Two Circles client lead Jamie Hosie speaks to Broadcast Sport about the agency’s work on the competition
While the main competitions last two weeks at Wimbledon, the work for its social media content agency Two Circles begins much earlier.
The company outlines it as a “3-2-1” plan, with a focus on the three weeks of qualifying, two weeks of competition, and finally one week after the tournament to wrap up and take advantage of the after-event glow. However, client lead Jamie Hosie pointed out that the work doesn’t stop there, “Wimbledon wants to become a year-round brand, not for two weeks in the summer,” although this doesn’t mean that they are, thinking about holding things back for later during the two weeks.”
Two Circles has been working with Wimbledon since 2012, and also works with the tournament’s production partner Whisper while on site. Two Circles had 55 accredited staff on site for 2024, with around 25-30 of those at the championships full time for the tournament, and the rest dipping in and out. The team was based at the onsite broadcast centre, alongside the in-house Wimbledon team, with others roaming the courts on the lookout for moments suited to social media.
The short two-week window of the tournament means that getting time with the players themselves can be difficult. “You’re always wondering if there’s more you can do with a two week window, Hosie noted. It also means that there has to be an element of trust between Two Circles and Wimbledon, with little time for sign offs and similar checks in the bustle of the tournament.
New for this year was the launch of a Whatsapp channel, and a focus on longer form TikTok content. With the TikTok algorithm changing to prefer longer form content, which in TikTok’s case means over 60 seconds in length, the Two Circles team found that 90 second or event two minute long highlights videos worked well on the platform.
Another new feature for 2024 was the addition of Overheard At Wimbledon, a short-form series aiming to bring viewers at home some of the feel of being at the tournament by recording people’s ‘natural’ conversations courtside. Production involved a two-person team getting to one of the courts early in the day, watching as the crowd gathered to see if there were any fans who stood out, and then approaching them to ask if they would like to be miced up for what they described as a “Gogglebox-style video”. If they said yes, then the team would find a spot to discreetly film them from.
Keeping the content feeling natural could be a challenge, with finding the right fans for the content key to the process. Hosie explained, “People who tried to be entertaining more often than not ended up on the cutting room floor.”
As well as at Wimbledon’s south west London home, the Overheard series was also captured at The Hill In New York, an event where American fans could watch the tennis in a similar environment to that at Wimbledon but within sight of the Brooklyn Bridge.
In addition to wanting to grow its brand beyond the two weeks of tennis, Wimbledon is also looking at continuing to grow internationally. Two Circles helped to do this in the US by creating “man on the street” content about the tournament, asking regular New Yorkers their thoughts in the build up to Wimbledon with the aim of promoting The Hill In New York.
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