What better way to follow the post-referendum turmoil than with a typically English event like Wimbledon, complete with wet summer weather and over-priced strawberries?
But with the fallout from Brexit still sending shockwaves throughout the media it will be a struggle for anything else to steal away air time or column inches.
Add to this competition from the Euros – also hogging the headlines for all the wrong reasons – plus the scandal of match-fixing allegations, suddenly the All England Lawn Tennis Club have got their PR work cut out battling for positive coverage this year.
But whether Wimbledon makes the headlines or not, it’ll take more than political disarray and crashing stock markets to dampen the spirits of the uber-fans on Murray Mound this summer.
Pimms, a name synonymous with the annual tennis tournament, has tried its best to lighten the mood by signing up Judi Murray as Chief Foliage Officer, ridding the nation of excess mint in their alcoholic refreshments.
In a stroke of PR genius the drinks label ‘employed’ Mrs Murray to monitor mint levels in Wimbledon’s favourite tipple after last year tweeting about the “foliage overdose” in her courtside glass of Pimms.
The ‘mint management’ campaign seamlessly ties the drinks brand in with Britain’s favourite tennis tournament and millions of its target customers.
But for those planning to tweet their own Wimbledon pics, leave your selfie sticks at home this year as (along with unreasonably large hats) these are now on the list of banned items from the tournament. Anyone wanting to share their SW19 experience on Instagram, Twitter or Snapchat will have to revert back to the retro method of asking a passer-by to help out for that coveted photo against the backdrop of centre court.
With the majority of tickets snapped up by application dating back to last year, seats at the year’s most anticipated event on the tennis calendar are like gold dust.
Pictures of hardcore super-fans queuing overnight have become an annual tradition in the media. Along with footage of Cliff Richard leading a sing-a-long when rain stopped play in 1996, and the over-inflated price of strawberries, some of the most enduring memories of this great tournament happen off court.
The United Kingdom may be out of the European Union, and England out of the Euros, but at least we still have the quintessentially British tradition of Wimbledon to enjoy this summer – weather permitting!
Image sourced from Pixabay
