Dustin Johnson: New American Schueco Brand Ambassador
Golf experts expect Dustin Johnson to have a great career.
The 26-year-old American, who grew up in South Carolina and now lives in Florida, is a new Schueco brand ambassador.
Starting immediately he will wear the logo of Schueco, the leading provider of Green Technology for the Blue Planet and Clean Energy from Solar and Windows, a company which is active in more than 75 countries. Finishing an outstanding fourth in the Ballantine’s Championship in South Korea (April 28 – May 1), Johnson had an excellent debut as a Schueco brand ambassador.
As a Schueco brand ambassador, Dustin Johnson now belongs to a team of popular world-class golfers who tee off on climate protection around the world and will play in the Schueco Open 2011 in Duesseldorf. Visitors to the tournament will once again experience how Schueco and professional golf are a perfect match. In addition to having a connection to nature, for both Schueco and golf, technical perfection, the utmost precision, absolute perfection, and efficient usage of energy are decisive success factors. Read more
Ultimate Custom Golf Cart Seats Define Stylish Comfort
The anniversary of the Ultimate Golf Seating‘s luxurious and uniquely designed, innovative golf cart seats confirms consumers preference for exceptional style and comfort.
“I felt confident there was a market for our high end custom golf cart seats. The seats were designed to capture a niche of customers who desire superior quality and detail,” said David Vahala, CEO, Ultimate Golf Seating, with headquarters in Elkhart, Indiana.
“Our first year of selling golf cart seats has proven just that. Consumers across the United States are purchasing Ultimate Golf Seats and the reviews from them are very positive.”
More communities and individuals are turning to golf carts as a vital mode of transportation. Golf carts are not only used by golfers playing their rounds on the course. People take golf carts to neighborhood activities, to shop at local stores and kids even use them to get to school. Golf cart transportation will continue to grow for the golfers and families alike. Read more
IHG Will Become Official Partner of PGA Tour in 2011
Five-year deal includes extension of title sponsorship of Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) and PGA TOUR today announced they have entered into a five-year integrated marketing partnership that, beginning in 2011, will make IHG an official partner of the PGA TOUR, Champions Tour and Nationwide Tour in the hotel and resort category.
IHG owns a portfolio of well-recognized and respected hotel brands including InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo®, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn® Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express®, Staybridge Suites® and Candlewood Suites®. IHG also manage the world’s largest hotel loyalty program, Priority Club® Rewards with 52 million members worldwide.
Additionally, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts will extend its title sponsorship of the PGA TOUR’s Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial through 2015. Crowne Plaza has served as title sponsor of the historic event since 2007. Crowne Plaza is known to business travelers as “The Place to Meet” and golf courses have a storied history as informal meeting places, which Crowne Plaza will continue to leverage through its relationship with the PGA TOUR and Colonial Country Club across all IHG brands.
“We are extremely pleased to announce this new long-term relationship with the PGA TOUR, which includes extending our sponsorship of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial,” said Jim Abrahamson, President, The Americas, IHG. “This partnership provides a terrific opportunity for IHG to showcase all its eight brands and bring to life our award winning loyalty program for fans as well as the PGA TOUR’s membership base of players from around the world.” Read more
CMU Study Quantifies Impact of Tiger Woods on Nike and Golf
A critical element in successfully engaging a celebrity spokesperson is to understand the real potential to capture and create market share and the risk of negative impact on the brand if the spokesperson does something ridiculous.
The saga of golfer Tiger Woods and his relationship with marquee sponsor Nike provided an excellent case study for researchers at the Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business, as they successfully quantified the real-market impacts of his celebrity endorsement from inception to scandal — as they correspond to a single, critical consumer product for the sport — golf balls.
The research was conducted at the Tepper School of Business by Kannan Srinivasan, the Rohet Tolani Distinguished Professor in International Business and H.J. Heinz II Professor of Management, Marketing and Information Systems; Timothy Derdenger, assistant professor of economics and strategy; and doctoral candidate Kevin YC Chung. Golf Datatech LLC, a leading provider of retail marketing information for the golfing industry, extended a rich data set for analysis.
“The industry-wide data that was made available and the unique circumstances involving a high-profile celebrity made this an excellent opportunity for us to study the real-economic impact of celebrity endorsement by focusing on a single product,” said Derdenger. “The retail data shows clear movement in sales and brand market share at particular time points that coincide with Woods’ endorsement of Nike products and during the period of negative publicity associated with his personal scandal, which began last year.”
In golf ball terms, the endorsement of Nike products by Tiger Woods, which began in 2000, resulted in the acquisition of approximately 4.5 million customers and $60 million dollars in profit (in 1997 dollars) for the last 10 years Read more
Eight Winners of Golf’s Majors to Play in McGladrey Classic
Unarguably, golf’s Majors – the Masters, U.S. Open Championship, The Open Championship (commonly referred to as the British Open) and PGA Championship – draw the elite of the elite professional players.
The McGladrey Classic, an official PGA TOUR event, will host eight previous Major winners October 6 – 10 at Sea Island Golf Club, Saint Simons Island, Georgia. In addition to previously committed players Davis Love III, Zach Johnson and Lucas Glover, players Trevor Immelman, David Duval, David Toms, Justin Leonard and Lee Janzen will play the Seaside course, ranked one of the top 100 courses in the U.S. by Golf Magazine and Golf Digest.
Immelman won the Masters, Duval and Leonard the British Open, and Toms the PGA Championship. Love, Duval and Leonard also won The Players Championship, often referred to as the 5th Major. Another 5th Major winner, Henrik Stenson, has committed to play in The McGladrey Classic.
“Davis and I are extremely excited to introduce the PGA TOUR family to Georgia’s beautiful Golden Isles. It’s our dream to create an event that mirrors all our community is renowned for – its rich culture, storied past and extraordinary hospitality,” said tournament executive director Mark Love. ”We believe that when players and spectators come once, it will quickly become their annual Seaside tradition.”
Tickets can be purchased online at www.mcgladreyclassic.com. Friday, September 24 is the last day to purchase tickets to be mailed. Tickets purchased after Friday can be picked up at Will Call, located in the event parking area at McKinnon Airport, near the Sea Island Golf Club entrance.