Why Morgan Stanley is betting on women’s tennis

It’s US Open szn, and whether fans are sipping Honey Deuce cocktails in Flushing Meadows or watching from home, there’s plenty of brand activity around the courts.

Morgan Stanley is one of the many companies serving up ads tied to tennis. This year, the investment bank is running a multi-channel campaign featuring 2021 US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez designed to highlight the brand’s partnership with the Women’s Tennis Association, CMO Alice Milligan told Marketing Brew. It’s the second year in a row that the brand has run paid ads with Fernandez around the tournament.

Boundary: The campaign, called “Boundary,” centers on promoting inclusivity in the sport. At the end of the 30-second spot, which was made with the help of creative agency The Marketing Arm and directing duo Salsa, Fernandez declares that “this game is for everyone.”

The ad was made with a broad target audience in mind, but Milligan said that “younger, female, and diverse audiences,” are some of the customers Morgan Stanley is aiming to attract. The ad is running on digital video, social, and streaming and linear TV networks including ESPN, ESPN2, and Tennis Channel, she said.

There’s also a digital out-of-home component to the campaign: a 3D billboard outside Penn Station in New York City that will be up through Sept. 22.

Background: Morgan Stanley was involved in women’s tennis even before it was an official global WTA partner. The company first brought Fernandez on as a brand ambassador last year, and when “the reception was overwhelmingly positive,” Morgan Stanley started to talk to the WTA about forming a relationship, Milligan said.

In March, Morgan Stanley and the WTA announced a multiyear partnership that, like the brand’s other sports partnerships, was built to help “accelerate progress for women in sports,”Milligan said. As part of the partnership, Morgan Stanley serves as the exclusive presenting partner of the WTA’s Come Play initiative, a community outreach program that offers clinics with current and former WTA players and coaches to girls of all ages. Morgan Stanley also runs financial empowerment sessions for players and produces a content series about players’ lives on and off the court, Milligan said.

“There’s a couple of really important components to helping girls be successful in sports,” she told Marketing Brew. “That’s access to education, tools, coaches, mentors, and successful players that look like them.”

As part of Fernandez’s brand ambassadorship with the investment bank, the tennis player has volunteered during the company’s community service days, participated in a fireside chat with Billie Jean King for Morgan Stanley employees, and has appeared in multiple ad campaigns, including last year’s “See It To Be It”—an apparent reference to King’s famous words, “You have to see it to be it.”

Behind the scenes: Morgan Stanley works with a handful of players through its partnership with the WTA, Milligan said, but Fernandez is one of just three official brand ambassadors who wear the company’s logo while they play, and the only tennis player. (The other two are pro golfers Justin Rose and Cheyenne Woods.)

When evaluating potential athletes for partnership, Milligan said she looks for individuals whose values align with the brand’s, who appeal to the brand’s audiences, and who can contribute to its DE&I platform. Fernandez was “clearly a fantastic fit,” Milligan said.

“Her values, what she stands for, how she presents herself, what she wants to cause in the world, were very consistent with what we want to do as a firm,” Milligan told us. “The leadership she shows as a young woman in the sport, not only just in terms of her own personal success, but her willingness to reach out to younger audiences, to diverse audiences, and to make them feel a part of the sport…that’s what first attracted us to her.”