Space launches OOH Arrivals campaign for this year’s Wimbledon Championships
Creative agency Space has launched an OOH campaign for the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) to build excitement and anticipation for over 500,000 visitors to this year’s Wimbledon Championships. To heighten the visitor experience for 2024, Wimbledon has added an interactive feature to connect with fans in the world-famous Wimbledon Queue.
This year sees the second instalment of the “Always Like Never Before” campaign, bringing to life the notion that the unexpected awaits the grass courts of Wimbledon Like Never Before, alongside the traditions and experiences that are Always cherished and appreciated. To tailor the campaign to the experience of ticket holders for the Championships, the campaign imagines the journey of visitors and their heightened anticipation and excitement for what lies ahead in their day at Wimbledon, a day like no other.
The lead creative treatment features the image of both 2023 Singles champions in their moment of celebration on Centre Court, falling to the grass with the thrill, impact and fatigue of their success. The 2023 Championships epitomised ‘Always Like Never Before’ by the fact that the Ladies’ Singles Champion, Marketa Vondrousova, was unseeded and a huge outsider for the title, and the Mens’ Singles Champion, Carlos Alcaraz, won his first Wimbledon title by beating the 7-time Champion, Novak Djokovic, in the Final. This ad features in prime locations in and outside the SW19 Grounds, including the iconic 40m poster installation on the back of Court 12, visible along the visitor route of Somerset Road, and at the Gate 3 entrance into the All England Club.
The campaign begins at Wimbledon and Southfields Station for visitors to the Championships, with impactful creative across numerous media sites, featuring some of the big names of the 2024 Championships, including the 4 incumbent Champions (Vondrousova and Alcaraz, plus the Wheelchair Champions, Tokito Oda and Diede De Groot, 2 World No. 1s (Iga Swiatek and Jannik Sinner), and other key contenders such as Ons Jabeur, Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff and Frances Tiafoe. In these executions, the players are featured in 3 frames including a dramatic or unexpected action pose, then a winning moment, and then a pose celebrating success with guests in the crowd. These are the moments that guests to the Championships like to enjoy and celebrate, and imagine themselves experiencing later the same day once watching the tennis.
Visitors will be greeted with a full OOH takeover at Southfields and Wimbledon train stations featuring digital 6-sheets, platform 4-sheets and station stairways and ticket barrier ads.
Advertising will also feature along the world-famous Queue, picking out 4 Wimbledon stars (Jabeur, Sinner, Sabalenka and Tiafoe) and include deeper explanation of the story behind these players as they arrive at the 2024 Championships to give guests a little more preparation for what they’re about to experience.
The Wimbledon Queue in 2024 has undergone an evolution to create two new areas, including A Welcome Area and an Activation Village, to allow guests to congregate in certain areas and enjoy Partner experiences and products and watch the tennis whilst they wait for access to the Grounds. To celebrate this, Space has created a Pick-a-Side interactive game for guests to participate in. Pick-a-Side encourages guests to predict forthcoming matches relating to the day’s play, but also to pick their favourite Wimbledon thing, such as strawberries and cream, or afternoon tea, The Hill or the Southern Village etc. Results will be shared throughout the day, so fans can see how their vote changed the results, but also will give Wimbledon greater knowledge around daytime sentiment and predictions. The Queue will also feature a Contextual Photo Opportunity for guests to interact with, relating specifically to the Queue experience.
In total, Space has created over 120 different assets across multiple touchpoints.
The campaign runs throughout the duration of The Championships to Sunday 14th July 2024.
In 2023, a record 532k visitors attended Wimbledon fortnight and this year, once again, The Championships has experienced its highest ever numbers entering the ballot for tickets.
“Wimbledon has witnessed a multitude of moments in time that last forever. And the 2024 Wimbledon Arrivals campaign captures the most recent examples of that, with the 2023 Champions featured together on the Centre Court grass, epitomising that Wimbledon is always unexpected, always dramatic, and always like never before. Whilst the players may change, the drama remains. Throughout Southfields and Wimbledon stations, along the famous Queue and around our iconic grounds, fans will be surrounded by the most recent Champions in the Mens’, Womens’, and Wheelchair Singles Championships, alongside a new generation of potential winners who may be set to experience a Wimbledon like never before. We’re delighted with how Space has brought this idea to life across so many different touchpoints".Alessandro Perottoni, Creative Lead at Wimbledon
“The 2023 Championships demonstrated why Wimbledon is “Always Like Never Before”, with unexpected winners, shocks and surprises, breathtaking action and iconic celebrations. These are featured throughout our work for the 2024 campaign. And all this in a setting that conjures thrills and excitement year after year, for those watching on screens, and for everyone coming to Wimbledon to experience it for themselves. We have huge pride in creating this work that welcomes guests to SW19 and builds anticipation and energy on the way to the Wimbledon Gates and once inside”.David Atkinson, Managing Partner at Space
The 2024 campaign marks the 13th year that Space has worked with the AELTC on The Championships.
