How ATP’s Content Workflow Drives Real Fan Engagement

As the world settles into a refreshed sense of normal, sports fan engagement continues to near its pre-pandemic high.For example, the French Open this past May saw a full-capacity crowd return to Roland Garros. According to an article from Outlook India, “Opening day’s attendance at [the] French Open 2022 was 32,453. A year ago, the maximum was 5,388, before being eased to 8,500.”​​A fully packed stadium doesn’t just make the players feel supported. It also provides new audience exposure to sponsors and content-capturing opportunities for media teams and organizations like the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).

As the global governing body of men’s professional tennis, the ATP showcases the greatest tennis players and entertains millions of fans through numerous events, fresh content, and action-packed matchups. Every year, they host the ATP Tour: a top-tier tennis competition in which roughly 500 players participate in 64 tournaments in 31 countries across six continents.

During her time as the Director of Member and Player Services at the ATP, Loulou Rowlands has witnessed the importance of engaging fans and supporters through brand advocates who share and champion ATP-related content.

 

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The Situation

Loulou told us how PhotoShelter for Brands has helped her team create a reliable cloud-based storage network for hosting ATP Tour content while limiting the challenges associated with promotional asset production.

“We have 64 tournaments in 31 countries across six continents over most of the year. Our players are in very different time zones, all wanting content to get out to their fans as quickly as possible. While this is a huge asset having the tour being as global as it is, it also presents many challenges,” Loulou said.

She also mentioned that from a brand advocacy perspective, it’s important that ATP athletes receive content fast, and instantly, if possible.

“Our players have a huge following, having more than anyone else in the tennis ecosystem. We want to be able to provide them with the content that they need,” Loulou stated.

 

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Showcasing Real-Time Workflow Results

To clearly explain how the ATP takes advantage of their PhotoShelter for Brands account, Loulou focused on the photography angle and a key PhotoShelter social media integration that has been essential to their evolving workflow model.

“Our independent photographers around the world are uploading their photos during tournaments via FTP to PhotoShelter, and that’s where all of the photos from across the tour are stored”

“Once in PhotoShelter, that allows our teams internally to use those photos for various editorial practices, including our website and social media channels.”

 

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With the PhotoShelter + Socialie custom integration, players are instantly alerted when they have new images to review. Loulou shared exactly how this platform process works in real-time:

“As soon as they [photos] hit PhotoShelter, because of that fantastic integration between PhotoShelter and Socialie, those photos flow straight through Socialie since the metadata is applied automatically,” she explained.

“This means that the players mentioned in that metadata get that account notification on their phone. Players can be tagged and alerted automatically using PhotoShelter’s AI facial recognition feature.”

What’s Next?

By harnessing the influence of its players, the ATP reaches an exponentially larger audience than it would if it only posted on its own brand’s channels.

PhotoShelter’s digital asset management solution will continue to be at the center of ATP’s content delivery strategy as Wimbledon and other global tournaments carry on throughout the year, so follow the ATP social channels and your favorite players’ feeds for minute-to-minute content!

To learn more about ATP’s multifaceted workflow model and PhotoShelter’s integration with Socialie, watch Loulou Rowlands’ 15-minute presentation below: