The US Open Playbook: How Brands Are Winning Over Fans

For three weeks every summer, Flushing Meadows, Queens becomes one of the most heavily branded acres in American sports. And Tynikin has had a piece of that real estate for 30 years. It's one name among more than 30 official partners this year alone, all fighting for the same slice of consumer attention across the tournament. We are at obviously the U.S. home of tennis right here in Flushing Meadows. The scene is amazing, right? This is like the hot spot for three weeks over September. So it's an incredible place to be. Standing out in the crowd, Tynikin says, isn't just about the logo. It's about an entire marketing platform. We call it the fans have more friends platform. And it's all about based on the insight that if you're a fan of something, you immediately attract more friends. So think if you're a tennis fan, you love Serena, you have fans that want to come and watch the tennis with you. And that's how we've sort of modeled this entire program, which is you can be a fandom of anything. We've got fandom of soccer, fandom of Formula One, and of course, fandom of tennis. We've been the sponsor of U.S. Open for 30 years. And Serena being, you know, an American, she is the goat of tennis. So there couldn't be a better match. And we know like she is, you know, obviously an athlete. We'd lean into, you know, we sponsor her with Tynikin 0-0. To sort of mark her six wins at the U.S. Open. We have one that represents each ticket on the year that she won. So, yeah, they really bring to life the atmosphere of the U.S. Open. She's personally signed them. Yeah. And they were available in a limited time offer here. The campaign's inspiration came from the archive, turning all ticket stubs fans had kept for years into an actual prize. The second serve ticket was a really fantastic idea where we wanted to appeal to fans and what better way to tap into fans who were such fans of Serena that they collected tickets from her past wins. And obviously she's won the U.S. Open here six times. And so we offered a chance for fans who saved a ticket to enter a competition and then win a chance to actually meet Serena in person in our VIP area. We received over 500 entries from across the U.S., all states. Look, there's a couple of stories. There was one in particular, two sisters who were coming from upstate New York, who shared a bus ticket down and to see her final game before she retired. So that really sort of touched us. And there was another one from someone who talked about the fact that they always bring their mother to the U.S. Open, but they have an argument. Their mother wasn't interested in the actual tennis, was more interested in what Serena was wearing. There's lots of wonderful stories about fandom and obviously Serena and the connection with the U.S. Open. We're about selling really good times. It came back from our founder, Freddie Heineken, who always said, I don't sell beer, I sell good times. And I think that's about the whole experience, right? People collect tickets to remember the game that they watched. They can even place what was happening, what was the score. So we think that's a perfect connection with the fans. And we're all about promoting that in real life experience over a beer, before, during, and even after the event. U.S. retail sales for non-alcoholic beverages grew by roughly 22% year over year, while non-alcoholic beer remains the dominant leader, accounting for roughly 83% of total category sales. Our sales have increased over 80% in the last couple of years. I think what we've seen with our alcohol-free Heineken Zero Zero is that it's become a normal part of people's drinking culture. So that's the trend, the moderation trend. People like to, we call it actually sometimes zebra striping. You might start off with a Heineken with alcohol, you'll switch to a Heineken alcohol-free Zero Zero. And it helps you sort of, you know, sometimes watching the game is really long. We know that the games can go till 2 a.m. here in the U.S. Open. So it enables you to be part of the social situation without losing control. At the 2026 U.S. Open, the real competition isn't just on the court, it's for a place in the story fans tell afterward. We all know that the U.S. Open has become more of a popular destination. I mean, people this year are talking about, you know, a lot of obviously the influencers, creators coming in. So we've evolved. You know, we have obviously bars where people can enjoy our product. We do activations. We evolve as it's become more popular. We try and amplify our brand throughout the whole U.S. Open. For Cheddar, I'm Chris Castellino.