The PGA Tour’s weirdest … trading savvy?
I was in college the last time the PGA Tour had a headline-generating marketing campaign.
I know this because the marketing campaign was an unexpected birthday present – a green T-shirt that arrived in the mail in Syracuse with no return address. I opened the package expecting to get a clue about the sender. I was greeted with bright yellow words and a three word phrase that I didn’t really understand.
LIVE BELOW PAR.
By that time, golf had wrapped its arms around me. I was a icko, a diehard – the kind of guy who listened to the hosts of No Sleep again Fried Egg as if they were the prophecies of the holy book. But when I stared at the t-shirt, I was shocked. What hell is this
I was greeted with no such surprise Thursday morning, the same day the PGA Tour unveiled its latest marketing campaign with a 30-second promotional video. The video began with a series of memorable sounds for any golf fan: Rory McIlroy cementing his legacy; Scottie Scheffler for chasing his childhood dream; Tommy Fleetwood in the thick of victory against the best. As the video plays, highlights from some of the biggest moments and stars of the tour are combined over the soundtrack. Finally, the music grew to reveal a new star, Brooks Koepka, who was smiling from his younger days, followed by the Tour’s new tagline.
WHERE THE BEST.
While watching the promo, I felt something shift. The video was not lacking in self-respect. It was proudly hyperbolic. It was, above all, the advertisement. But it felt like something more than that. For the first time in my adult life, the PGA Tour seemed to make sense itself.
Now, some caveats: 1. I don’t believe ads are useful in the grand scheme of things. 2. I DO NOT see this ad as being uniquely important in shaping the opinions of golf fans. 3. I can’t promise that I won’t hatred this ad after a few months is being watched 12 times an hour. 4. I can’t promise that I won’t hate you after multiples hours. 5. I, like many fans, view the ads as a symptom of a larger institutional problem … not a solution.
But there are two groups in all advertising: People to accept the story (we we), and the people to tell it (that’s the PGA Tour). And for the first time in my memory, the Tour seems to have its own story. The most powerful golf outing. It is a venue that hosts a large volume of meaningful events and crowns a large number of important champions. This is where the best golfers in the world are.
You can debate whether these ideas are true the truthbut that’s not really the point. The point is that Tour you believe they are true, and they believe in their goodness more sincerely than they believe in the morality of “living” “under” “par.” We only need to use the Tour’s stance over the past few weeks (including its decision to accept selected LIV stars scot-free) to know that the Tour is talking off its chest.
It may sound silly to reveal the meaning of the slogan, but this slogan comes after the Tour’s longest journey. In the years since LIV came to the sport, the Tour has ripped and discarded key parts of its competitive format every year. War and peace have turned. Trade in senior leadership and board structure and equity. It has changed the rules often enough to require a new rulemaking structure – and it appears to be on the verge of doing so again.
But those years of contention revealed something: For all its faults, the Tour has found at least some of the components necessary to define “meaning” and “value” in golf tournaments. Winning the Players may never be the Champions, and winning the Memorial may never be the US Open — but those events mean more than winning your local charity tournament. Money is part of it – it certainly helps your perception of “worth” watching twentysomethings get richer than your wildest dreams – but money isn’t. everything of it. Players are important (in part) because history tells us they are the litmus test for those on the road to greatness. Genesis is important (in part) because it is held on a large golf course. The Memorial is important (in part) because Jack Nicklaus told us so.
History and legacy may not be the PGA Tour’s strength, especially if it continues to lack ownership of any of the four majors or the Ryder Cup. The journey is very small and narrow – and the rest of golf is very large and primitive – to find that top spot. But you don’t have to be the owner everything of history and heritage to be outstanding for at least 47 weeks during the year. You just have to own enough of it, and the Tour believes it has.
I’m not sure if the Tour should start printing t-shirts with the new slogan emblazoned on the front, but I think we can give the focus groups a break. The new message means something. It you understand something.
It is no longer alive. Corner which is yours.
