This Is Tennis

Read the campaign story

ATP launched This Is Tennis with MATTA on 9 December 2020. Its release described a film and shared content language connecting players, tournament destinations and life on tour. Campaign Brief documents a further MATTA execution for the 2024 season. That later work refreshes the same family rather than establishing a new original launch.

The evidence supports the creative system and its intended use, not an independently verified change in who watches or buys tickets. A global season contains many local experiences, and a shared campaign cannot guarantee identical access or service conditions. This study examines the organisational decision to connect varied stories through one frame while leaving individual tournaments responsible for accurate practical information.

Editorial interpretation: a season can be harder to understand than a single event. A new viewer may recognise a player without knowing how destinations, rivalries and successive competitions relate. A shared storytelling language can make those relationships easier to follow. The task is not to compress everything into a highlights montage, but to provide recurring cues that help audiences recognise what is continuous and what is changing.

Editorial interpretation: dynamism is useful only when it remains legible. Fast editing and confident language can challenge a stale impression, yet also obscure the specific people or stakes that would sustain interest. An adaptable platform needs both an attention-getting introduction and slower explanatory modules. Different formats can carry different levels of detail without abandoning the same underlying promise about what the audience will discover.

Define the common story and the local variables

List what every execution must communicate and what each event may adapt. Shared elements might include an introductory question, an information hierarchy or a consistent route to further context. Local elements should reflect actual schedules, access conditions and distinctive features. This division prevents central consistency from becoming inaccurate uniformity and gives partner teams a useful brief rather than a restrictive collection of visual rules.

Make personalities an entry point rather than the whole map

A recognisable participant can attract attention, but the surrounding system should help audiences explore beyond that individual. Explain what makes the next event or another contributor relevant. Avoid treating celebrity familiarity as evidence that viewers understand the season. Build a route that works when the featured person is absent, unavailable or no longer part of the story being promoted.

Measure comprehension across the sequence

Test more than the launch film. Ask whether people can connect a short social post, an event page and a later update without confusion. Identify where repeated language becomes vague or where local details contradict the central promise. A coherent platform should reduce the effort needed to understand new information. It should not require viewers to have watched every previous instalment before the current one makes sense. Include a newcomer in this review so the shared language is tested without the team’s accumulated knowledge.

A small test for another brief

Proposed adaptation: create a fictional three-stop makers’ festival campaign with one shared introduction and distinct event cards for each location.

Measure whether viewers recognise the common programme, distinguish the three stops and choose the correct information for their interests. Compare a shared frame with unrelated event cards. Ask what they assume remains identical across locations, then correct any design that implies unsupported consistency of price, access or experience.

Stop if the shared identity conceals important local differences or visual energy prevents newcomers from understanding the programme.

• Use invented participants, venues and schedules.
• Provide a plain overview and accessible local information.
• Keep all tests on screen with consenting adults.