Jaguar becomes first official car partner of Wimbledon Championships

Car marque Jaguar has agreed a three-year deal to become the first official car partner of the Wimbledon Championships.

Jaguar brand ambassadors Tim Henman and Jose Mourinho and marketing director Laura Schwab unveil the brand's partnership with Wimbledon
Jaguar brand ambassadors Tim Henman and Jose Mourinho and marketing director Laura Schwab unveil the brand’s partnership with Wimbledon

The deal means that Jaguar will become the first new brand to have its logo appear on court at the tennis tournament in 15 years. The logo will appear on boards that display the speed of players’ serves during matches.

In addition, Jaguar is to provide close to 150 vehicles for transporting players and officials to and from the venue at the All England Club in southwest London when the tournament gets under way in June.

Jaguar Land Rover’s UK marketing director Laura Schwab said the deal makes “perfect sense” given Jaguar’s British heritage and its existing presence in tennis through a partnership with the David Lloyd chain of racquet and fitness clubs.

“Tennis is a sport that really resonates with what Jaguar stands for because it’s all about performance,” she told Marketing Week.

“There’s something really elegant and graceful about tennis and I think that speaks strongly to what our vehicles deliver.”

Jaguar is activating the partnership by creating content with former British number one tennis player Tim Henman and with Chelsea football manager Jose Mourinho, who signed on as a brand ambassador last year.

Last month the brand filmed a video of Henman giving Mourinho his first tour of the All England Club. Jaguar plans to use the content in its social media campaign around the tournament.

In addition, Schwab said Jaguar would seek to use digital out-of-home advertising in order to drive home its association with Wimbledon. “We’re working through our idea, which is about capturing the feeling of what Wimbledon brings to the country during those two weeks,” she added. “We want to help fans feel closer to the tournament.”

Jaguar joins the likes of Rolex, IBM and Lavazza in becoming Wimbledon’s thirteenth official supply partner. However Mick Desmond, commercial director at the All England Club, insisted the organisation is not looking to continually add more sponsorship categories.

“We don’t seek to have a long tail of partners,” he said. “We have 13 official supply partners as we call them and the very reason that we have such strong partnerships – Rolex has been with us for over 30 years, for example, and IBM for 25 –is because partners know that they have that exclusivity.”

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