Agencies serve marketing forehand for French Open tennis tournament

Havas Sports & Entertainment China was appointed as the sports marketing agency for the French Federation of Tennis (FFT) in March this year. The FFT is the national body that organises the French Open at Roland Garros Stadium in Paris, which this year takes place from 22 May to 10 June.

The agency is organising a series of daily activities at The Place, a shopping plaza in the heart of Beijing's financial district, from 2 to 10 June. It is managing the concept development, event production, press relations and digital strategy for this nine-day event.

Tennis fans in Beijing will have the chance to get a taste of tennis à la française as well as French culture at the 'Roland Garros in Beijing' event, which Xavier Daurian, managing director of Havas Sports & Entertainment China, said is one that will "export and transport the French Open to the Chinese capital for the first time in history".

The public will be able to 'experience' France in a typical Parisian setting in 'Le Village' with street lamps and public benches. The nine-day event will also feature tennis lessons on a characteristic red-clay court—the same surface on which the French Open is played in France—specially modelled for the occasion. Every afternoon, the French Open will be broadcast live on huge screens for Chinese spectators.

Longines, being one of the long-time title sponsors of the French Open together with Peugeot, and Lacoste, has kicked off a global online campaign in conjunction with the tournament.

In Hong Kong, Maxus—as the media agency for the Swiss luxury watch brand under the Swatch Group—is running online banner ads on Yahoo and Apple Daily to drive viewers to play a virtual tennis game during the period of 27 May to 10 June. Winners of the game will be awarded a Longines watch from its latest Saint-Imier collection.