Wimbledon Chief Jests Royal Marines Would 'Sort Out' Disruptive Influencers
Wimbledon's chief executive joked that Royal Marine commandos providing security would be eager to deal with disruptive social media influencers at the prestigious tournament.
Richard Atkinson, interim chief executive of the All England Lawn Tennis Club, stated that Wimbledon does not accredit influencers and indicated this policy is unlikely to change soon. This comes after a disruption at the US Open where a group of influencers conducting a photo shoot interrupted a match involving two-time champion Naomi Osaka, sparking a debate on tennis etiquette.
While Atkinson acknowledged that influencers are a "crucial part of the marketing mix" and a complete ban would be "nonsense," he emphasized that any influencers brought in by brands would be "tightly chaperoned." He also expressed support for Wimbledon's traditional ethos of fans respecting the ongoing play.
"We don't have a category of accredited people called influencers," Atkinson said during a panel at Leaders Week London. "What you have to do is keep them under control. One of our big partners, Polo Ralph Lauren, will have their influencer, but they are all tightly chaperoned."
He contrasted the atmosphere at Wimbledon with the "very New York City" vibe of the US Open, where he noted it's "dead easy for someone who has just bought a ticket to show up there with their ring lights and literally start broadcasting in the middle of a match." Atkinson then humorously suggested, "If you tried to do that at Wimbledon, I think you'd probably have some Royal Marine Commando…" He added, "We do have military. And they would like nothing more, I suspect, than to sort out some influencer."
Fans will also be prohibited from bringing portable ring lights, a common piece of equipment for content creators, to SW19.
Despite these measures, Atkinson recognized the evolving media landscape. "It's just a crucial bit of the marketing mix, of course it is," he stated. "We're not in the world of newspapers and television anymore, right? The world has changed. But it's just really important, it's a bit of a cliched expression, you've got to sort it out in a Wimbledon way. But to say 'we're not going to have any influencers at Wimbledon,' it's obviously nonsense." He concluded that Wimbledon's marketing team works "meticulously to make sure they are working in a way that is consistent with our Wimbledon brand and keeps that magic."