• by Les Luchter , Yesterday

Pickleball’s marketing appeal apparently has no age limits.

On Wednesday, health insurance company Humana announced a pickleball-themed campaign targeted to seniors, while Kimberly-Clark’s U by Kotex feminine care brand named teenager Anna Leigh Waters, the sports’ top-ranked player, as a brand ambassador.

Humana’s “Invite” campaign, whose launch coincides with this week’s Professional Pickleball Association (PPA) Tour event in San Clemente, Calif., is “designed to encourage older adults of all fitness levels to stay active, connected, and engaged—starting with the fastest-growing sport in America,” the brand told Marketing Daily.

“Humana cordially invites you to get moving,” says a :30 spot showing seniors playing the sport that’s running on such networks as ESPN2, CBS Sports, FS1, FS2 and the Tennis Channel. “Turn it up…show off…go off…get down…cause a ruckus…get in the game.” 

The spot ends with an invitation to visit humana.com/pickleball, whose contents include a form to receive a free pickleball paddle, educational videos about the sport, a schedule of upcoming Humana-sponsored pickleball matches -- and finally, an invite to learn more about Humana’s Medicare Advantage plans.

Humana has established a large pickleball presence in the past couple of years, sponsoring matches not just from the PPA, but the APP (Association of Pickleball Players) -- and and USSP (US Senior Pickleball).

For this week’s tournament, Humana is not only advertising during TV coverage, including the finals Sunday night on ESPN 2, but also has its own Humana Championship Court, including signage and LED displays, and an on-site booth.  

Humana says that the “Invite” campaign will run through December. In addition to the TV spot, content includes social media, digital and print (launching in August in unidentified publications). Human’s agencies are Brownstein Group (creative), Spark (media) and GMR (experiential).

“We’re not just celebrating the incredible athletes already on the court,” Humana CMO Jennifer Ilecki said in a press release announcing the campaign. “We’re encouraging everyone to take that first step toward active aging.”

Anyone who thinks pickleball is only for seniors, though, should note that the current top-ranked player is 18-year-old Anna Leigh Waters.

She’s already swept doubles matches this week in San Clemente – and did it while having her period, U by Kotex informed the world.

You might think in spite of her period, but the brand said it might be because of her period.

Waters “is revealing her power move … her period,” U by Kotex said in its press release announcing her naming as brand ambassador.

"Many girls today think playing on their period is a barrier to success, even  causing many of them to drop out of sports entirely….I am proof that periods shouldn't stop you from competing, chasing your goals, or showing up as your best self – especially when you have the right protection," Waters said in a statement.

The release cited recent stigma-busting scientific research suggesting that “some women's mental agility may actually improve during menstruation, with faster reaction times and better accuracy while on their period.”

To show how period stigma affects young women, U by Kotex cited additional recent research, out of the UK, that 84% of 11- to 16-year-old girls “say their interest in sports and physical fitness decreased after starting their period."

U by Kotex, which launched in 2010 as a Kotex brand extension for teens and young women, has since become the standard Kotex brand for all ages of menstruating women, with a couple of products specifically for teens.

The Waters partnership, which will be centered on her and U by Kotex’s social channels, follows the March launch of a “Play on Your Period” ad campaign. Focused on “normalizing menstruation in sports and celebrating the strength of female athletes,” the campaign included a :15 spot  that ran on X ahead of March Madness news updates.  The brand also partnered with several top NCAA women’s basketball players for social content.

The VaynerMedia and VaynerSports agencies handled the "Play on Your Period" and Anna Leigh Waters campaigns.