Why La Roche-Posay is betting big on tennis

Fans attending the US Open need not worry if they forgot to bring their own sunscreen. La Roche-Posay is once again making sure they are protected.

For the third year in a row, the skincare brand is the official sunscreen of the US Open. This year, La Roche-Posay will be more prominent than ever, with free sunscreen and plenty of dermatologists on hand.

Guillaume Monsel, VP and head of marketing and digital at La Roche-Posay, told us he's looking forward to the brand retaining its title as the tournament's official sunscreen for years to come, especially as the brand increasingly focuses on tennis.

Tennis is one of those sports where you spend most of your time outdoors and we wanted to make sure we were reaching a premium, affluent, approachable consumer as well, Monsel told Marketing Brew. Our goal as a brand is to make sure we get mass awareness and reach through these events.

With this year's US Open in full swing, Monsel told us he's thinking about ways to expand the number of tennis partners, both athletes and tournaments, and continue to use the sport as a vehicle for public relations campaigns about sunscreen.

For the love-love of the game

La Roche-Posay works with and supplies products to skiers, snowboarders and surfers, but according to Monsel, the brand's main focus is on tennis.

We really want to develop one sport well, and then if we feel like we've done it right, then we'll explore other sports, but not in the next six months, he said. We really want to make sure we're making an impact in the sport.

Earlier this year, tennis stars Madison Keys and Frances Tiafoe appeared in a campaign for La Roche-Posay as brand ambassadors to promote daily sun protection. The two attended a press and influencer event hosted by La Roche-Posay at Edge NYC last week, where they played pickleball against fellow ambassadors and players Taylor Fritz and Alex de Minaur. Jannik Sinner, currently ranked No. 1 in the world in singles, is also an ambassador for the brand.

The year-long deal with the US Open marked the brand’s first tennis tournament partner, and La Roche-Posay now sponsors several others, including the National Bank Open in Canada and the Miami Open. According to Monsel, the brand is also looking to partner with high school and college tennis players, as well as the Professional Tennis Players Association to support rising stars in the tennis world.

Third time's the charm

Monsel said La Roche-Posay prides itself on offering free sunscreen to anyone who wants it at every tennis tournament, which is why the brand limits itself to fewer than 10 units per year.

While some attendees at last year's US Open may remember being given free non-sunscreen products from La Roche-Posay, such as the now-viral Cicaplast Balm, Monsel said that was a one-time experiment that won't be repeated this year.

We wanted to see if we would see a spike in sales in the New York market over the next few months, but the product was a hit because of the social buzz and the attractions, so it wasn’t really a clear read on whether it was the US Open or not, he said. This year, we’re just going to stick with sunscreen.

Visitors to this year’s US Open can expect a La Roche-Posay booth stocked with sunscreen and volunteer dermatologists from The Dermatology Specialists to answer skincare questions. There will be three other sunscreen giveaway stations throughout the venue.

Monsel says he looks forward to seeing La Roche-Posay develop into a luxury brand in its own right as its presence grows.

The image of the US Open has improved tremendously over the years and we have contributed to that through the hundreds of influencers and celebrities we have invited, he said. He named Taylor Zakhar Perez, Noah Beck, Dixie D'Amelio, Shaun White and Lindsey Vonn as some of the athletes and influencers that La Roche-Posay has brought to the stadium in recent years.

In addition to the booth and social media collaboration, Monsel said La-Roche Posay will run ads during the tournament broadcast.

Monsel said he's excited to hear from customers in the booth and figure out how to leverage those one-on-one conversations. The brands Every day is a day to apply sunscreen The campaign earlier this year grew out of consumer conversations about the lack of adherence by some people to wearing daily sun protection, he said.

But engaging in dialogue with consumers can also have drawbacks, especially in a country with expensive healthcare.

The dermatologists sometimes tell us, 'This person wanted me to do a full body scan with everyone there, from top to bottom, or 'This guy showed me his butt to see if a mole was suspicious or not,'” Monsel said.

Although it is Open, it might be best not to do it. That Open.