As the Official Ball of the U.S. Open, Wilson is once again giving tennis fans a chance to go to the Open and win some great Wilson tennis equipment.
Look for specially marked 3-packs of US Open Wilson tennis balls for details or simply go to Wilson’s 2009 US Open Sweepstakes site to register to win. The promotion runs now through August 7, 2009.
Over at TennisIdentity they have put together a short article outlining the new tennis bags of 2009. So head over and check out the latest bags from Wilson, Head and more.
This afternoon I headed over to the Wilson YouTube Channel and noticed that they had a bunch of videos on the site from all the major Wilson sponsored players. However, when taking a look at the videos I noticed that they have all been made and edited using Windows Movie Maker (a free program from Microsoft). I’m now wondering how come the biggest brand in tennis cant actually even scrap together enough funds to purchase a good video editing piece of software and even hire someone to produce these videos professionally. I’m sure if Wilson took the time to do something professional they could receive a lot more views on YouTube and then even receive a partner channel with YouTube which would allow them to make advertising revenues.
This is typical of most major brands who are still yet to understand what they should be doing in terms of web 2.0 and new media. If someone at Wilson does read this please contact us because I’m sure we could help you really get ahead of the competition in this area!
The ITF and Wilson Racquet Sports have extended their sponsorship agreement to include Wilson as the Official Ball of Davis Cup, Fed Cup and other ITF initiatives in a multi-year deal.
Wilson have been a major player with the Davis Cup since 2002. Under this new expanded agreement, Wilson will be the Official Ball to the Davis Cup, Fed Cup and the ITF’s junior team competitions at the under 14 and under 16 level. In addition, Wilson is the exclusive supplier of tennis rackets, shoes, clothing and accessories to the ITF Development Coaching Team.
“Wilson has been an outstanding partner for the ITF, sharing our vision for growing the game of tennis,” said ITF President Francesco Ricci Bitti. “Wilson’s involvement in Davis Cup, Fed Cup, ITF junior team competitions and the ITF Development Coaching Team has enhanced all of these areas and we are delighted that they will remain as our partners for many years to come.”
In the past three years, Prince has moved from a weak No. 3 in racket sales to a strong No. 2 behind Wilson. Sales have increased almost 60 percent, to $110 million, from about $70 million, according to Sports One Source, a sporting goods manufacturing analysis firm. As a privately held company, Prince does not disclose financial results.
A resurrection like this is rare in the world of sporting goods manufacturers, where yesterday’s big names are historical reminiscences today, experts said. Few companies that were once major players have gone into a major decline and then made a full-blown recovery. For a decade — from 1992 until the buy-back from Benneton in 2003, Prince was headed the way of brand names such as MacGregor, Spalding and AMF Voit.
How has Prince been able to turn this all around? Are they focusing more on athlete endorsements, tournament sponsorships, online strategies, product development or another method. Im curious to see what our readers think of the Prince brand and if they actually use their products.
