When Roger Federer scheduled his Match for Africa benefiting his foundation, there was a huge opportunity to insert USTA Northern California into the conversation.  This was Roger Federer’s debut in Northern California, so this was big news. More importantly, his foundation focuses on education in Southern Africa and Switzerland as well as instilling values that fit perfectly with qualities USTA Northern California’s program H.I.T.S. (honesty, inspiration, teamwork and sportsmanship). By providing a local angle to a global discussion, and having kids who are part of this local program experience these qualities up close by watching Roger Federer, I gave local television stations a worthy story that landed on ABC7. 

By making the head of the program and several kids who are part of the H.I.T.S. program available for more insights, it allowed for a complete picture of what this match meant to the NorCal community. 

  

1.     I partnered with the USTA National team to get a press pass to have better access to the court and be able to go in the press conference.

• We planned a Facebook Live during the matches to give free access to our 45,000 members, which garnered almost 1,000 views

• We were able to get an exclusive interview with Savannah Guthrie, co-host of the Today Show, which earned another 1,000 views

• Finally, the press pass allowed us to participate in the press conference and thanks to our partnership with USTA, we were able to ask a question to Roger Federer, which we streamed live on Facebook and added another 1,000 views

2.     To build up the anticipation, Hall of Fame Broadcaster and Tennis Channel Play-by-Play announcer Ted Robinson granted USTA NorCal an interview to show the importance of having Roger Federer for the first time in the Section