Hertz champions Wimbledon partnership in latest ad drive

The car rental brand is the official transport provider to the Championships and is launching an integrated campaign that will feature the strap-line “Driving the Championships”.

The campaign has been created by Iris, and will include digital, print, retail, outdoor, CRM and PR. It is the first year that Hertz will have activated the sponsorship from a consumer perspective, and the brand hopes it will enhance the trade hospitality and transport livery activity that it currently uses to showcase their relationship with the world’s most prestigious tennis event.

The campaign will be backed by a microsite, which will include an online consumer giveaway competition offering the chance to win one of twelve pairs of Wimbledon Centre Court tickets over a three-week period between 7 and 27 June. Each week four winners will each receive a pair of Centre Court tickets for them and a friend to watch a full day’s action on Ladies’ Semi Finals Day, with access to full hospitality in the Hertz hospitality suite.

The online competition, which asks consumers to guess how many balls have been squeezed into a Hertz hire car can also be entered via Twitter and encourages users to Tweet out their guess.

Awareness of the Hertz / Wimbledon partnership will be driven through a number of channels and where appropriate will include a call to action to WIN tickets by visiting the micro-site.

Transport livery across Hertz’s fleet of 164 official tournament cars and two VIP coaches will be used to spread the campaign messages via high impact graphics, as the vehicles ferry players and officials to and from the tournament.

Outdoor advertising will appear as 6 sheets and 48 sheets at London City Airport while retail activity will run across Hertz’s network of stores in the UK, including posters across all Hertz branches in the UK and high impact window graphics across their central London branches.

In addition, CRM activity will be used to bring the partnership to life for Hertz’s network of customers in the UK and, nearer to the tournament, a short viral film will be released celebrating Hertz’s relationship with the tournament.

Elizabeth Norris, Hertz’s director of brand and communications EMEA, says: “We are delighted to be extending our role as Wimbledon’s Official Transport Provider for a further five years. This year, the campaign put together by iris, gives tennis fans the opportunity to make their own journey to Wimbledon by winning centre court tickets. The various strands of activity work perfectly to showcase our unique partnership and provides a point of differentiation from our competitors during the busy summer months.”

Peter Harris, CEO, iris Sponsorship, adds: “The Wimbledon fortnight captures the attention and imagination of sports fans across the world, and as such Hertz’s unique partnership with the tournament provides a fantastic platform for Hertz to bring their brand positioning to life and differentiate themselves from their competitors. This year through an integrated campaign the ’Driving the Championships’ campaign is, for the first time, focused on capturing and amplifying the excitement around Wimbledon to consumers in a really fun and engaging way.”