Dove is back for a second year as the official underarm sponsor of the US Open, and the campaign built around it says more about modern sponsorship than it does about deodorant.
The platform, “Don’t Sweat It. Make A Racket.”, runs across video, out of home and community activity ahead of the tournament’s 23 August start. The product story is narrow, an invisible antiperspirant that does not leave white marks on clothing. The marketing story is deliberately wider.
The category problem, solved sideways
Underarm sweat is not a subject most people want served to them in August. Rather than fight that, Dove has attached itself to something audiences already enjoy watching, which is what people wear to the tennis.
The brand has brought in two photographers known for street style work, including the person behind a well followed New York street photography account, to capture outfits and trends around the tournament. That reframes the product benefit as a styling concern rather than a hygiene one. Nobody wants to be told about sweat. Plenty of people want their outfit to photograph well.
It is a useful lesson for brands sitting in low interest categories. The route in is rarely the product. It is the adjacent thing your buyer already cares about.
Content, not just logos
A social series with the USTA will see a comedian interviewing fans, aimed at capturing what makes the tournament feel different from other sporting events. Fan led content is cheaper to produce than athlete led content, easier to publish at volume, and it sidesteps the rights complexity that comes with player likenesses.
On the ground, Dove will run a refreshment and touch up space at the tennis centre where visitors can take photos. The activation is designed to generate content rather than simply hand out samples.
The community angle
The most interesting element is the least conventional. Dove is covering food and drink at ten women owned bars across the US to mark the Women’s Finals. It puts the brand in front of tennis fans who are nowhere near Flushing Meadows, and it borrows credibility from independent businesses rather than buying it.
Why this matters commercially
Parent company Unilever has been leaning heavily into sport. Its personal care portfolio ran a large World Cup programme earlier this summer that involved tens of thousands of content creators globally, and the segment posted underlying sales growth of 5.9% in the second quarter, helped by that activity. Leadership has publicly described the approach as a social first reach model.
That framing is the takeaway. The sponsorship is not the campaign. It is permission to make content at scale, in a context where audiences are already paying attention.
For smaller brands the budget is out of reach, but the structure is not. Pick a moment your audience already watches, find the adjacent interest that lets you talk without selling, and build content assets rather than banner presence.
