Marketers Embracing Woods' Return To Tournament Competition

Gatorade Welcoming Tiger Back To PGA Tour

Tiger Woods returns to competition today at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship after an eight-month layoff, and marketers are "looking for a boost from the comeback of the endorsement king," according to Suzanne Vranica of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. Gatorade, which is "planning to relaunch its Tiger Focus drink in the coming weeks," is running an ad in this week's SI "featuring a fan in the gallery holding up a homemade sign that reads: 'Welcome Back Tiger.'" Nike today will launch a spot on ESPN and Golf Channel to air during the early rounds of the WGC event. Tag Heuer is "kicking off a direct mail and billboard campaign next week to promote a sweepstakes offering consumers the chance to play golf" with Woods, and Nike today is launching a spot featuring Woods and five other golfers endorsed by the company. PGATour.com "hasn't sold advertising specifically tied" to Woods' return, but the site "expects a boost in traffic for the site's current advertisers." Vranica notes during Woods' time away from golf, many advertisers, including Nike, "continued to use Mr. Woods or his image in their marketing." But according to Nielsen, the "average number of viewers who watched network broadcasts of eight golf tournaments without Mr. Woods dropped 47% compared with the previous year," when Woods was playing (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 2/25). USA TODAY's Michael McCarthy writes, "In a cratering economy, Woods' corporate sponsors are counting on his return to jack up sales of Tiger-driven products." Nike Golf Dir of PR Beth Gast: "People watch what Tiger does, what he wears, what equipment he's playing" (USA TODAY, 2/25).

SWOOSH OF RELIEF: SportsBusiness Journal's Jon Show said of the impact of Woods' return on sponsors, "It gets their logos out." While Nike-sponsored golfers like Anthony Kim have "have stepped up" in Woods' absence and given the company some exposure, Nike has "taken a little bit of a hit here the last eight months with Tiger on the shelf" ("Money For Breakfast," Fox Business, 2/25). CBS' Jim Nantz said, “You can bet corporate sponsors, like Nike Golf which posted sales of over $600(M) the year before his injury, have already told him, ‘Just do it’” (“Evening News,” CBS, 2/24). NikeGolf.com's home page today is dedicated to Woods' return and includes a link to the new commercial, as well as a layout of the apparel Woods will wear for each day of the match play event and a breakdown of the clubs he will be using (THE DAILY). Meanwhile, Golf Channel's John Feinstein notes Accenture is "one of his biggest sponsors, and Tiger is keenly aware of keeping those folks happy, especially after losing his Buick deal" last year ("Golf Central," Golf Channel, 2/24).

BAG IT UP: AT&T is replacing Buick on Woods' golf bag after Nike had been rumored to be interested in the space. When asked how actively the company pursued the bag space, Nike Golf President Cindy Davis said, "We honestly feel that we're so strongly associated wtih him and we're quite happy about the impact he already makes" (CNBC.com, 2/24).