“There are a lot of brands activating both on and off site,” Leeni Hämäläinen, marketing director for evian in North America, told Adweek. “We’ve been there on site for more than 35 years, so during recent years we’ve really been prioritizing how we can extend that partnership outside … beyond those about 800,000 people that attend the event.”
The S.S. evian departs on Sept. 10, with tickets going on sale at 9 a.m. ET on Sept. 5. Proceeds will go to the Billion Oyster Project to bolster oyster beds in New York’s waterways. Meanwhile, evian ads will appear throughout the tournament on ESPN, the Tennis Channel, digital platforms and at stations along the 7 train’s route to Willets Point and the tennis center.
Moderna
Just as kids go back to school and much of the world prepares for the latest round of flu and Covid vaccines, Moderna returns to the U.S. Open for the second year in a row to let people know who it is and why it’s there.
Continuing its mission of educating people about messenger RNA (mRNA) and how it works in vaccines, Moderna is back at the tennis center with a big lens for people to sign and information about what it does, supplemented by a TBWA-created ad campaign on ESPN featuring tennis legend and longtime AIDS and urban health care activist Arthur Ashe and above-brand “No Time for 19” seasonal vaccine reminders.
As the company learned during its first year at the U.S. Open in 2022, when it partnered with Billie Jean King and had her at its booth, fans who saw Moderna ads during the event or engaged with the brand at its booth were more likely to prefer its products. While that’s part of Moderna’s end goal, even getting fans to trust it enough to overcome vaccine fatigue and get their seasonal shots will be considered a win.