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Visibility at events pays off for Bridgestone

Bridgestone’s PGA Tour sponsorship has become one of the circuit’s most recognized partnerships, according to the results of this year’s sponsor loyalty survey on the tour conducted for SportsBusiness Journal/Daily by Turnkey Sports & Entertainment.

Nearly 36 percent of the 400 PGA Tour fans surveyed correctly identified the tire maker as the league’s official tire, trailing only FedEx as the tour’s most recognized sponsor. Bridgestone’s awareness rate was 6 percentage points higher than it was last year, pushing the company past Coca-Cola to become the tour’s second most recognized brand in the survey. Coke had been No. 2 annually since 2010.

Golf fans can win prizes at Bridgestone interactive areas at PGA Tour events.
Photo by: MARKETING WERKS
The gains for Bridgestone come in a year that saw many of the tour’s partners receive lower scores among fans in the survey than they received in 2013.

Bridgestone has been the tour’s official tire since 2007, but it has made a notable surge among casual fans in particular in recent years. In 2012, when the tire category was first included in the Sponsor Loyalty Survey, 20 percent of that group of fans knew of the tire’s golf designation. Only InterContinental Hotels Group and then-sponsor Ketel One had lower rates among casual fans. But in this year’s study, only FedEx’s 39 percent recognition rate among casual fans ranks higher than Bridgestone’s nearly 32 percent mark.

“Our partnership with the PGA Tour provides a unique opportunity to showcase the Bridgestone brand on both a global and local scale,” said Phil Pacsi, Bridgestone Americas vice president, via email. “The World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational is a prime example where we are able to display our high level of performance, through players like Matt Kuchar and Brandt Snedeker, and our innovative products, like DriveGuard tires and True Balance putters. Equally important, and something we are very proud of, is that we are able to give back to the communities where we do business through the more than $1 million that the Bridgestone Invitational generates annually for charities in Northeast Ohio.”

Bridgestone, with its corporate headquarters in Japan, ranked as the world’s top tire seller last year for the sixth straight year, posting $27.4 billion in sales, according to trade publication Tire Business. Its U.S. affiliate, Akron, Ohio-based Bridgestone Americas, also includes the Firestone brand.

Both Bridgestone and Firestone receive annual exposure via CBS’s coverage of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, played each August at Firestone Country Club in Akron. At that event, as well as at several other PGA Tour events during the season, Bridgestone showcases its golf products in interactive areas where fans can also win prizes.

Bridgestone further hopes to capitalize through its dealings with the tour as title sponsor of the new America’s Golf Cup, a team-format event featuring members of the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Latino-américa. That inaugural event is scheduled to occur this week in Argentina.

Among other results from the survey:

Bridgestone, InterContinental Hotels Group and Grey Goose were the only three tour partners to receive year-over-year increases in their awareness scores among fans in the survey.

In the case of IHG, this year also marks the first time the brand has activated its tour sponsorship in Latin America. The company entered the PGA Tour fold in 2007, when its Crowne Plaza brand became title sponsor of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, in Fort Worth, Texas. That relationship grew in 2011, when IHG became a full-fledged marketing partner of the tour. The 2014 season was its first as the official hotel of the PGA Tour Latinoamérica, the 18-event, 11-country tour that debuted in 2012. IHG has 200 hotels throughout Latin America, Mexico and the Caribbean.

Grey Goose’s 9 percentage point improvement in the survey among all fans was the biggest gain among the 65 brands measured in the survey. Ketel One, a tour sponsor from 2005 through 2013, was cited by only 3 percent of fans this year, down from its high of 15 percent in 2012.

Fans’ awareness levels for each of the tour’s three insurance partners declined compared with 2013. MetLife remains the category’s most recognized brand, with a rate of nearly 18 percent among all fans, but that number was down from 27 percent a year ago. Aflac and Travelers each saw a decline of approximately 3 percentage points.
 
Coca-Cola, a tour sponsor since 2002, completed its fourth year of a six-year extension that it signed in 2010. That deal ensured that the Tour Championship will remain in the company’s hometown market of Atlanta through 2016. The brand saw its awareness level among all fans drop by more than 5 percentage points, though, to 27 percent — its lowest rate since the survey began in 2008.

Methodology

For this project, Turnkey Sports & Entertainment, through its Turnkey Intelligence operation, conducted national consumer research surveys among a sample of more than 400 members of the Toluna Online panel who were at least 18 years old. The 2014 survey was conducted Sept. 8-12, a period that included the year’s last FedEx Cup playoff event, the Tour Championship by Coca-Cola. The 2013 survey also was conducted during the season’s final tournament, while the 2012 survey was fielded Sept. 26-30, a five-day period that followed the Tour Championship.

