PlayTennis.com, an unbranded collaborative effort from major stakeholders in the tennis industry will receive a boost in its reach to consumers as the consumer “activation” date has been scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 5.
The site, which serves as a “rallying point for tennis and the industry,” says TIA President Greg Mason, is completely free to both consumers and tennis industry providers to use and serves as a portal to connect people to tennis and keep them engaged with the sport. On the site, consumers can search for a partner, find a place to play, find programs and events in their area, find a coach for instruction, and more.
“Collectively, as an industry, we all touch millions of current and potential tennis consumers,” Mason says. “On Sept. 5, we're pooling our resources in a non-branded unified messaging effort to drive consumer engagement with PlayTennis.com through social media and email campaigns.”
“Although the various industry stakeholders may have overlap in the consumers they reach, we've projected a total reach of over 75 million consumers for the Sept. 5 activation date,” says TIA Executive Director Jolyn de Boer.
The key message behind the Sept. 5 activation will be to get consumers to sign-up as a part of the PlayTennis.com player database. Industry research consistently pinpoints that the primary inhibitor of tennis play is being able to find a partner. As more players continue to sign-up at PlayTennis.com, the site will reach a critical mass of users that consumers can connect with for tennis playing opportunities through the site’s “Find-a-Game” feature.
To help encourage consumer sign-ups, hundreds of monthly prizes will be given away to site registrants, including tickets to the 2014 US Open, autographed tennis racquets, merchandise packs, and more.
To date, numerous industry organizations, tennis celebrities and pro players have agreed to participate in the consumer messaging of PlayTennis.com.
“For major stars of the game and industry stakeholders to commit to helping spread the message about PlayTennis.com speaks to the potential impact it can have on our industry,” says Mason. “It’s something all of us in this industry can agree on and support, to help grow the game for the benefit of everyone. A key to growing the $5.57 billion tennis industry starts with increasing the size of the player base, and that’s what PlayTennis.com will do for all of us.”
With unprecedented support committed from all parts of the industry to message PlayTennis.com to consumers, and with a potential consumer reach well into the millions, it is more important than ever for tennis providers to make sure they're listed in the search functions on the site. Getting listed is simple and free, and can help reap benefits for tennis businesses. To get listed, facilities, retailers, teaching pros, etc. should visit PlayTennis.com and click on “Get Listed” and then “Providers.” Providers should also make sure their consumer contacts are listed on the site, too.
Those in the industry who would like to help support the activation of PlayTennis.com can find a variety of free resources available for download at PlayTennis.com, including logos, banner ads, email template, social media messaging, and more.
“PlayTennis.com will serve as a great tool to promote industry-wide efforts, such as Youth Tennis, Cardio Tennis and the new Tennis Tune-Up campaign,” de Boer says. “We're committed to this site becoming THE source to connect people to the game of tennis, to each other and to the resources to get them more engaged with our sport.”
