• by Les Luchter , 5 hours ago

Oura Ring has signed long-term partnership deals with highly ranked tennis players Taylor Fritz and Coco Gauff, launching with a campaign tied to the upcoming US Open in Queens, New York.

You’re not likely to find either Fritz or Gauff actually playing tennis in the campaign, though.

In Fritz’s first campaign video, posted Wednesday, he’s shown in an office setting where he opens an attaché case filled with tennis balls

In Gauff’s first video, she opens a school locker adorned with a “See You in Queens” sticker as tennis balls come tumbling out and she grabs her racket.

Gauff, who failed to advance past the round of 16 in last year’s  Open, told Voguethat the experience then was “very stressful,” but reporter Audrey Noble writes that the athlete now takes a “much more relaxed approach,” making the Oura partnership a “natural fit.”

In a comment with each player’s post, Oura states that each is using the wearable technology to focus on “recovery and performance.” 

In press materials, the brand says it is purposely pivoting “from the traditional playbook that features triumph and highlight reels” to instead “focus on the invisible work behind it: sleep, recovery, and readiness…showcasing how the cultural conversation around performance is changing.”

Besides social posts, Oura says it will run paid media on LinkNYC kiosks across New York City, a full-page print ad in The New York Times, and a digital takeover plus social video with the Times’ sports pub, The Athletic.  Omnicom’s MediaHub is the buying agency.

In April, Sports Business Journal reported that Oura had signed a five-year-deal with the United States Tennis Association (USTA) to become the “official wearable fitness device” of the US Open, which would include on-court logo placements at Arthur Ashe and Louis Armstrong Stadiums, LED messaging, and signage. USTA also said at the time that Oura would “activate a fan engagement experience on-site, including product giveaways, sleep/recovery education, and personalized health insights.”

That onsite activation, developed with Matte Projects. will start during the Open’s Fan Week on Aug. 23 and run through the finals on Sept. 13. Oura says.  It will include “a heat check using thermal imaging, a branded cooling station designed to help them [fans] relax and reset, and fan lockers where they can unlock surprise giveaways, including the chance to win an Oura Ring 5.” 

The Oura 5, launched in the spring is the brand’s smallest ring and, as reported then, ads for it will run during the Open on ESPN and ESPN digital.

The Open will allow players to don “wearable devices” for the first time this year, Sports Business Journal said, but Gauff told Vogue that she doesn’t she doesn’t wear her Oura 5 during matches, at least not yet. After all she “mainly uses it to track her REM and how much deep sleep she’s getting regularly.”