Respondents were analyzed based on their general avidity levels. Fans categorized as “avid” were those who responded “4” or “5” to the question “How big a fan are you of the PGA Tour?” then claimed to “look up scores several times a week or more often,” “watch/listen/attend at least 11 tournaments per season” and “have a favorite player.” Fans categorized as “casual” responded “3” to the same initial question, then claimed to “look up scores several times a month or more often,” “watch/listen/attend at least three tournaments per season” and “have a favorite player.”

When asked to identify official sponsors, respondents selected from a field of companies and brands that was provided to them for each business sector. Only the top-scoring companies and brands are listed in the results published here.

The percentage responses listed have been rounded. The margin of error for each survey is +/- 4.9 percentage points.

Turnkey works with more than 70 retainer-based clients across the major professional leagues in North America, but none is directly affiliated with the PGA Tour.

IMPACT ON SAMPLING AND SUPPORT

Are you more or less likely to consider trying a product/service if that product/service is an official sponsor of the PGA Tour?
  Avid Casual
  2014 2013 2012 2014 2013 2012
More likely 69% 64% 69% 38% 29% 41%
Unaffected / less likely 31% 36% 31% 62% 71% 59%
Are you more or less likely to consciously support a company by purchasing its products/services if the company is an official sponsor of the PGA Tour?
  Avid Casual
  2014 2013 2012 2014 2013 2012
More likely 65% 67% 66% 34% 30% 38%
Unaffected / less likely 35% 33% 34% 66% 70% 62%
Are you more or less likely to recommend a product/service to a friend or family member if that product/service is an official sponsor of the PGA Tour?
  Avid Casual
  2014 2013 2012 2014 2013 2012
More likely 62% 62% 64% 35% 25% 34%
Unaffected / less likely 38% 39% 36% 65% 75% 66%

SPONSORSHIP SIGNIFICANCE AND ASSESSMENT

Subject: How much more likely are fans to consider purchasing/using a PGA Tour sponsor's product/service if they are aware of the relationship?
To read: 48 percent of PGA Tour fans said they would be more likely to consider drinking a soft drink that is the tour's official soft drink if they knew which brand had that designation, an increase of four percentage points from last year's survey results. The rate increased to 65 percent when considering only those fans who correctly knew that Coca-Cola is the PGA Tour's official soft drink — a response rate that is down two percentage points from last year but still 17 percentage points higher than the 48 percent rate for fans unaware of Coca-Cola's standing with the tour.

Category (PGA Tour Sponsor) Among All PGA Tour Fans (Change from 2013) Among PGA Tour Fans Who Correctly Identified The Sponsor (Change from 2013) 2014 Difference
Hotel (InterContinental Hotels Group) 43% (NA) 67% (NA) +24 pct. points
Soft drink (Coca-Cola) 48% (+4 pct. points) 65% (-2 pct. points) +17 pct. points
Spirit (Grey Goose) 42% (NA) 55% (NA) +13 pct. points
Credit card (MasterCard) 41% (+5) 54% (-3) +13 pct. points
Tire (Bridgestone) 43% (+6) 55% (+2) +12 pct. points
Insurance (Aflac, MetLife, Travelers)* 42% (+5) 51% (-18) +9 pct. points
Investment firm (Charles Schwab) 39% (+3) 48% (-6) +9 pct. points
Beer (Anheuser-Busch) 44% (+1) 52% (-6) +8 pct. points
Shipping services (FedEx) 43% (+4) 48% (+1) +5 pct. points
Airline (United) 43% (+6) 48% (-6) +5 pct. points

Subject: What brands do fans think should be PGA Tour sponsors?
To read: 41 percent of PGA Tour fans said they think Anheuser-Busch should be a PGA Tour sponsor, compared with 21 percent who think MillerCoors should have a PGA Tour deal. Those numbers became 60 percent and 16 percent, respectively, when considering only those PGA Tour fans who correctly knew that Anheuser-Busch is the tour's official beer sponsor.

