AmEx Serves Radio Coverage to Tennis Fans at U.S. Open

American Express Radio Live at The Open was back this year at the U.S. Open in New York’s Flushing Meadows, offering grand slam tennis fans in live radio coverage while promoting Amex’s brand and content.

“The US Open is one of sports’ biggest events, and we want to help our cardmembers, and all tennis fans, have a great experience,” said American Express Sports and Entertainment Vice President Alexander Change. “Our services this year aim to make the viewing experience as engaging, fun and exciting as the action on the courts.”

AmEx cardholders lined up for complimentary old-fashioned portable headsets to stay in the grand slam loop.

The headset wearing tennis junkies tuning in to CBS, ESPN2 or The Tennis Channel coverage of the Open could also synch their Facebook and Twitter accounts with Sync.AmericanExpress.com to potentially win Ralph Lauren prizes.

The “Exclusive Offers for Cardmembers” program required users to log on to the website via their Facebook account with their American Express credit card number and other personal information, giving some users pause. The digital service allows users to unlock excusive offers only after synching with social media accounts.

The reluctance of some of the users to take advantage of the social media options and preference for the relatively old-media medium of radio may contain some interesting lessons for content marketers evaluating various formats.

For this campaign, the headsets promoted content more successfully than the digital Facebook syncing. For marketers, this may be an example of why it is crucial to “know your audience.”

For the most part, fans opted to stay within their media comfort zone, wanting to know what was taking place in matches around the courts without bringing their social media accounts on board.

Lower image courtesy of Elizabeth Kobak.