32 tries in the world and the élite of the
world's tennis stars. Live broadcasts
during the three-day encounters (two
singles on the first day, a double on
the second day and two singles on the
third day) are no exception.
The Davis Cup is not Heineken's
first tennis sponsorship. For several
years Heineken has been sponsoring
the prestigious US Open, one of the
four Grand Slam tournaments.
Besides tennis sponsorship at corpo
rate level, Heineken operating com
panies are also active in this area.
Heineken USA has signed contracts
with four ATP tennis tournaments:
the Newsweek Champions Cup in
Palm Springs, the Lipton Champion
ship in Key Biscayne, the Washington
Tennis Classic and the Thriftway ATP
Championship. In all four of these
tournaments Heineken has 'official
beer' status as well as prominent sig
nage and hospitality opportunities.
Research
The fact that Heineken Corporate
is now focusing more on tennis does
not automatically mean that the
Heineken brand name will never be
associated with golfing again. Several
tournaments will continue to be
sponsored by Heineken, such as the
Heineken Classic in Perth, Australia.
In view of the strongly growing popu
larity of golf in Asia and Australia, it
has been decided to prolong this
sponsorship for a further three years.
Sponsoring of golf tournaments by
operating companies continues to be
possible. But contracts with events
like, say, the World Cup of Golf will
not be extended.
International Sponsorship Manag
er Anneke Ubbink explains the rea
sons for the switch: "The group of
consumers you can reach via golf
sponsoring is in fact slightly narrower
than through tennis. Golf is still
regarded as a 'highly sophisticated'
sport in many countries. In a large
number of key markets we conducted
research into the image of Heineken.
chance that after a while they will
grasp that you're linked with tennis."
The seriousness of Heineken's
sponsoring of tennis is certainly
reflected by the fact that, immediately
after the signing of the contracts with
the ITF (the organising body of the
Davis Cup tournament), a start was
made on developing merchandising
activities which stylishly combine
Heineken and tennis (see next pages).
Saturation
Recent years have seen a satura
tion effect within the sport of tennis.
This showed us that tennis fits in well
with the image of Heineken."
The results that the new tennis
sponsorships will provide cannot be
predicted at the moment. Anneke
Ubbink: "You only see the first results
after three years. You have to look
upon sponsoring as if it were a brand
ed article; you must invest in it and be
consistent in your choices, in the
image you want to convey. If you take
a consistent approach to the con
sumers, then there is a much greater
The number of tournaments is
increasing and public interest is on
the wane. Tennis authorities are
thinking up rule changes, such as
shorter pauses between rallies, aimed
at keeping the game attractive for the
public.
Anneke Ubbink: "I expect that, as
time passes, the events which attract
only the weaker names will fade
away, leaving only the strong tourna
ments. And by strong tournaments I
mean above all the Grand Slam tour-
THE WORLD OF HEINEKEN
