Cadillac is looking to increase its sponsorship of the
Senior PGA Tour, according to Steve Gelsi of BRANDWEEK. Cadillac
claims the Tour has helped sell $200M in cars since 1990 "via a
successful direct mail program." Their current deal on the 44-
event Tour goes through '96, but the car company is discussing
"an extension for 1997 through 2000 to boost the brand's
participation one event per year, to a total 24 Caddy tournaments
by 2000." Cadillac covers the cost for TV production and "is
lead advertiser on ESPN coverage." A new model, the '97 Catera,
will be introduced next year, and officials are "studying whether
to use the Senior PGA Tour to reach the 45-year old target demo"
for the car. At each Senior Tour event, local dealers offer test
drives through direct mail, "as many as 20,000 per event," and
give away event tickets. Cadillac claims a 16% trial rate from
the program and had close to 39,000 test drives in '94. It was
reported earlier that Cadillac is working on a licensing deal for
its logo that "could see the brand on golf apparel" (BRANDWEEK,
8/21 issue).
