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Journalism of Courage
Like all Grand Slams, the French Open too wasn’t just about players showcasing their talents. Away from the red clay, Roland Garros is an open-air boardroom and the hectic off-court business conducted there is almost parallel to Rafael Nadal’s frantic hustle and bustle on court.
It is no longer about just putting up a strategically-placed billboard to catch the TV camera. A ringside seat for key customers and dealers — with a hospitality tent thrown in, special product launches in sync with the Grand Slam and a diverse congregation of promotional booths around the beautiful walkways winding around main courts.
Rubbing shoulders with the more obvious Puma, Lacoste and Wilson for the first time this year was Al-Jazeera’s sports channel, a sign that even the Arab world doesn’t want to miss out on the most stylish of tennis events. (Talking style, how about Chanel’s $550 high-heeled sandals with net heels and tennis-ball pompoms with the Roland Garros logo?)
And then there’s Rado, whose watches aren’t actually a sporting product but, given their long association with tennis, seem at home at Roland Garros. Rado launched the Sintra Tennis Chronograph watch in a numbered edition to mark 21 years of their association with tennis.
The black metallization on the sapphire crystal glass is aesthetically refined by 0-15-30-40 (tennis scores, get it?). The small seconds’ window appears in the form of a stylized tennis ball. All this, and an ‘‘Official Tennis Sponsor’’ engraving too. With India among the top growing markets for luxury watches, it wasn’t surprising to see Rado brand representative and model-actress Lisa Ray drop in from New York.
But is third-world India a market for watches with five- and six-figures price tags? Rado vice-president sales Peter Kaser believes so. ‘‘Indians are top-ranked in gold jewelry consumption so our luxury range of watches fall in the same segment. The wedding gift market too is huge.’’
Leander Paes, the former Rado representative and now more of a ‘‘friend of the house’’, also found time to drop in at the hospitality tent.
Building on the concept of a market place besides the tennis courts, the French turned this profitable trend into a science. This year during the Grand Slam event, the French national tennis body went for a partnership with Sponsorship Intelligence (SI). This research organisation will help the French association assess the global delivery of their tournament and the quality exposure of their corporate partners.
