Dubai: The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) has introduced a new corporate identity in trying to redefine the organisation’s strength as a collective unit of inspiring athletes and tournaments.
The launch has also revealed a new ‘WTA For The Game’ campaign that will seek to highlight the driving forces of the sport aimed at creating deeper engagement with fans.
The rebranding, which includes the WTA’s first logo re-design in more than a decade, coincides with the announcement of a simplified numerical naming system for WTA tournaments.
Founded in 1973 when Billie Jean King rallied the support of her like-minded colleagues to form an association that would evolve into what is today a membership body representing two equal-partner constituencies, namely the athletes and the tournaments.
Nearly 50 years later, tennis is the leading global sport for women highlighted by some of the most recognisable names in all of sports, with 32 countries and regions represented in the Top-100 of the WTA Rankings.
The WTA’s new brand image incorporates a dynamic reworking of the familiar letters W, T and A – with a tennis ball functioning as the crossbar of the A – and marks a return to a silhouette of a female tennis player. The serve action pictured in the logo was given prominence for its literal and figurative significance to the WTA.
The serve is the only shot in tennis where the player has absolute control and where the point begins. It also accentuates the fearless initiative taken by the WTA’s early founders who took control of their destiny and blazed a trail for the women of tennis today. The symbol makes subtle references to the sport’s global nature, framing the athlete within a circle that evokes the universal spirit of the WTA’s platform.
The ‘WTA For The Game’ campaign will be highlighted by several consumer touchpoints, including 30 and 60 seconds commercial spots as well as influencer stories that will be broadcast, published and posted across WTA player, tournament and affiliate- channels.
To enhance brand synergy while building consistency for tennis fans, tournaments will have access to a range of marketing collateral, with scope to feature a wide array of WTA athletes, to meet their individual promotional needs.
Using the slogan ‘WTA For The Game’ as a starting point, fans will be provided new insights into the individual stories of players as they describe the defining moments that have shaped their tennis journey and what gives their game purpose. Furthermore, a series of fan engagement activations will be released as the 2021 season begins.
The WTA events will now be categorised as WTA 1000 (incorporating the former Premier Mandatory and Premier 5 tournaments); WTA 500 (formerly Premier 700); WTA 250 (International); and WTA 125 (125K Series).