LONDON – Hill+Knowlton Strategies (H+K) London has been chosen by the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) to work with its Communications and Participation teams to deliver an integrated marketing plan around its family and adult participation initiatives in 2017. H+K will work with the LTA to help the organisation deliver on its mission ‘to get more people playing tennis more often’.

In 2016, H+K worked with the LTA to launch Tennis for Kids which inspired children aged from five to eight to pick up a racquet for the first time following historic success of the GB Davis Cup team in 2015.

Following a competitive tender process, H+K has been re-appointed to work on Tennis for Kids in 2017. The second year of the initiative will see the LTA offer 20,000 children across the country free six-week courses led by specially trained coaches. More than half of the 13,290 who took part in 2016 continued to play after completing the courses.

H+K will also be supporting the LTA’s ‘GO HIT IT’ campaign which was launched last year to promote tennis to its key adult player segments and direct them onto court earlier in the tennis season. Across both campaigns, H+K’s behavioural science division SMARTER^TM will be working to minimise drop off in the ‘Participation Funnel’ as they help smooth the journey from inspiration from elite athletes to participation on a local level.

Lauren Best, Head of PR at the Lawn Tennis Association, said: “2016 was a golden year for British Tennis, not only at an elite level but also for our grassroots programmes and we’re determined to use this success to keep up the positive momentum for 2017 and years to come.

“The reaction to Tennis for Kids last year was phenomenal and we’re proud to be growing this initiative and getting even more children involved in a sport they can enjoy throughout their lives. We’re excited to be working with H+K’s Communications and Behavioural teams who will enable us to build on this legacy and drive broader participation across the country.”

Anthony Scammell, Senior Associate Director, H+K, added: “We have been blessed in this country with a generation of phenomenal sports stars and sporting events, but we’ve sometimes struggled to turn that inspiration into equivalent levels of wider sports participation. The LTA’s Tennis For Kids and ‘GO HIT IT’ campaigns made a significant impact in 2016 and we look forward to helping make them become even bigger and better in 2017.”