A flaming tennis ball invented 12 years ago might be the U.S. Open’s best salesman.
Clothing, hats and other gear bearing the Open’s iconic flaming-ball logo account for about 42 percent of all sales at the National Tennis Center during New York City’s major championship, said Sarah Cummins, the U.S. Tennis Association’s managing director for merchandising.
Merchandise at Cummins’s first Open 14 years ago was limited to a wall of T-shirts in two sizes -- large and extra- large. It’s grown into a retail operation that brought in almost $14 million during the two-week tournament last year and includes a co-branded clothing line by Polo Ralph Lauren Corp.
The flaming-ball logo became the anchor of an expanded selection of products by 2000, including segmented product lines for men, women, teens, toddlers and so on, Cummins said. It was created by the branding firm Landor & Associates, and Cummins said she fell in love with it when the firm presented it etched on a champagne bottle.
“I was like, oh my God, that’s it,” she said.
David Carter, who runs the Sports Business Institute at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business, said attending events such as the U.S. Open makes a statement about lifestyle and aesthetic preferences that can be broadcast on a garment.
“These are events that people covet and want to attend and they prefer the clothes that show they were there,” Carter said. “Buying that piece of Steelers’ merchandise online just isn’t the same as buying it at the Super Bowl.”
Big Tennis Balls
Wilson Sporting Goods Co. makes basketball-sized tennis balls featuring the Open logo that Cummins said account for half the sales at Wilson’s on-site store. Wilson has provided the official competition balls since 1978. The 11-inch ones cost $34 each on the USTA’s Web site.
Jason Collins, a spokesman for Chicago-based Wilson, a unit of Finland’s Amer Sports OYJ, said the company sells about 6,000 to 8,000 each year, many to children, and they’ve become popular for collecting player autographs.
Robert Tuchman, founder of the TSE Sports & Entertainment corporate hospitality provider, a division of Premiere Corporate Events, said fans often seek what their favorite players are wearing on the court. Polo Ralph Lauren, the Open’s official apparel sponsor for the past five years, sells the tournament’s uniform for umpires, linesmen and ball boys and girls, as well as co-branded apparel, at two outposts at the tennis center.
“People like to emulate what their favorite players are wearing,” said Tuchman. “Putting the year on it is a good tactic so people have to buy year after year.”
Players Towels
Cummins said towels that players use on-court are very popular, though “we buy a very expensive tennis towel that’s manufactured domestically, and it’s really expensive. It’s probably the item we have the slimmest margin on.”
Omitting the ball logo, or underplaying it, can significantly reduce sales on a garment or hat, Cummins said. A men’s sweater with the logo on the sleeve failed to impress fans at least year’s tournament.
“We put it out there and it didn’t sell,” she said. “The logo treatment was understated and it didn’t have a year on it. We were reminded that people want to show they’ve been to that year’s tournament.”
(Source: Bloomberg)
