• by Karl Greenberg , June 11, 2009

HSBC Bank USA, the New York-based unit of U.K.-based HSBC Holdings, is launching a raft of activities as official sponsor of the 2009 Wimbledon Championships, which takes place June 22 to July 5. As part of the marketing around its sponsorship, HSBC will be presenting sponsor of The Tennis Channel's two-week-long nightly show, "Wimbledon Primetime," hosted by Bill Macatee.

HSBC will run 30-second commercials during tournament coverage, and bank logos will appear on-set, within show graphics and on tagged tune-ins. "HSBC Performance of the Day" branded features will air during the second week of Wimbledon.

In addition to interviews with players, coaches, agents, and other tennis personalities, the show will air Wimbledon-themed grassroots activities that HSBC is holding for the second year in New York City.

The Wimbledon events, "HSBC Presents Wimbledon 2009 At Rockefeller Center," run for a week starting on June 22 with a demonstration by former top-ranked players Jim Courier and Jennifer Capriati playing on a grass singles court in midtown Manhattan at the HSBC outdoor venue at Rockefeller Center, with emcee Luke Jensen calling the plays and select fans getting to volley with the champions.

Complimentary on-site activities during the week will include live daily Wimbledon broadcasts, public grass court play, carts serving traditional English strawberries and cream, and consoles to play the new EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis video game. Prince, official racquet and tennis bag of Wimbledon, will provide equipment for public play, including racquets, and will also host free tennis clinics on the grass court starting June 23.

California Giant Berry Farms is donating 75,000 strawberries for the carts in the HSBC outdoor viewing area. Courier will give tennis tutorials to kids.

Last year's events took place for only two days. This time the event is for a whole week, and there are many more components, per a spokesperson, who said the deal with the Tennis Channel is new.

Last year, the first of a multi-year global deal HSBC inked with Wimbledon, the bank ran a sweepstakes promotion, dangling a VIP trip to this year's tournament, including airfare, luxury accommodations and merchandise.

HSBC has retail-banking operations in the UK, Hong Kong, Mexico, Brazil, India, Turkey and France, although its largest footprint is in the U.S., where it has around 400 branches with 115 in the five boroughs of New York City.