It's A Wimbledon Thing - Wimbledon | Clapboard Ad Archive
It's A Wimbledon Thing from Wimbledon and McCann London marks the Championships' return in 2021 with a campaign that crystallises the tournament's role as a living piece of British sporting culture, shifting the emphasis from elite tennis spectacle to the collective rituals and personal meanings millions associate with the event. At its heart, the campaign occupies what Clapboard’s 12-format taxonomy would classify as FORMAT#10—Associated User Imagery: the work lives through vignettes of fans, families, and ordinary moments that together construct the experience of Wimbledon, from strawberries and cream on the back patio to hastily assembled office bracket pools and self-styled traditions of wearing all-white on match days. Rather than enforcing a singular narrative, the film and its digital amplification actively turn the question outward—what’s your #WimbledonThing?—inviting engagement, community, and a sense of ownership that extends well beyond the Centre Court elite. Social integration is not afterthought but central driver, with the campaign’s core call-to-action built around hashtag-powered user participation, making every expression of Wimbledon fandom, however idiosyncratic, part of the Championships’ visual vocabulary and annual lore. With over 1.5 million views and a robust level of engagement, the film proves out the appetite for work that shifts the Wimbledon brand from remote heritage asset to a flexible, emotionally accessible ritual in the UK’s recreation, leisure, and sports calendar. Tactically, the positioning is astute: as competitor slams define themselves through surface, urban energy, or open-access entertainment, Wimbledon asserts its continued relevance by reminding the market that the tournament’s traditions are sustained not by nostalgia alone, but by the living, participatory acts of its public. In focusing on the attitudes, routines, and affective signifiers of its audience, Wimbledon and McCann reinforce brand equity as something constructed through collective action, keeping the Championships culturally resonant and digitally present all year round via the wimbledon.com/mywimbledon initiative. Clapboard rates this 69/100. At a time when heritage sports brands must evolve or risk ossification, It's A Wimbledon Thing demonstrates how tactical user invitation can invigorate legacy positioning in the sports and fitness market without sacrificing the gravity of tradition.
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