US+Open+Advertising


 * US Open Advertising **

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**Contents:**


 * Overview
 * Reasons to use
 * Limitations
 * Costs
 * Reach & Frequency
 * Scheduling
 * Impact
 * Audience qualities
 * Success Stories

**Overview of the US OPEN as used for advertising purposes:**

The [|US Open] is a National Tennis tournament that was founded in August of 1881, in Newport, R.I. (Federer, 2010). Originally starting with just men’s singles, the tournament evolved to including women’s singles in 1887, women’s doubles in 1889, and mixed gender doubles in 1892 (Federer, 2010). Growing as rapidly as the popularity of the event, advertising in the US Open is evolving just as quickly. Ways to successfully advertise at the US Open include taking advantages of sponsorships, social media, and advertising slots. Esurance and Mercedes Benz have successfully partnered with the US Open for the year 2010. In addition to these sponsorships, the US Open offers iPhone applications, mobile phone alerts, and text messages, all of which are available to advertisers (Federer, 2010).



One can follow live feed from the event on Twitter, with players providing an inside look on the tournament. Twitter also is a strong force for advertisers as well, allowing them to link themselves to <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">the event. [|Facebook] also allows advertisers to partner with the tournament.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 110%;">In addition to these forms of advertisements, if companies can get the athletes to wear their products during the tournament, they will gain a massive amount of recognition as being a luxury, dependable brand.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px;"> Reasons to use:
<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 110%;">With the US Open reaching over 700,000 fans, the event is a prime target for advertisers. While it is extremely expensive, with some sponsorships reaching $70 million, the benefits of the tournaments reach are extreme.



<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px;">**Limitations:**

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 110%;">Because the US Open is an event, unless one becomes a sponsor of the event, advertising is very limited. The tournament runs from August 24 through September 12; therefore only providing advertisers with 19 days of in-event advertising (Federer, 2010). In addition, because the tournament is extremely prestigious, the price of ads are costly, making the event slots only available to established companies, not small businesses. However, for those less established companies, internet advertising, through Twitter and Facebook, are available but are less prestigious and recognizable.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 27px;">**Costs:**

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 110%;">With over 100,000 tickets available, the average ticket price for one round is $104; a second round ticket at $150 (Badenhausen, 2010). Some companies will spend virtually $60 million to sponsor a professional tennis team (Sportsbusiness, 2010). Specifically, Corona spent $70 million to be a partner in the US Open for 5 and ½ years (Sportsbusiness, 2010). <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 110%;">Reach and Frequency

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 110%;">The US Open brings in over 700,000 fans over a two week time period (Badenhausen, 2010). Specifically, in 2009, it attracted exactly 721,059 people (Badenhausen, 2010). With this many people interested in the sporting event, audiences are extremely susceptible to ads places by advertisers. Ads can also be places on television duri <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">ng the allotted spots to target the at home audience. Generally speaking, the total number of tennis viewers age 16+ in 2009, was 32,099 (SBRnet, 2010). <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 110%;">Additionally, the US Open offers phone applications and text message alerts.

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<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 27px;">**Scheduling:**

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 110%;">Because the US Open is only during the time frame of August 24 through September 12, space for advertisements is very limited. Also, the tournament revolves mainly around sponsorships, enabling the partners to advertise the entire time frame of the tournament.



<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 27px;">**Impact:**

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 110%;">With over 700,000 people in attendance, the US Open is the largest sporting event in the world (Federer, 2010). This fact alone ensures that advertisers/ sponsors of the event are going to generate a lot of response to their advertisements. Because the tournament is held at such a high level, people will associate the prestige with the companies that sponsor it, giving a positive image to the company as a whole.



<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 27px;">**Audience Qualities:**

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 110%;">In 2009, the audience profile for the US Open was composed mainly of viewers age 35-49. When concerning gender, males were most likely to watch the tournament at 56.9%; females at 43.1%. At most, 34.9% of viewers had an average income of $50,000 to $99,000 a year (SBRnet, 2010). The majority of viewers were geographically located in the south at 36.2% (SBRnet, 2010). Advertisers ultimately want to target a sports enthusiast, who enjoys everything about tennis specifically. Males and females are both heavily involved in the tournament and would be extremely susceptible to ads placed within the tournaments time frame.

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<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 27px;">**Successful Advertisers:**

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 110%;">Perhaps one of the most memorable advertisements at the US Open is the coveted position of advertising on the net itself. Lexus received the net position in the year 2006 and was given the opportunity to reach over 630,000 people (Lexus, 2005).



<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 110%;">Sucessful sponsorships include:

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 110%;">[|IBM] <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 110%;">[|LEXUS] <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 110%;">CORONA <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 110%;">MERCEDES BENZ

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 27px;">**References:**


 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 110%;">Badenhause. N, K. (n.d.). US Open Still A Hot Ticket - Kurt Badenhausen - Jock Rich - Forbes. Forbes . Retrieved November 17, 2010, from http://blogs.forbes.com/kurtbadenhausen/2010/08/27/u-s-open-still-a-hot-ticket/
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 110%;">WVU Libraries: EZProxy. (n.d.). WVU Libraries: EZProxy. Retrieved November 17, 2010, from http://www.sbrnet.com.www.libproxy.wvu.edu/Publication.asp?function=detail&magid=185023
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 110%;">WVU Libraries: EZProxy. (n.d.). WVU Libraries: EZProxy. Retrieved November 17, 2010, from http://www.sbrnet.com.www.libproxy.wvu.edu/research.asp?subrid=567
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 110%;">Federer, N. (n.d.). The US Open 2010 - Grand Slam Tennis - Official Site by IBM. The US Open 2010 - Grand Slam Tennis - Official Site by IBM. Retrieved November 18, 2010, from []
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 110%;">About | Press Release Articles. (n.d.). Lexus: New Luxury Cars and SUVs from Lexus USA. Retrieved November 18, 2010 <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">, from http://www.lexus.com/about/news/


 * [[image:us3 width="291" height="180" align="center" caption="US Open Logo"]]