Crown – Expect the Unexpected

OPPORTUNITY
Every January, the Australian Open dominates broadcast with brand deals and expensive sponsorships. But fans don’t just watch tennis anymore. They follow the players.

IDEA
Instead of asking six of the world’s most-followed tennis stars for another ‘collab’ post or room tour, Crown built an idea around their personal brand. Carlos Alcaraz, Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Świątek, Paula Badosa, Daniil Medvedev, Casper Ruud, Félix Auger-Aliassime, and Andre Agassi swapped tennis kits for Crown uniforms, surprising real guests as doormen, chefs, and waitstaff. Players were given loose direction, allowing authentic interactions to unfold before they shared the content natively with their combined Instagram audience of 19.3 million followers.

IMPACT
The collaboration generated over 11M organic views, 15.2M earned media reach and editorial stories across outlets including 7NEWS, Sunrise, Herald Sun, and international sports media. Crown’s Instagram community grew from 91K to 100K+. Without paid media or official sponsorship rights, Crown became part of Australian Open week through the people fans were already following. And Carlos went from Crown doorman to the youngest ever career Grand Slam winner.

Art Director: Katelyn Testa
Creative Director: Shane Geffen + Andrew Woodhead
Editor: Edward Tang

The Alcaraz content alone has now surpassed 5 million views, while the broader campaign across Instagram and TikTok generated over 12 million video views and 2.5 million engagements in its first two weeks. Other activations under the Expect the Unexpected creative umbrella included Aryna Sabalenka and Paula Badosa partying at Crown, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Daniil Medvedev grilling teppanyaki at a private table at Koko and Iga Świątek serving as an undercover waitress at Marmont.