Publicis scoops ATP Tennis Tour account
Publicis has been handed the 1m advertising account for the Barclays ATP World Tennis Tour without a pitch. It is the first time the tournament has appointed an agency.
The agency is working on the UK launch of the tournament, which replaces the Tennis Masters Cup in November 2009. The relaunch comes after Barclay’s signed a £20m five-year sponsorship deal with ATP, the body for men’s professional tennis, earlier this summer.
The event, currently held in Shanghai’s Qi Zhong Tennis Centre, will move to London’s O2 Arena from next year and will feature the eight best singles players and eight doubles teams fighting for the number one spot. It will be joint promoted by the two owners of the O2 Arena, the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and sports owner Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG).
Shanghai has hosted the tournament since 2005, after it entered a six-month worldwide bidding process to stage the season finale from 2005-2007. The tournament is co-owned by the ATP, International Tennis Federation (ITF) and Grand Slams. It was held in the US in 2003 and 2004 when a two-year contract was signed to hold the tournament at West Side Tennis Club in Houston, Texas.
In 2001, the Tennis Master’s Cup was held in Sydney, Australia, when tennis star Lleyton Hewitt became the youngest year-end world number one in history.
The event forms a key part of the Barclays global sponsorship strategy, which aims to reflect the interests of its customers, clients and stakeholders and the communities in which it operates.
