I was thumbing through Flipboard this morning when I came across a story about how Adidas is struggling to sell its golf brand, TaylorMade, even after they paid Tiger Woods to be their endorser in the past year.
First off, Tiger Woods, what is this 1997?
People have moved on from Tiger Woods and as much as he is a golfer to most people, he is as much some dude that dated Lindsey Vonn and that crashed his SUV into a tree while trying to get away from his wife when she found out he was having multiple affairs.
Which basically in its simplified form means that people have moved past the point when Tiger Woods was a superstar golfer.
Sure, there are a committed number of golf fans that likely still have a crush on Tiger for his golf excellence, but they are few and far between at this point.
And, at this point, asking him to move the dial on golf equipment sales and popularity is a lot like trying to roll out Patrick Ewing as the face of the modern NBA. It would be a nice nostalgia ride, but it isn’t going to convert people in a meaningful way.
The larger problem with attempting to sell TaylorMade right now is that golf on the whole is facing a decline in interest.
We can offer up any number of different hypothesizes for this: 1, 2, 3.
But no matter which one we settle on, it is some combination of poor long term fan development, too much emphasis on one star player, poor marketing, too expensive, and changing market tastes. The fact is that you’d have to have money to burn or be on the look out for a huge tax write off right now to pay anything close to full price for TaylorMade.
But let’s swing around and look at the challenges and opportunities of something like this:
The challenges:
As stated above, golf is facing any number of challenges. Let’s look at the Top 3.
Too much focus on one star:
This challenge befell the post-Micheal Jordan NBA as well. The League had been carried so long by one charismatic and compelling star that it had sucked the air out of the room in regards to everyone else.
Sure, at the height of MJ’s popularity there were other stars like Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, and Karl Malone. But they were as much foils for MJ as they were real stars of a similar stature.
In fact, they were so far removed from being in the same universe with MJ that it was laughable.
The same challenge has fallen on golf with Tiger Woods.
Golf was having a moment from 1997 to around 2008, driven by Tiger Woods.
The only challenge was that a personality driven sport like this is bound to feel a downfall from the vacuum created when the GOAT goes down.
Changing Consumer Tastes:
I read a bit about the way that millennials are turned off by the time required to complete a 18 hole round.
The truth is, I’m turned off by that and I am not a millennial.
I think that in much the same way that a lot of sports are struggling with the change in buyers’ habits, golf is as well.
To write it off as a time or millennial thing falls into the same stupid logic that told Democrats that they were going to win the 2016 presidential election because they had demographics on their side.
Its a lazy argument.
While consumer tastes are changing, this is true across demographics and has been true as long as time has ticked forward.
Market tastes change.
No long term fan development:
I know that there are community programs that help try to get kids into golf at an early age. Using golf to teach kids skills like goal setting, planning, consistency, and others.
But the thing is, even if you are doing programs that are focused on some kids, golf isn’t a sport that speaks to every fan or every kid.
In fact, for most of its history, golf has been the anti-mass market sport being a sport that for a long time shunned non-white men.
Even if the Tiger Woods’ generation of fans and fan development was able to shift the fan development paradigm a little bit, long term fan development isn’t a short term issue and considering the history of the sport with non-white men, it will take several generations to build a groundswell of support for the game so that its awareness could be taken for granted.
But what about the opportunities!
Experiences are key to participation
Consumers’ tastes and preferences have been shifting a lot over the last 10 years.
We have seen stuff be replaced by experiences.
In this regard, golf is positioned like a lot of sports in that at its best, golf is a truly wonderful experience.
Most courses are peaceful and serene and golf is played in groups of people, creating an opportunity for people to hang out and have a communal experience.
Which is exactly what consumers want in an always on demand culture.
Golf should embrace the stories of the past and present
The trend towards always pushing the new or current or newest or freshest thing, object, whatever seems to only get more severe each year.
Which means that consumer tastes are driven to change more rapidly and more severely due to our constant feeling that we have to push the newest or freshest thing.
That does a great disservice to your ability to sell or market your product effectively because when you are always on the edge of something new, you aren’t really using the powerful stories and results that you achieved throughout your history as a selling tool.
Think about a brand like Tiffany. To a large extent, that little blue box means everything. And, that value has been built up over years, decades.
On the other hand, think about how readily our sports properties will sell out the past for the present or future?
A lot more often than you think, right?
Golf could do a better job of drawing people into the game by using the history and mystique of the game to create a continuum for fans to feel a part of.
There’s a rich history in the courses, and accomplishments of stars from multiple generations.
While the history isn’t as diverse as other sports, you have to think of building your fan base as a long term play.
Create communities
Golf is a really good sport to build communities around.
In the future, all sports and live entertainment are going to need to focus on three keys to build and sustain a fan base and customers:
- stories
- experiences
- communities
The best positioned entertainment options will be the ones that have participation built into the experience, like sports and concerts.
Why?
Because it is so much easier for people to catch up and start building connections around these types of events.
That means that communities in golf should be second nature.
Both for playing and viewing.
How can they build communities? There are tons of ideas, but here are a few:
- Create a fan club and social media area for people at each course stop. This could allow people to not just follow a certain player, but it might also help extend the popularity of new players that are more marketing adept.
- Funnel fans that meet at a PGA event into the local golfing community by building a social network or social plug-in that enables people to hook up with people that were at an event or play a course. That way you can help people connect in more than one location.
- Make the sports more accessible for players. How much would it cost for the manufacturers to supply loaner materials and equipment to local courses, along with ways of educating, and moving fans up the chain to being buyers and lifelong participants.
Really, these are just 3 half brained ideas, but the thing is that to build a community and rebuild the game, it is going to take a bit of effort and some outside of the box thinking.
What’s certain is that waiting for a demographic shift or a generational talent doesn’t seem like a wise bet. And, if you are trying to sell a golf manufacturing brand, you might want to offer the company for sale at a discount.