Wimbledon and IBM Serve Up Revamped 2015 Digital Offering

wdon 2015The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) and IBM have unveiled their digital plans to support this year’s Wimbledon tennis tournament, which kicks off on Monday 29 June.

IBM Interactive Experience has given the Wimbledon.com website an overhaul, making it responsive and adaptive to any device. It offers real-time scores integrated alongside live and on-demand video, infographics and exclusive insights. In 2014, 58 per cent of Wimbledon.com page views came from mobile devices.

The iPhone, iPad and Android apps have also had a makeover, and now include an offline mode for use when there is no cellular or wi-fi connectivity. There’s no Watch app, however, but despite Wimbledon’s insistence on respect for the on-court action, the organisation denied that it was due to fears that spectators at the event would become distracted.

AELTC commercial and media director, Mick Desmond, said the organisers were keeping a “watching brief” while Alexandra Willis, head of digital & content at the AELTC, added that Wimbledon would only produce an app for the Watch when it could be done to the quality it demands, and if it had a strong purpose.

We suspect the timing of the launch of the Watch and the developer tools for it were just not right for this year’s event. But don’t be surprised if there’s one out for the 2016 tournament, unless of course Wimbledon decides that it is too much of a distraction. You do get the feeling that the AELTC prefers its apps to be used by people who are not watching the action live, hence their use of the strapline: “The next best thing to being here.” So while the Watch would, in theory, be the perfect courtside companion, alerting the user to scores and shocks from other courts, it’s quite possible this is not something the organisers would want.

Wimbledon is also trialling the use of beacons at this year’s tournament, not in the grounds themselves, but at railway and tube stations close by. Anyone alighting a train at one of these stations who has the Wimbledon app and Bluetooth switched on will receive an alert telling them where they should head if they have a ticket, and where to go if they are trying to buy one.

Desmond also confirmed that Wimbledon would be on the lookout for anyone making excessive use of mobile phones or tablets at courtside, either to take photographs or to live-stream the action. He told Mobile Marketing: “People who are holding phones and iPads up will be asked to take them down because it undermines the spirit of what we’re doing. There are ‘smarter’ areas around the ground where we want people to use mobile, but there is a balance and we want people sitting watching the live action to be respectful of the players.”