“Over the last decade we’ve seen a dramatic change in the media to reach consumers,”

says Linda Glassel, vice president of sports marketing and brand image of Prince Sports, Inc.

PRINCE SPORTS IN TODAY’S CHANGING WORLD

“Today—particularly in reaching younger consumers—

we’re now focusing so much more on social marketing and social networks, be it Facebook, Twitter, or internationally with Hi5, Bebo, and Orkut,” she adds.

Linda Glassel’s comments are a snapshot look at what Prince Sports faces in the changing world of tennis in the 21st century.

Prince Sports is a racquet sports company whose portfolio of brands includes Prince (tennis, squash, and badminton), Ektelon (racquetball), and Viking

(platform/paddle tennis). Its complete line of tennis products alone is astounding: more than 150 racquet models; more than 50 tennis strings; over 50 footwear models; and countless types of bags, apparel, and other accessories.

Prince prides itself on its history of innovation in tennis—including inventing the first “oversize” and

“longbody” racquets, the first “synthetic gut” tennis string, and the first “Natural Foot Shape” tennis shoe.

Its challenge today is to continue to innovate to meet the needs of all levels of tennis players.

“One favorable thing for Prince these days is the dramatic growth in tennis participation—higher than it’s been in many years,” says Nick Skally, senior marketing manager. A recent study by the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association confirms this point:

Tennis participation in the United States was up 43 percent—the fastest-growing traditional individual sport in the country.

TAMING TECHNOLOGY TO MEET PLAYERS’ NEEDS Every tennis player wants the same thing: to play better.

But they don’t all have the same skills, or the same ability to swing a racquet fast. So adult tennis players fall very broadly into three groups, each with special needs:

• Those with shorter, slower strokes. They want maximum power in a lightweight frame.

• Those with moderate to full strokes. They want the perfect blend of power and control.

• Those with longer, faster strokes. They want greater control with less power.

To satisfy all these needs in one racquet is a big order.

“When we design tennis racquets, it involves an extensive amount of market research on players at all levels,” explains Tyler Herring, global business director for performance tennis racquets. Prince’s research led it to introduce its breakthrough O3 technology.

“Our O3 technology solved an inherent contradiction between racquet speed and sweet spot,” he says. Never before had a racquet been designed that simultaneously delivers faster racquet speed with a dramatically increased “sweet spot.” The “sweet spot” in a racquet is the middle of the frame that gives the most power and consistency when hitting. Recently, Prince introduced its latest evolution of the O3 platform called EXO3. Its newly patented design suspends the string bed from the racquet frame—thereby increasing the sweet spot by up to 83 percent while reducing frame vibration up to 50 percent.