests. The campaign aims to taps into that imperative, while providing excitement and fun to children through the gamification of collectibles to build interest and tap into fandom.
The LTA wants to encourage 100,000 more children a week to play tennis, and to increase bookings onto the LTA Youth programme, developed to be fun, safe, inclusive and competitive, with specially designed progressive coaching and content that will help develop children as both players and people.
LTA chief operating officer Julie Porter said: “The LTA Tennisables tread new ground for the LTA Youth programme, bringing tennis to life in a way we have not done before, getting a tennis ball into the hands of thousands of children and engaging them in this unique way.
“The campaign has been designed using extensive research and insight into the behaviours and motivations of children and their parents.
“The roll-out of LTA Youth has already seen thousands of schoolteachers, coaches and community activators trained to deliver tennis sessions, contributing to a rise in participation among children in the past year.”
BMB chief creative officer Matt Lever added: “We’re very excited to introduce The Tennisables to kids all over the UK. And the fact that we’re getting the furry little guys into tens of thousands of kids’ hands too, means we can hopefully inspire real enthusiasm for tennis – and the brilliant courses the LTA offers – in children that have never even held a racket before.”
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