Before digital took over, the print was the de facto advertising medium along with television. Today, as we see, print is slowly fading away as a mainstream channel. But even a decade back, no advertising campaign could be considered without print. Newspaper and magazine advertising peaked before the 2008 financial crisis and has continued to plummet since then.
Like any other sector, sports as a category too relied on newspapers and magazines to reach a young audience and build trust and credibility. Here are some memorable tennis advertisements that adorned the best of magazines and newspapers.
1. Sports Authority, Inc. was an American sports retailer. The company closed operations in 2016.
2. Rolex for Wimbledon. A classic advert for a classic tournament.
3. Press ad for Wimbledon magazine
4. Roger Federer in Nike ad
5. Martina Navratilova for Yonex
6. HSBC Grass as medium promotion in Wimbledon. More on HSBC using Wimbledon using Grass As Its Medium.
7. BBC Sport in this advert is promoting its coverage of Wimbledon tennis tournament featuring past and present tennis stars like Billie-Jean King, Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Martina Navratilova and current champion, Roger Federer and more.
8. Pete Sampras for Movado wrist watch
9. Rod Laver for Esquire sock
10. KitKat ad is celebrating epic Wimbledon
11. Nike ad featuring tennis star Maria Sharapova. Nike in its women focused website www.nike.com/nikewomen is asking What does your workout add up to? The print ad series was run on magazines like in Cosmopolitan, Fitness, Allure, Lucky, , InStyle, Glamour, Marie Claire and Shape.
12. Italian Tennis Tournament
Ad 1
Ad 2
Ad 3
Ad 4
13. Jimmy Connors promoting men’s line. Not sure about the product
14.Rolex ad featuring Ana Ivanovic
15. Ana Ivanovic in Yonex ad
16. Beijing Sports Radio
Beijing Sports Radio is a radio station broadcasts at 102.5 FM in Beijing, China.
17. Chris Evert in Polo Club Boca Raton 1988 ad
18. Anna Kournikova featured in K-Swiss ad
19. Lacoste futuristic tennis advertisement looks at how the game will be played in 2083. The ad spot was released to celebrate the brand’s 75th anniversary.
20. Novak Djokovic fronts Lacoste campaign
21. Rogere Federer in Wilson K Factor ad for US Open
Serena Williams in Wilson K Factor ad for US Open
22. Andre Agassi for Nike
Air Ace showing the famous denim tennis shorts. Promising young American star, Andre Agassi, signed with Nike in 1986.
Air Play shoe with a spectacular angle. You can imagine someone jumping with both feet in the air. Air is coming to tennis shoes and it is a revolutionary innovation from Nike at that time.
23. Roger Federer featured in NetJets advertisement
Roger Federer featured in Rolex advertisement
24. Another Roger Federer advertising for Nescafe Gold. For Nescafe this is a shift from silver screen hero to real life sports hero. The brand has roped in the tennis superstar by replacing George Clooney. Source
25. Maria Sharapova is the new face of Cole Haan. The campaign is called “The Inspired Life”
26. French Open advertisement
27. Rafael Nadal endorsing luxury watch brand Richard Mille
With identical hairstyle and attire, Rafael Nadal appeared for Lanvin fragrance
28. Fernando Verdasco ads for Calvin Klein. This guy is much like Maria Sharapova. He has not achieved the greatest of heights in tennis but has been able to establish himself as the pin up boy of the sport.
29. Chris Evert For Lipton Iced Tea Mix
30. When young Steffi first appeared for Adidas in 1985
31. John McEnroe promoted Bic Shaver
32. Björn Borg promotes sunscreen lotion
33. Billie Jean King won’t use anything Colgate, she announced in the ’70s. She appears oddly with a guitar instead of a tennis racquet.
34. Ivan Lendl featuring in Swatch and Ray Ban ads
35. Aqualung makes scuba diving and snorkeling equipment for ocean lovers.
