Balls All Over The Place

Background

Avanti Tennis Coaching provide affordable tennis coaching for kids and adults. However, numbers of people wanting to learn tennis or brush up on their tennis skills have been dropping because of the rise of other activities like surfing the internet, playing console games, hanging out at the mall, etc. The aim of this campaign, therefore, was to generate enquires and to get more people to sign up for lessons.

Idea

The client didn't have a big budget, but they had balls (literally - there was a storage room packed with boxes of used tennis balls). Tennis coaching promises to give you more control over your serves, return or volleys. Or to turn it around - you need coaching if your balls go all over the place.

Using this insight, the agency dramatised the potential need for tennis lessons by dropping used tennis balls in front of homes in the areas surrounding the client's business. Attached to the ball was a printed card (grass coloured so that people would first see and pick-up the ball) with the question 'Balls all over the place?' and Avanti Tennis Coaching's contact details. The timing of the drop was set to coincide with the Australian Open to leverage the higher interest in the sport at this time of year.

Results

From 100 tennis balls dropped, 59 calls were received - a result that the client was very happy with. Another result that pleased the agency was that they were able to show that even small clients could produce interesting and effective DM, opening doors to a wider range of clients.

Target Audience

Local children and their parents

Size

100 door drops

Our Thoughts

Normally a door drop that doesn’t even make it to the door would be considered a case of unsolicited littering, but by canny targeting and a clever solution to a funding problem – no money but shed-loads of balls – this campaign stuck in our minds as a witty and compelling incentive to wannabe tennis champs.