Women’s Tennis Association
Reinventing a brand so iconic, Hollywood made a movie about it.
The challenge
Following the success of the Australian Open rebrand and ongoing campaigns, while working at Landor I had the pleasure of defining the direction of the iconic Women’s Tennis Association (WTA). For those who aren’t close to tennis, they’re essentially the organising body of women’s professional tennis, governing the WTA Tour – the global professional tour for women.
Founded by the infamous Billie Jean King in 1973 on the principle of equal opportunity, today it has paved the way for careers like Ash Barty and Serena Williams. In fact, The WTA is one of the world’s most recognisable and high-profile sports organisations, consisting of more than 1650 players representing approximately 85 nations.
The challenge? The WTA needed a brand strategy and visual identity to better reflect its distinct position in market as well as a campaign to launch the new brand to market.
The process
The immersion process included: speaking to players and members of the WTA, senior stakeholder interviews, conducting a competitive and out of category analysis as well as using a deep understanding of the world of Tennis from the work with the Australian Open.
What became abundantly clear: The WTA is anything but an ordinary brand.
The solution
The insight was clear:
The WTA was not founded on tradition, simply ‘following’ is not the WTA way.
** And if you’re wanting to know more about the story: Read more about Billie Jean King and The Battle of The Sexes here. Or check out the Golden Globe Nominated film starring Emma Stone and Steve Carrell, it tells the founding story of the WTA. **
The brand needed a strategy that reflected the revolutionary women who challenged the way things had been done and continue to pave the way for those to come. A strategy that represented the world’s no 1 women’s sport. A sport that was continually paving the way for equal pay and opportunity and a body that was committed to the development and progression of the sport.
The Brand Idea: The Power of Association was created to define the direction of the WTA.
Designed to unleash and unite the competitive power of women. This idea brought together everything and everyone that embodied the brand – the association, the players *and* the fans –The individual yet interconnected elements that make the WTA such a powerful force.
This brand idea was just the start of a new era for the sporting body.
Results
The new branding was fully integrated across WTA communications platforms, including TV graphics, print collateral, all tournament branding, advertising, promotion, and digital and social media. A key component of the rebrand launch is a 30 second campaign video which brings the brand strategy and visual identity to life across motion assets.
And my favourite result…
Venus Williams herself narrated the launch campaign. ‘For the Game’
Deliverables:
Brand Positioning – Brand Strategy – Brand Narrative – Brand Architecture – Visual Identity – Brand Campaign
Agency
Landor
ESD
Daye Moffitt