Best European Tournament on 'Marketing & Promotion'

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The Estoril Open has been distinguished with the Award of Excellence from the ATP World Tour for the 2010 season as the Best European Tournament in the category of 'Marketing & Promotion'. This distinction to the sole Portuguese Event integrated in the world tennis circuits took place last week in Monte Carlo, after a vote among all members of the ATP World Tour, including players, tournament directors and the remaining staff - and once again consolidates the Estoril Open status within the sport worldwide.

«It is with renewed pride and great satisfaction that we receive this award, undoubtedly the most valuable of all assigned by the ATP World Tour. This significant prize certifies the Estoril Open as the best tool for marketing and communication, and an excellent vehicle to promote our country and all the brands associated with the most prestigious sporting event on a regular basis conducted in Portugal for over 20 years», says João Lagos. The tournament director also compares the distinction with «a victory in the World Championship, since we are regarded as the best event among 32 European tournaments, nine of them divided by categories ATP Masters 1000 and 500, with considerably higher budgets than the Estoril Open. This is yet another recognition to our team, whose ability and intelligence have won over the superior financial strength of the competition».
 
During the ATP World Tour Workshop held last week in Monte Carlo, were present among others, the world number three Novak Djokovic, and Laurent Delanney (European CEO of the ATP World Tour) who visited the Estoril Open in 2010. The election of the Estoril Open for Award of Excellence in the category 'Marketing & Promotion' was justified by the jury panel due to the following factors:

Television and Outdoors Campaign 'Come see the gods on earth' with Roger Federer

For the fourth year in a row, the promotional campaign of the Estoril Open was signed by Partners, a renowned award-winning advertising agency that created the entire promotional campaign for the 21st edition, elevating the then world number one Roger Federer to the condition of 'God', highlighted by the vanguardism and the special effects of the TV spot.

Exclusive covers on two daily Newspapers Metro & Destak

As Media Partners of the Estoril Open, the two free daily publications (Metro and Destak) devoted exclusive covers alluding to the event using the campaign 'Come and see the Gods on Earth', a promotional campaign with a very broad audience, taking into account the circulation of the daily two newspapers, an average of 150,000 copies each (target audience of 1 million readers daily)

'Stars Program' with Roger Federer in Lisbon

Roger Federer's visit to the Carris Tram Museum, and later a driven tour on this historic mode of transport where the tennis player was in command of the wheel, took the images of the Estoril Open and of Portugal to the four corners of the world. In an activity prepared to the last detail, taking into account the busy schedule of the player, the Swiss Super Star was the first to praise this initiative, which enabled him to recall some of his childhood memories when he traveled by tram to his daily training sessions.

Ultra-dynamic Official Website

Besides having been one of the first to incorporate the live-scoring system on all 6 courts (back in 2000), nowadays vital in any tournament, the official website of the Estoril Open has once again been praised for the dynamism of its content, on-site editor contents and a gallery of videos, produced daily by U.COM  - German company specializing in the production and dissemination of international television content - with many thousands of visitors, not only during the event, but also throughout the year.

Daily news service and highlights produced by U.COM along with Stars Program 

Reaching many millions of households every day, the daily newsfeed of 'highlights' carried out by the U.COM team included exclusive interviews and on and off court activities with the players. Beyond the temporal period of the Estoril Open, these contents have been utilized by TV Broadcasters throughout the year, as was the case this week on Eurosport before the preview of the Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal exhibitions, having retrieved the images from the Tram tour of the Swiss superstar in the streets of Lisbon.

The allocation of this award for the best European tournament in the category 'Marketing & Promotion', sees the Estoril Open being distinguished once more by ATP World Tour, after having received the 'Tournament Operations Award' in 1997 rewarding the work carried out to raise an authentic 'City of Tennis' from its roots at the National Stadium.