The U.S. Open Tennis Championships
Engaging over 850,000 fans onsite and providing the brand with nearly 64 hours of branded television exposure
Cadillac is not on the radar of many luxury buyers because they consider the brand to be second-tier. To change this and create emotional demand, we built a partnership portfolio to connect with luxury buyers through their passion for tennis. In 2022, we executed a multi-year agreement to add the iconic U.S. Open Tennis Championships to Cadillac’s portfolio of marquee events like the PGA Championships – major partnerships our target audiences know and love and will help Cadillac’s mission of championing big dreams and bold ambition and build “brand for me” desire among fans.
The US Open – a 21-day tournament — draws approximately 850,000 people to New York, one of the top markets for luxury vehicles. With 2022 being Serena Williams’ final Open, the event was must-see TV, providing Cadillac with a bold launch pad for the new LYRIQ and its all-EV future.
Mercedes was the automotive sponsor for many years and while replacing them was a big coup, to deliver on our goals we had to execute flawlessly in a compressed timeframe. Within 5 weeks we created dimensional net branding across the entire complex of 22 courts, digital branding, court takeover experiences, product engagements and more.
The pinnacle of the US Open experience is the VIP hospitality suite, the highly-coveted asset within Arthur Ashe Tennis Stadium where VIPs are treated to exceptional viewing of world class tennis and elevated hospitality. We gutted, redesigned and rebuilt the space before the start of the tournament and delivered an experience that blew people away with many fans saying they “would buy a Cadillac just to spend another session in the hospitality suite!”.
Impact:
The US Open Tennis Championships delivered on our goals, engaging over 850,000 fans onsite and providing the brand with nearly 64 hours of branded television exposure through the camera visible signage. Most importantly the brand impact study showed that the three most important metrics – “brand for me”, “brand opinion” and “likely to consider” – all posted double digit increases blowing past ingoing benchmarks.