Background
Following the huge success of advertising campaigns in 2007 and 2008, BRANDAMMO were recently commissioned to design, develop and implement the next phase of the global Dunlop Aerogel tennis campaign in 2009.

The Brief
Dunlop Aerogel rackets incorporate the World’s lightest solid, which has a strength of up to 4,000 times its own weight delivering an unmatched strength to weight ratio for enhanced stiffness and increased power. The addition of 4D braiding in 2009 combined the benefit of increasing racket stability resulting in exceptional racket control. The brief for 2009 was to build on the success of the previous years’ campaigns through taking the brand to its next natural phase of evolution, whilst highlighting the addition of new technology resulting in a racket that was loaded with cutting-edge technology and would benefit players at every level. Dunlop were also keen to highlight their player sponsorships as part of the campaign, focusing on the fact that some of the World’s best players choose Aerogel as their racket of choice.

Deliverables
BRANDAMMO produced a total of eleven player advertisements as well as region-specific variations of each for Dunlop’s global offices. In addition to the advertisements shown, racket-only product specific versions were also produced along with a range of POS and additional promotional material. In other media, a promotional DVD showcasing the history of Dunlop and the cutting-edge technology of Aerogel 4D was produced using a combination of historical archive footage and video of the players shot in Miami (viewable in our motion portfolio) along with a range of online banner advertisements and promotional Flash movies for the website.

Outcome
At the time of writing (November 2008) the campaign is yet to be launched. Positive feedback from Dunlop’s regional offices, sales and retailers has already been received however, as Dunlop look forward to their biggest and most successful year for the Aerogel range to date.

Concept Creation
Following on from the 2007 and 2008 campaigns we wanted the visuals to stay consistent with the sci-fi / space-age theme (derived from Aerogel’s invention as part of the NASA space programme), but we also knew that the concept needed further development in order to highlight the intrinsic qualities of a product range that, by this time, was fairly well established in the tennis market. We knew also that Dunlop were keen to highlight their pro player sponsorships as well as the addition of new racket technologies that would widen the gap, in terms of technological development, between Dunlop and their competitors. Our Reigate print design team decided that the most obvious solution would be the best and arranged for Dunlop sponsored players to be shot in Miami (during the 2008 Miami Masters) using the newly designed Aerogel rackets. Players were photographed and filmed handling the rackets in both posed and natural situations with the hope of capturing action shots that would also allowed the new technology within the racket cosmetics to be seen. Using the photography our aim was to create a campaign based around the concept of ‘technology you can feel’ in order to highlight the fact that the technology had a purpose and made a real difference to a player’s game. To visually suggest a tangible, usable technology our Surrey print design team came up with the idea of showing blue/white energy beams emanating from the racket and encompassing the player - suggesting a direct and powerful connection between the player and the racket. Further development resulted in a sci-fi inspired background, tinted blue in keeping with the Aerogel brand and showing warped and distorted tennis crowds relating to the Aerogel 4D strap line of “taking racket technology to a new dimension”.

Design Development
BRANDAMMO took full responsibility for all aspects of creative design development to ensure complete control over the outcome. Working with Dunlop to brief the photographers in Miami, BRANDAMMO were also responsible for selecting the final shots and image retouching to ensure the best possible finish in the final advertisements. Colour management was essential, as we wanted all of the visuals to have the same high contrast and blue-tinted appearance to ensure the advertisements remained consistent throughout the campaign.