FedEx Corp. is sponsoring a portal within the Association of Tennis Professionals Web site that is also accessible via its various mobile properties.

The FedEx Reliability Zone within ATP?s Web sites and applications features the FedEx Reliability Index with match record statistics previously only available to the media through an ATP statistician. The ATP plans to bring more elements of FedEx?s sponsorship program to the mobile device over time.

?It was very important to develop a program for FedEx that not only drove strong associations between ATP and FedEx but also to connect the attribute of reliability in a relevant way,? said John Phillips, senior vice president of digital marketing at ATP World Tour, Ponte Vedra Beach, FL.

Engaging tennis fans via mobile
The FedEx Reliability Zone is a new section featuring revealing statistics, exclusive stories and polls, all emerging from the new FedEx ATP Reliability Index.

The FedEx ATP Reliability Index is a new statistical measure of how players past and present perform on different surfaces and environments, against the world's best players and in pressure situations, such as in finals and tie-breaks.

Players will be rated according to their performances both over the past year and also throughout their careers.

?If you like players with proven dependability, then you'll find the best of the best here in the FedEx Reliability Zone,? Mr. Phillips said.

The FedEx Reliability Zone within the ATP World Tour iPhone app

The ATP is promoting the latest FedEx Reliability Zone feature across the Web, mobile and social. 

ATP supports FedEx?s activation around this program through 8-10 promoted features per year leading in and out of surface swings?clay to grass, etcetera?Masters 1,000 events and the Grand Slams.

?Tennis media and fans are hooked on these stats, the comparisons and storylines they support,? Mr. Phillips said. ?The FedEx ATP Reliability Zone is the home for what we call the match record?what is the winning percentage of a particular player for a period of time and who has the highest winning percentage over the past month filtered by surface type?grass, hardcourt and clay.

?You can make really interesting comparisons between current and past players,? he said. ?Fans have direct access to that information through that portal sponsored by FedEx.

?The FedEx ATP Index features head-to-head stats, which is an efficient way for FedEx to activate its sponsorship.?

FedEx branding is integrated into the content sponsorship with the goal of fostering brand association between FedEx and ATP athletes.

Within headings of ATP mobile content, FedEx is running integrated advertising so the brand can communicate messages via IAB standard ad units.

Nadal having a ball

?For the most part, FedEx looking to develop credibility within the tennis community by associating their brand with this type of rich content and data,? Mr. Phillips said.

?Powering stats about the reliability of professional tennis players ties into an important part of their message, the reliability of FedEx as a delivery service,? he said.

Mobile properties
The ATP released Spanish and Chinese mobile Web sites following the launch of the English mobile Web site last November.

Now each language is available on the PC and mobile versions of ATPWorldTour.com, including live scores, stats, news, photos and video available to thousands of mobile devices and more than a billion mobile fans. 

Mobile schedule

The ATP digital platform also hosts Web sites for the biggest tournaments in the year in 7 languages?Dubai, Indian Wells, Miami, Monte-Carlo, Estoril, Rome and London Finals?and the association has begun to extend the platform to enable mobile-friendly presentations of these Web sites as well beginning with Indian Wells.

The ATP iPhone app

The Android version of the "ATP/WTA Live" mobile application launched in January to complement the iPhone app released last October.

The ATP Android app

In addition to live scores and match stats, completed results, player bios and head-to-head records, the mobile apps have been further enhanced to now include rankings, draws and order of play for every tournament in 20 languages.

Additionally ATP?s digital agency, Digitaria, has initiated collaboration between the ATP, Adobe, Intel and Research In Motion since last October to build applications for new netbook and tablet products using Adobe Air. 

Intel atom powered Netbook computers will come preinstalled with the ?ATP World Tour Live Connection? app which is also available through the Adobe Marketplace and Intel AppUp stores.

The ATP and RIM are cooperating on the launch of the BlackBerry Playbook tablet computer in the next couple of months by featuring the ?ATP World Tour Live Connection? app within promotional materials.

These initiatives and other mobile products are drawing content centrally from the ATP digital platform powered by Sitecore CMS, as well as live scores and stats feeds sourced directly from the umpires chair in 62 tournaments in 32 countries.

?Mobile draws from what we?re doing on the Web, and we created a mobile-friendly presentation for all of our templates that simply draws directly from the database of stats, live scoring, data feeds, as well as content from our journalists,? Mr. Phillips said. ?With mobile becoming the most important access point to the Web, any phone with an HTML browser can access a mobile-friendly presentation.

?Once we took care of the fundamentals of managing content to mobile, we looked at mobile applications, and put together apps for iPhone and Android, which are being promoted in conjunction with our events,? he said. ?The objective behind our mobile marketing initiatives is to increase our reach.

?Our business is driven by our sponsors and our television deals, so we want to increase the value of relationships on the sponsor side and the television side by continuing to grow our audience via multiple channels, including mobile.?

Results
Focusing on the visits to the ATP's mobile Web site and applications, they are getting approximately 70,000 visits per day combined, about 25,000 per day to the mobile Web and 45,000 per day to mobile apps.

Total mobile visitation is approximately 20 percent of total visits to ATP Web sites.

More than 50 percent of mobile Web site visitors are using iOS devices - iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

The Android application has achieved approximately 18,000 downloads, a number that is increasing at a rate of more than 300 downloads per day.

The iPhone application has achieved approximately 116,000 downloads, and that number is increasing at a rate of more than 800 downloads per day.

The ATP applications have achieved approximately 134,000 downloads combined since releasing the iPhone app last November and the Android app in late January.

The apps are combining for more than 1,100 downloads per day on average.

"Our focus on behind-the-scenes content development for social media and the addition of mobile-friendly Web sites as well as mobile apps is helping to attract nearly 30 percent more unique visitors to our Web properties in the first two months of 2011 than the same period last year," Mr. Phillips said.

Final Take
FedEx for BlackBerry