Sinner and Świątek are the official winners of Wimbledon, but the unofficial winners?

Their social team.

If you were on TikTok or Instagram during the tournament, you might have seen a clip that went viral. Not of a highlight reel or championship point, but of two people in the crowd debating a player’s age.

“He must be pushing 40.”

“No, he's 38.”

“Why, that would be pushing 40!”

That’s from a series Wimbledon ran called Overheard at Wimbledon. It's a simple concept where they mic up willing spectators and post the commentary, two-cents and banter from the sidelines.

It’s the kind of idea that sounds...silly? but is actually sharp and indicative of the changing media landscape as a whole.

Because the reality is, not everyone watching Wimbledon cares about tennis, or the technicalities of points.

Some people are there for the atmosphere. Some care about the design of the grounds. Some follow the players’ dating lives. And some want to know what athletes eat before a match.

Wimbledon knows this.

So they didn’t just post match clips. Instead they ran content that touched on fashion, aesthetics, relationships, food, and humor.

These are other ways in for people to engage with the tournament, beyond arguing Alcaraz vs Sinner career stats.

This kind of additional surface area is what turns a singular, thematic event into a cultural moment that has broad resonance.
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Why this works and what brands could learn

Most brands make the mistake of thinking they have just one story to tell: that of their product.

Wimbledon shows how much broader the narrative can be.

The people who don’t care about your core offering might still care about the design, the backstory, the human factors, or the lifestyle that surrounds the brand.

So if you’re building a content strategy, here’s the real question:

What are the additional lenses through which people can discover your product or brand?

If you’re a wine company, not everyone will be fascinated by the technical details of why your bottle scores a few points higher than the competition. But they might care about the design of the winery, your labeling, or learning that your grapes are still crushed by hand (or feet). Others might be drawn in by the settings where your wine shows up, or education around pairing.

The point is: not everyone will care about the product itself, but they might care about the world around it.

- Ashwinn

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