Ben Slack is the Chief Revenue and Experiential Officer of Tennis Australia (TA), the organisation responsible for the Australian Open, one of the four major tennis Grand Slams. In his role, Ben leads a team responsible for the commercial revenue streams of the business across marketing partnerships and sponsorships, media and digital rights, ticketing, tourism and premium experiences, event digital strategy, and merchandise, licensing and retail. Ben’s team is also responsible for maximising the fan experience for the Australian Open within key areas of music and live entertainment, family and children’s content, and world-class food and restaurant offerings.
During his tenure at Tennis Australia, Ben was entrusted to move to Hong Kong for a number of years to establish TA’s inaugural Asia office with operations focused on audience growth and commercial opportunities throughout China. This has grown to one of the leading sports properties in China with significant growth in digital and television audiences attracting a portfolio of partner brands and licensees as well as annual double-digit growth in tourism from Chinese fans and the broader Asian region to the Australian Open.
Ben’s partner centric approach has seen him secure and renew partnerships with some of the world’s leading brands and media companies. And it isn’t just the partnerships themselves that Ben is driving, but also the creative thinking in how these partnerships are leveraged. In a world first, Ben was part of the team that won a Cannes Lion that saw an Australian Open partner brand disrupt the traditional sponsorship and advertising model, demonstrating the effectiveness of close collaboration between rights holder, brand and broadcaster.
Ben is relentless in his pursuit of rethinking how the commercial sports world operates, and it has been this mindset that has contributed to Ben’s success to date.
