WE ARE TENNIS FAN ACADEMY

TitleWE ARE TENNIS FAN ACADEMY
BrandBNP PARIBAS
Product/ServiceWE ARE TENNIS
Category I01. Integrated Multi-Platform Campaign
Entrant Company WE ARE SOCIAL Paris, FRANCE
Advertising Agency WE ARE SOCIAL Paris, FRANCE
Production Company ICONOCLAST Paris, FRANCE
Credits
Name Company Position
Sandrine Plasseraud We Are Social Managing Director
Guillaume Lalu We Are Social Deputy Managing Director
Nicolas Billières We Are Social Brand Strategy Director
Julien Thibon We Are Social Account Director
Nicolas Breuil We Are Social Account Manager
Charlotte Michalska We Are Social Account Manager
Thomas Guilhot We Are Social Creative Director
Mehdi Sedira We Are Social Art Director
Max Vedel We Are Social Art Director
Julien Ouvrel We Are Social Digital Producer
Emilie Lepot TV Producer
Cécile Ousset We Are Social TV Producer
Adrien Armanet Film Director
Laurent d'Herbécourt Music

Creative Execution

Leveraging Roland Garros' worldwide audience, we teased the campaign using surprising stunts, announced the launch of the school, and encouraged people to register online via a print, banner, outdoor and TV ad campaign, along with a press conference led by McEnroe himself. The selection process led by the tennis icon was then live-streamed online and the best recruits were sent to London to train and pump up crowds in stadiums for the Davis Cup. Their training was broadcasted on social networks, catching the interest of a wider audience and media, and their enthusiasm during matches was clearly visible in stadiums and on TV.

The first 250 graduated supporters have pumped up more than 60,000 spectators in the Glasgow, Paris, Brussels and London stadiums and have showed the world how they were able to change the face of tennis in matches broadcasted on TV. Fans flocked to social networks to share and spread the campaign with their communities. Even tennis players and media personalities were astonished by this groundswell of support and excitement in the world of tennis.

In 2014, BNP Paribas launched their new brand promise: a bank for a changing world. This promise is integral to all parts of branded strategy and communications, including non-banking areas such as We Are Tennis, their tennis sponsored brand. We were briefed to imagine a concept which would engage this community over the long term, and with enough impact to anchor the bank’s new promise in their minds. To change the face of tennis, without changing the actual rules of the game and without having to depend on the players, we decided to leverage supporters. This insight, coupled with our motto « Support tennis like never before », helped us create the We Are Tennis Fan Academy, led by John McEnroe and with one main objective: to change tennis as we know it, by energizing the usually calm supporters of the sport.