Luis, Dale, Katrina - USTA | Clapboard Ad Archive
USTA’s Luis, Dale, Katrina campaign, developed by DDB and launched in the United States in 2015, delivers a highly focused piece of narrative marketing that seamlessly weaves together digital storytelling, platform interactivity, and brand ethos within the Professional Services sector. At its heart is the Find Yourself in the Game initiative, a campaign designed to reframe tennis participation from a physical pastime into an inclusive act of personal discovery, leveraging a trio of emotionally anchored profiles—Luis, Dale, and Katrina—to embody the diversity and relatable authenticity of the modern American tennis community. This approach sits squarely within Clapboard’s FORMAT#10 — Associated User Imagery — as the work eschews the familiar tropes of celebrity endorsement, solution-driven messaging, or overt commercial boasts, instead harnessing the compelling power of everyday narratives, seen most directly in the featured story of Luis Gonzalez and in the platform invitation to users to share their own journeys at USTA.com/Found. By spotlighting individual voices and allowing for the curation and amplification of user-generated content alongside polished agency storytelling, USTA and DDB extend the tennis court’s boundaries into the digital space, positioning the brand as both convenor and custodian of a shared passion for the game. The campaign’s architecture is modern and purpose-built: digital-first campaigns in this category rarely balance authenticity and reach so intuitively, creating a space where viewers move naturally from passive spectatorship to active engagement by uploading their own stories, deepening both brand loyalty and the feedback loop of participation. This multi-asset, interactive structure not only reinforces USTA’s long-term commitment to accessibility and community connection, but also signals a sharp understanding of what motivates audiences within the Media and Entertainment market category—identity, belonging, and the ability to see oneself reflected within the experience on offer. The narrative focus on lived experience over product attribute strengthens USTA’s mission to inspire wider involvement in tennis while demonstrating how digital platforms can bridge online interaction with real-world play. The campaign earns 56/100 in Clapboard’s global creative archive. For the industry at large, Luis, Dale, Katrina matters because it testifies to the rising value of relatable user stories in professional services marketing, emphasizing that authentic identification outperforms spectacle when the goal is community growth and sustained participation.
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