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![“When I came into high school, I was ready to be a follower. But DECA was a game changer for me. It helped me overcome my fear of public speaking, and it's played such a major role in who I've become today. To be able to successfully lead a chapter of 150 students, an officer team and be one of the upperclassmen I once really admired is something I'm [really] proud of,” Anvitha Tummala ('21) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-25-at-9.50.05-AM-900x594.png)
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![“[Volleyball has] taught me how to fall correctly, and another thing it taught is that you don’t have to be the best at something to be good at it. If you just hit the ball in a smart way, then it still scores points and you’re good at it. You could be a background player and still make a much bigger impact on the team than you would think,” Anya Gert (’20) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/AnnaGert_JinTuan_HoHPhotoEdited-600x900.jpeg)
![“I'm not nearly there yet, but [my confidence has] definitely been getting better since I was pretty shy and timid coming into Harker my freshman year. I know that there's a lot of people that are really confident in what they do, and I really admire them. Everyone's so driven and that has really pushed me to kind of try to find my own place in high school and be more confident,” Alyssa Huang (’20) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/AlyssaHuang_EmilyChen_HoHPhoto-900x749.jpeg)
Hands gripping tightly around the racquet, eyes fixed on the small, neon green ball, and feet shuffling from side to side, the tennis player takes a swing. The unusual aspect of this game is that the court is made of grass and is in Rockefeller Center.
Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) hosts the live streaming of Wimbledon matches and other tennis-related activities at the Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, New York. The event was open to the public from June 21 to today to peak interest in tennis and to gain awareness of its main sponsor, HSBC.
From 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, interactive activities such as on-site tennis practice with experienced instructors, chances to compete in the EASports TM Grand Slam Tennis video game, and even photographs with the Wimbledon trophy via the use of a green screen booth were offered to all visitors.
Starting January, HSBC in cooperation with International Management Group (IMG) had the preliminary plans to exhibit the Wimbledon tournament.
“We put together the thoughts and the ideas of how it’s going to look … and then it’s a series of conversations with the suppliers, sponsors, partners, and also the guys who put everything together,” James Maclay, the Live Experience Producer for IMG in the United Kingdom, said in an exclusive interview with the TalonWP staff.
Rockefeller Center was chosen as the event location because of certain advantages.
“There is a huge demographic of people here. Over 250,000 people a day will be walking within this area, so you’re guaranteed high traffic of people, and also since HSBC is the sponsor, it’s the right demographic of people for [its marketing strategy],” Maclay said. “There aren’t that many places within the city big enough, and very few plazas with streets that don’t have traffic on it.”
Being the second year in a row that the company has held this event, HSBC incorporated different tactics to make the Wimbledon tennis exhibition more successful. One of the new features was the diamond zysia grass court, specially grown in South Carolina and shipped to Manhattan to reflect the official Wimbledon environment.
As another marketing tool, HSBC hands out 5000 baskets of strawberries to passersby daily from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The corporation works with other organizations in order to ensure the overall success of the project.
“We really tried to pull together the best people to do that plan, so we worked with Prince [a tennis company] to tell them to invite the pros,” Maclay said.
The celebrity appearance marked the kick-off of the attraction, welcoming world champions Jim Courier and Monica Seles, as well as professional tennis player Luke Jensen.
“That was really the big media, but we haven’t had anyone big since, unfortunately. We have a few TV crews, but that is about it,” Maclay said.
According to Maclay, the desired result of this entire program is to increase the popularity of HSBC. “It’s a really classy use of sponsorship,” he said.
Nonetheless, the event has attracted many fans in an innovative way.
”It’s just something different. I think people will be enthusiastic, which is great,” Maclay said. “That’s what it’s all about. “
