News Release
2004 Pacific Life Open Achieves Major Milestones
NEWPORT BEACH, CA (March 21, 2004) --- The Pacific Life Open, now the fifth largest tennis tournament in the world, finished its two week run at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden today, with Roger Federer, the number one men's tennis player in the world, defeating Tim Henman. Earlier, Justine Henin-Hardenne, the number one women's tennis player in the world, defeated Lindsay Davenport for the women's title. This was the third year of event title sponsorship for Pacific Life.
Mediaspot,Pacific Life's media agency since 1992, developed and brought the title sponsorship opportunity to Pacific Life. Pacific Life is the first title sponsor of both the men's and women's events at Indian Wells, one of only six tennis tournaments worldwide featuring both the top men's and women's tennis players. Mediaspot has continued to work with both Pacific Life and the tournament staff to enhance this world-class event. 2004 marked the first year of an expanded men's draw, so that the men's and women's events now both include 96 of the world's top players.
In addition to Pacific Life's major on-site presence, the tournament included 35.5 hours of national television coverage on ESPN and espn2, and over eight hours of national television coverage on the recently launched Tennis Channel. This year's tournament attendance grew nearly 30% to over 267,000.
Founded in 1868, Pacific Life provides life and health insurance products, individual annuities, mutual funds and group employee benefits, and is one of the largest life insurance companies in the nation. From its beginnings in 1976, the Pacific Life Open is now the fifth largest tennis tournament in the world, outranked only by Wimbledon, the US Open, the French Open, and the Australian Open.
Mediaspot's assignment for Pacific Life includes media research, planning, and buying, and the continuing development of outstanding media opportunities to contribute to Pacific Life's business achievements.
Mediaspot is a leading strategic media buying agency in California, providing superior media planning, media buying, and responsive service.
For more information on Mediaspot, contact Arthur Yelsey, 949-721-0500 or visit www.mediaspot.com.