Sponsorship In Golf

As a game, Golf can be quite demanding and a player needs to be constantly in focus. This is a game of patience but the one thing it has always missed is active sponsorship. Games like soccer, basketball and tennis have some big brands like Nike, Adidas, Lotto sponsoring players and equipments but that is not so in Golf. Although off late, some of the tournaments have been sponsored by big brands including Johnny Walker, yet it seems like the sport lacks a lot more in terms of sponsorship.

There is one event that some fans worldwide remember and it is the point where’ The Tank'' K.J. “The Tank” Choi was gearing up to take on the final round of the Compaq Classic PGA Tour in 2002. What attracted the fans world over was not his game but the Superior visor that he was seen sporting. It was a perfect platform and moment for Superior to reach out to the world and since the game of golf was being broadcasted in many countries live by BBC, CNN and NBC, Superior was able to find its potential customers. According to marketing experts, Superior was an unknown brand prior to the event but after the event they enjoyed a successful promotional campaign that was worth in excess of 300 billion from that particular tour.

This is an example of sponsorship at its best level. Sponsorship in Golf needs a sound marketing strategy as unlike other competitive sports, Golf doesn’t have a huge fan following. As a sport, it is still a niche. One of the new companies that have entered the world of Golf as a sponsor successfully is ANZ. ANZ has worked its position as a Golf sponsor right to the last detail. They managed to turn the sponsorship of a Golf game into a multitude of different marketing activities and created relationship-building opportunities.

It all started 6 years back when ANZ was working on sponsoring a high profile game, which could get them national as well as international coverage. Another important thing was the target audience. ANZ wanted the sport to reach out to its target audience and after extensive research, they concluded that the sport that could help them achieve their target was Golf and that’s how the ANZ Championship was born. As of today, ANZ has quite a few golf programs like the Team ANZ (players’ squad of male and female players), ANZ Ladies Masters, ANZ Ladies Masters of Business Conference, and ANZ Golf Media Awards. The most important fact is that each of these programs provides them with a platform wherein, ANZ can build there customer relations, marketing, public relations, staff integration and corporate social responsibility.

Sponsorship in Golf is basically two-fold: one is sponsorship of the game itself and the other is sponsoring the golfers and their equipments. Both cater to a global audience. Sponsoring a golfer basically comes down to covering some of the basic costs like sporting goods and equipments, contract fees, and offering various incentives based on the golfers performance. There is much more in terms of sponsorship that can be derived out of Golf as it is slowing becoming a global sport.