It’s been our busiest ever week at the deVilliers Communications London office this week. The team have been working hard on several marketing campaigns in video, digital and print format for the year-end. We are producing video for two FTSE 100 businesses which is very exciting for us.
This article highlights how sport is using digital analytics to understand performance data. We use the same interpretation of data to understand how our marketing performs and take marketing from an art to a science.
Read on how Nick de Villiers our CEO was invited to a Babalot tennis evening to try out the latest tennis racket technology:
With us all working long hours and drinking too much coffee, I felt I needed some exercise and relaxation time on Tuesday evening.
Kindly, Babobat the tennis equipment manufacturer had invited me to try out the new Babolat pure drive tennis racket at my tennis club. For anyone who knows me, the invitation to play tennis is always difficult for me to turn down at the best of times. The prospect of trying some new tennis technology made this invitation a certain accept in the calendar.
Arriving at the tennis club, I was handed the latest Babolat Pure drive tennis racket. It certainly made last year’s edition of the racket feel old and ready for retirement. The Babolat team then briefed me that the new racket contained Bluetooth technology and that I needed to activate the racket to record the performance data. Impressive. I simply pressed a button on my bottom of my racket which was signified with a blue light flashing activating the Bluetooth chip inside the handle. This then automatically synced with the IPad app next to the court to start recording my shots and movement on the court. The racket head also contained an accelerometer that measures proper acceleration or Gforce telling the player if were serving or playing groundstrokes.
After a good two hours of play we all sat down to analysis our performance data.
Rafael Nadal had recently been using the technology and I was keen to see how my play had matched up against the great man. It was fascinating to see how the number of backhands and forehands had been calculated along with spin rates and strike points on the racket. I must say I was very impressed with the accuracy of the data shown on the performance app on the Ipad as it reflected my play very accurately.
Unsurprisingly, I was some way behind the Nadal standards. I had a rough split of 50% backhands and 50% forehands and an energy exertion reading that matched my efforts well. The data certainly gave me great insight and matched my performance levels and spin rates. Nadal apparently uses this data carefully and says that at his optimal performance he is hitting 70% forehands as he is moving his feet quickly and unleashing his most aggressive shot. He therefore is using this new information to start shaping his practice sessions and building this new data into his pre tournament planning. Great to see him playing at the AEGON Championships at Queens Club this year and I hope this new technology continues to help him.
It made me think as a business leader how important information is to making the right decisions and really understanding the performance metrics. Of course, all business leaders will always rely on instincts for some decisions but the on court performance data certainly helps in bringing new strategic thinking to decision making. So many great business leaders and people have come from the sporting world, as they are so forensic in the pursuit of excellence that they demand the greatest insight into performance.
At deVilliers Communications we provide a range of digital performance analytics to help you understand your digital performance and make sure you are making the right decisions to grow your business. Are you using the latest digital analytics and technology to drive performance in your business? The importance of understanding your customer’s behaviour has never been greater and we can provide the customer insight you need.
To discuss how we can help improve your business performance please contact the team to set up your personalised digital review. Whilst we might not make you a Rafael Nadal we can certainly make sure you win more matches.
Visit us at www.devillierscommunications.com to set up a meeting with team and discover how digital analytics can give you the confidence to invest in our marketing services.
