Wimbledon Serves Up Cricket Diplomacy to Ace Indian Market Growth

New Delhi: Wimbledon, the prestigious Grand Slam tournament, is strategically targeting the Indian market by forging links with cricket, India's most beloved sport. High-profile Indian cricketers like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, and Sachin Tendulkar have been frequent visitors to the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC), the organiser of The Championships.

Rohit Sharma's photograph on Wimbledon's Instagram page garnered a record-breaking 4.5 million likes, highlighting the potential of this crossover appeal. AELTC Chief Executive Sally Bolton has identified India and the US as key markets for expanding the Wimbledon brand.

Brendan Dinen, Head of Marketing at Wimbledon, explained to TimesofIndia.com, "Cricket is much loved and certainly king for Indian audiences. So rather than trying to compete with that, I think it's about trying to find interesting ways to collaborate. Both sports are rich in heritage... So I think there's interesting ways to be able to bring that to life for audiences, so that they might want to come and watch it as well."

Strategic Collaborations

Wimbledon is actively pursuing collaborations to tap into the Indian cricket fanbase:

• Social Media Influencers: Partnering with Indian social media influencers to experience and document a combined day at Lord's (cricket) and Wimbledon, showcasing it to their audience.
• Broadcast Partnerships: Working closely with Star Sports, their broadcast partner, to create tennis-cricket crossover trailers that aired during the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Untapped Potential

Despite its prestige, Wimbledon recognises the potential for further growth, particularly in India. Last year, the tournament had 60-70 million engagements across broadcast and social media. With a potential audience of over a billion in India, there is significant scope for expansion, especially among the country's youth.

Dinen emphasized the importance of younger audiences, stating, "Younger audiences and audiences of the future are crucial to us... ensuring that we can have the content and different parts of the Championships, with tennis at the centre of that approach - whether that's through social media platforms or working with influencers and content creators - to be able to look to be able to engage those audiences."

Overcoming Challenges

Wimbledon faces challenges in hosting events in India due to the monsoon season. As a workaround, the AELTC is partnering with PVR INOX to screen the finals in theaters across India.

Another strategy involves inviting Indian cricket stars like Kohli, Tendulkar, and Rohit to the Royal Box, leveraging their massive social media followings. While no concrete plans are in place yet, this remains a possibility during the Indian cricket team's tour of England for the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.

Embracing Technology

While preserving traditions like the all-white dress code and serving strawberries and cream, Wimbledon is embracing technology to enhance the fan experience. This includes utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI), in collaboration with IBM, on its app and website.

The "Match Chat" assistant provides real-time answers to fans' questions during live matches, offering immediate responses and match analysis.

Dinen concluded, "We continue to embrace technology, and it sits at the heart of the balance between heritage and innovation... We absolutely want to make sure we bring the brand and the Championships to life in new and interesting ways."