A FREE MARKETING LESSON FOR THE TALENTED OL’D BOYS. By Javier Palenque

Since the level of competence of the USTA is highly questionable, I decided to teach the Ol’d boys a simple lesson that every marketing student learns in their first year of college.

Remember the USTA has a CEO who never has played the sport in his life, a board that does not follow the mission and is selected so it does what the Ol'd boys want, a marketing budget for reaching companies, not people, a PR department that lies about participation and resource allocation, a legal department that defends sexual harassment and racial lawsuits every year, a community tennis CEO who has no support and a player development director who wastes every year $25M and produces nothing. Add to this terrible mix, a chairperson of the board who is more of a “pretend” position that rotates every two years, so it is meaningless from a leadership point of view. Ok, take a breath, that is the sad reality of the clan. These are the facts, not my opinion.

The Marketing Mix, often referred to as the 5 Ps, constitutes a vital framework for tailoring effective business strategies in any business. It prompts critical evaluation of various facets of any business like the USTA, encouraging adjustments and enhancements to better align with customer demands. By focusing on Product, Price, Promotion, Place, and People, the Ol’d Boy’s clan can refine their offerings, pricing strategies, promotional efforts, distribution channels, and workforce management to stand out in the market and deliver enhanced value to customers, gaining a competitive edge and fending off competitors like Padel and Pickleball. The problem is the clan of incapables, invites them to compete with tennis and allows more and more courts to be lost to other sports. Below is a noticeably short explanation of the marketing “P”’s and how the USTA fails at each one of them, yet wastes $10M per year in executive payroll.

PRODUCT/SERVICE: In business, the product or service you offer forms the cornerstone of the enterprise. This encompasses various aspects such as functionality, branding, packaging, service quality, appearance, and warranty terms. When evaluating your product, it is essential to focus on its key features, benefits, and alignment with customer needs and desires.

For instance, the only product the USTA has is the US Open, this is a gross error in judgment as it cannot expand its product range by introducing new flavors to cater to the same old consumer preferences. The incapable Ol’d boys bought a part of the Laver Cup and sold the Cincinnati Open. The priorities are 100% wrong as the customers it seeks are institutions, not people. If the USTA only has the US Open as a product, it needs to be a for-profit, and that will fix all the waste in seconds. In case it is not clear, tennis is the product, not the US Open. Ol'd boys you got the wrong product.

PRICE: Determining the price of your products or services is a pivotal aspect of business strategy. It involves considering all components contributing to the overall cost, encompassing the advertised price, discounts, sales, credit terms, and payment arrangements. Your pricing strategy should be informed by your positioning in the market.

For instance, if the USTA is positioned as a Wall Street entertainment event and service, the extremely high pricing should reflect this proposition. For the bankers, if you offer premium food products, your prices should reflect the superior packaging and quality ingredients you provide. This explains the $22.00 for a Honeydeuce. Remember the prices they charge are fine for bankers who do not pay, but expense out in their company-issued credit cards. The pricing is wrong for tennis. This is why in the zip code where Arthur Ashe Stadium is, tennis has died long ago. The CEO's plan is not to fix it and grow tennis in that zip code, but to charge more for the bankers, simply mindless.

Poor Chairperson, he cannot figure this out, nor anyone from his $10M payroll per year team. This is called a waste and lack of intelligence, but as long as the bankers pay and the board looks the other way all is OK. No, it is not.

PROMOTION: Promotion entails the array of activities and methods employed to showcase your products or services to your target audience. This encompasses sales, public relations, direct marketing, advertising, sponsorship, and leveraging social media platforms. Given the potential costs associated with promotion, conducting a thorough return on investment analysis (ROI) is prudent. This involves identifying your target market, assessing their media consumption habits, estimating promotional costs, determining the required increase in sales to justify the investment, and establishing mechanisms to track promotional effectiveness.

Remember USTA’s budget for marketing is $30M per year, remember that is for bankers and banks, not tennis. Money wasted since that money all it does is make sure no new players exist; this explains the aging of the sport. The worst part, the board cannot figure this out, and wrongfully believes that the US Open matters for tennis, no it does not.

PLACE: The place element pertains to the strategic distribution of your products or services to reach customers efficiently. This encompasses distribution channels (such as physical stores, online platforms, or third-party distributors), geographical location, logistics, service levels, and market coverage.

Tennis is everywhere in schools, parks, clubs’ homes. Yet the USTA only focuses on the two-week show in September priced for bankers and for people who never play. This is simply a way of destroying the game. This clearly explains the failure of the growth of the sport. The worst part of tennis is that it is dying, and they all collectively believe their lies. It is a mind-blowing mistake to go on with the same leadership. Moreover, expanding market reach might involve exploring new sales channels or geographical locations. The USTA is getting rid of them to pay for their mistakes and offer premium services to the bankers who do not play. I know you do not like to be lectured, but these are the facts.

PEOPLE: The people element acknowledges the significance of customers, stakeholders, and employees in driving business growth. Understanding and meeting customer needs and expectations are paramount. Additionally, nurturing a motivated and skilled workforce is essential for delivering exceptional customer service and sustaining business success. This involves setting clear targets, measuring customer service levels, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement to attract and retain loyal customers.

The way to keep people engaged is to have the correct mission and to measure it. What the CEO does is put out false participation numbers and tell these falsehoods to everyone who then believes this nonsense and yet when they drive home, they see the empty parks or tennis courts being converted to pickleball. The USTA is lying to the sponsors, the public, and the country and fooling the government into believing it is a not-for-profit. How long do you think this can last?

I know, I know, some of you will disagree with me, and yet none can show me how and where tennis is growing. When I see all sporting goods stores, the tennis aisles are smaller, and when I see pickleball stuff sold at Costco and Marshall's, it has become a mainstream competitor.

Tennis cannot survive incompetence and lies as the Ol’d boys propose. This is why the poor leadership has resulted in a congressional investigation and many lawsuits that the “clan of incapables” wish never made the papers so you can see them for what they are, simply taking advantage of the game and keeping their jobs.

The writing is on the wall, for tennis to survive in pockets of the country, the leadership must resign. There is simply no other option.

I say NO to ineptitude and yes to growing the game.

I can be reached at jpalenque@yahoo.com

PS. As you can see, the USTA has the product, price, promotion, place, and wrong people for the mission. Yet the board is OK with the results. You cannot be Serious! Plop!