Wimbledon 2024 – BatFast x Barclays
Event: Wimbledon 2024
Client: Barclays
Activation: Take on Tiafoe
Location: London, United Kingdom
The Brief:
Building on the success of our activation at Wimbledon 2023, the brief was to deliver an engaging fan activation where fans had the opportunity to pick up a racquet and return serves from American Tennis star Francis Tiafoe. The aim was to put racquets in as many hands as possible as part of Barclays and LTA’s partnership which aims to get 150,000 more people playing tennis for free in the UK.
The Challenge:
Barclays’ partnership with Wimbledon is bound by the idea of creating possibilities to make sport more accessible to everyone. With Francis Tiafoe as their ambassador, Barclays wanted to create an experience where fans would have the chance to take on the then-world number 10 and test their skills against the best. Having seen incredible interest during Wimbledon 2023, the challenge was also to ensure high throughput so everyone could get a taste of the experience.
The Process:
BatFast in partnership with Barclays worked on four key elements ahead of the Wimbledon 2024. They are:
1. White-labelling – Outlined a fully white-labelled experience to promote Barclays, right from the moment a player registers to their post-game experience.
2. Gameplay and animations – The machine was calibrated to deliver 3 serves to players at three different levels – easy medium and hard. The 3-serve mode ensured great throughput. BatFast used real-life renders of Francis Tiafoe’s serve to create a digital avatar of Tiafoe on the simulator.
3. Target scoring – The Screen was designed to double up as targets after a serve is delivered, creating a challenge for fans to score more points.
4. Video replay cameras – First-of-its-kind solution, BatFast partnered with Trickshot to create incredible video replays of every single ball that all fans faced that would be shared with them post-play experience.
The Wimbledon 2024 Fan Experience:
The activation was designed for players of all ages and stages.
Fans would register to ‘Take on Tiafoe’ and face a digital avatar of Tiafoe. The objective for each player was to score the highest points. The screen was manipulated to display a wide range of scoring targets which would signify the points each player scored – adding an element of competition.
At the end of their round, they would receive a total score that would be added onto the leaderboards for the tournament so fans could compare and compete with friends and family. All players would also receive a customized email from Barclays with their scores, their leaderboard ranks as well as video replays of every single ball they faced.
The Result:
The ‘Take on Tiafoe’ challenge was a hit amongst fans attending Wimbledon 2024. Players of all ages and stages took part in the challenge. With participation in sports on the decline, activations like this are supporting NGBs in overturning the decline in participation levels. BatFast creates an extremely inclusive and engaging environment for participants of all backgrounds.
| Metric | 2023 | 2024 |
| Number of serves delivered | 14726 | 14952 |
| Number of players | 1643 | 4984 |
| % of players under age of 16 | 30% | 32% |
| % of Male participants | 61% | 66% |
| % of female participants | 25% | 31% |
| NPS Score | 60 | 65 |
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