Music, ticketing and marketing discipline make this tennis ad stick
There is a fine line in sports marketing between creating culture and chasing it. The US Open’s 2025 campaign, Spectacular Awaits, largely gets it right. It is not reinventing the wheel, but it is well produced, well timed, and crucially, it knows when to get out of its own way.
The centrepiece is a new remix of New York Groove by producer and DJ Mustard, whose real name is Dijon Isaiah McFarlane. He also lends his voice to the adverts. He is a Grammy winner, a self-described tennis fan, and more recently, a regular attendee at the tournament. The remix is upbeat, not over-engineered, and sounds more like a nod to New York’s history than a forced attempt to be “relevant”. If tennis is trying to feel more modern, this is a relatively safe way of doing it.
The campaign launched on May 27, 2025, to coincide with the American Express ticket presale. It will run across television, digital, radio and social media platforms. The voiceover is clean and confident. The messaging is consistent. The music is memorable. The real strength, though, is that it feels part of a broader story rather than a seasonal detour.
The importance of choosing the right partner
Celebrity endorsements are not new. Nor is putting music behind a sports montage. But where this campaign differs is in its restraint.
Mustard is not being asked to be something he is not. He plays tennis, he attends the US Open, and he has a visible presence in culture that extends beyond the music industry. The campaign leans on this lightly, which is probably why it works.
Compare this with attempts in other sports to force alignment. Golf, for example, has seen everything from DJ collaborations to streetwear drops, none of which are as convincing when the talent involved cannot name a current top ten player. Mustard, for better or worse, knows his Swiatek from his Sabalenka.
Timing matters more than creativity
The decision to launch this campaign alongside the Amex presale is perhaps the best part of the strategy. Marketing is often treated as decoration rather than infrastructure. This gets the basics right. Generate interest. Reward early buyers. Tie the narrative to something the audience actually wants.
Tickets for the general public went on sale on May 30. By then, most of the digital had had a week to land. There will also be time to generate conversation without drowning in promotional noise. It is structured, not stale.
It helps that the product is also changing
The 2025 tournament introduces a Sunday start for the singles draw for the first time in its Open Era history. The mixed doubles event is being reimagined to feature more top players and will run during Fan Week from August 19-20.
In other words, the tournament is doing what the campaign implies: evolving. This strengthens the advertising. There is no gap between what is promised and what is delivered. Spectacular Awaits does not have to do all the heavy lifting because the event is also adapting to demand.
Not every campaign needs to go viral
One of the quieter achievements of the USTA, working with Dentsu Creative and Daloy Creative, is how little they’ve overreached. The campaign is not trying to solve tennis’s diversity gap or make a point about youth culture. It is about selling tickets, positioning the event, and staying present in a crowded summer calendar. It manages all three without saying too much or too little.
The rest of the tennis world would do well to take note. The temptation to manufacture excitement can often end in confusion. This campaign doesn’t break new ground, but it walks it clearly. In 2025, that is probably more useful than being first to try something that does not land.
