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AVP

The 2008 Beijing Olympics showcased the best and brightest of the sports world and recorded the highest viewership numbers of any televised Olympics. Two of the emerging stars, AVP athletes Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, became the first team to bring home consecutive gold medals in the beach volleyball event. Months later, the AVP challenged Ruder Finn West with the task of capitalizing on that momentum and engaging consumers in the beach volleyball lifestyle.

Objectives

• Build upon popularity of beach volleyball stemming from 2008 Beijing Olympics, positioning the AVP as the premier beach volleyball tour.
• Establish the AVP as a lifestyle brand and highlight the athleticism and accessibility of its players.

Program

• Tell the AVP growth story from a sports, business, and marketing perspective.
• Develop player personalities in mainstream consumer media, highlighting Olympians such as Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh as well as up-and-coming players.
• Assist with select events throughout the season, including developing and executing a season kick-off event to engage media and potential sponsors.  
• Provide media strategy and counsel around sponsorship and marketing announcements, including securing coverage with top-tier trade and business press.
• Leverage Ruder Finn resources to secure strategic partnerships for on and off-site activations.

Results

• Secured interviews and player profiles with high-circulation national outlets such as ESPN the Magazine, Shape, Sports Illustrated, People, Men's Heatlh, Yahoo! Shine, and USA Today. In the first four months of the program (launched in January of 2009), Ruder Finn has helped the AVP secure more than 200 million consumer and business impressions.
• Held a “Pros vs. Joes” exhibition beach volleyball game at the World Congress of Sports with AVP players and 20 C-Level executives and potential sponsors. Media in attendance from both local and national outlets
• Coverage of new ad campaign launch and Bud Light and Russell Athletic sponsor agreements in CNBC, Reuters, New York Times, Bloomberg, Associated Press, and MSNBC.
• Set up partnership opportunities with Ruder Finn clients Jamaica Tourism Board and LIVESTRONG.COM. Potential activations include “Jamaican-izing” tour events (trip giveaways, etc.), online promotion of AVP events to LIVESTRONG.COM’s 4 million users and branding of fitness content on LIVESTRONG.COM.

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