PGA Tour Sponsor/COMPETITOR Response RATES DIFFERENCE Response RATES DIFFERENCE
Anheuser-Busch/MillerCoors 41% / 21% +20 pct. points 60% / 16% +44 pct. points
Coca-Cola/Pepsi 60% / 40% +20 pct. points 69% / 30% +39 pct. points
Grey Goose/Ketel One 36% / 10% +26 pct. points 48% / 13% +35 pct. points
FedEx/UPS 56% / 41% +15 pct. points 65% / 37% +28 pct. points
Charles Schwab/E-Trade 24% / 21% +3 pct. points 39% / 12% +27 pct. points
United/American 28% / 25% +3 pct. points 48% / 23% +25 pct. points
Bridgestone/Michelin 34% / 41% -7 pct. points 51% / 32% +19 pct. points
MasterCard/Visa 40% / 54% -14 pct. points 53% / 45% +8 pct. points
Travelers/State Farm 16% / 39% -23 pct. points 28% / 41% -13 pct. points
Crowne Plaza^/Hilton 15% / 38% -23 pct. points 19% / 36% -17 pct. points

NA: Not applicable. The 2013 survey did not ask about the hotel category; Greg Goose's official sponsorship did not begin until November 2013, after last year's survey was completed.
* If a fan selected any one of Aflac, MetLife or Travelers, that fan became part of the second grouping in this portion of the survey.
^ Brand of PGA Tour hotel category sponsor InterContinental Hotels Group
Notes: Fans could select both the official sponsor and the competitor if they chose to do so. The one specific competing company listed was selected by Turnkey for consideration in the survey file.

Whichof the following is an official sponsor of the PGA Tour?

  Avid Casual
Shipping services 2014 2013 2012 2014 2013 2012
FedEx* 57.6% 56.0% 56.5% 39.3% 42.5% 46.5%
UPS 12.1% 12.0% 12.5% 10.4% 10.5% 9.5%
U.S. Postal Service 6.1% 5.5% 4.0% 5.5% 2.5% 3.0%
I’m not sure 21.2% 23.0% 21.0% 42.8% 42.0% 38.0%
FedEx saw a slight decrease in its combined score among avid and casual fans this year, but it still landed the highest recognition mark among all fans in the survey for a fifth consecutive year. A change to the 2013-14 PGA Tour schedule led to the four FedEx Cup playoff events being held on four consecutive weekends for the first time in the playoffs’ eight-year history. The season also marked the first for FedEx as an official supplier to the Ryder Cup.
  Avid Casual
Tire 2014 2013 2012 2014 2013 2012
Bridgestone* 39.4% 40.0% 33.5% 31.8% 20.0% 20.0%
Goodyear 11.6% 12.0% 17.0% 8.0% 17.5% 11.0%
Firestone 9.1% 7.5% 11.5% 7.0% 6.5% 4.0%
Michelin 7.6% 8.5% 8.5% 8.5% 5.0% 16.5%
I’m not sure 27.3% 25.5% 26.5% 40.3% 49.5% 47.0%
Bridgestone has been title sponsor of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational since 2006 and a tour sponsor since 2007. It added a new title sponsorship to its golf portfolio this year when the company in August announced a deal to sponsor the inaugural America’s Golf Cup. The team-format event, scheduled to be played this week, will feature PGA Tour and PGA Tour Latinoamérica players, including Bridgestone endorser Matt Kuchar. Additionally, commentator David Feherty has starred in a series of ads promoting Bridgestone tires and its golf products.
  Avid Casual
Soft drink 2014 2013 2012 2014 2013 2012
Coca-Cola* 32.8% 40.5% 46.5% 21.0% 24.0% 35.5%
Pepsi 20.7% 17.0% 13.5% 18.5% 13.0% 11.5%
Dr Pepper 4.0% 2.0% 3.5% 3.5% 3.0% 4.0%
I’m not sure 32.3% 31.5% 25.0% 50.0% 52.0% 42.5%
At the season-ending Tour Championship at Atlanta’s East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta-based Coca-Cola showcased its touch-operated beverage dispenser that gave golf fans access to more than 100 Coke products. Also, through the brand’s “Share a Coke” activation effort, fans could get their name and a friend’s name printed on Coca-Cola cans.
  Avid Casual
Beer 2014 2013 2012 2014 2013 2012
Anheuser-Busch (Michelob Ultra, O’Douls)* 24.7% 32.0% 28.0% 23.0% 21.0% 27.5%
Heineken 9.6% 5.5% 12.0% 8.0% 6.0% 6.5%
Miller 8.1% 4.0% 9.0% 5.5% 4.5% 5.5%
Coors 7.6% 14.0% 8.5% 5.0% 10.0% 10.5%
I’m not sure 37.9% 35.5% 32.0% 50.0% 51.5% 44.0%
Michelob Ultra this year conducted its fourth annual Ultra Foursome contest, in which the winner received a four-day trip with three guests to play a round of golf at four of the nation’s top golf courses, air transportation via a private jet and $40,000 cash. Additionally, at The Players Championship event, Michelob Ultra unveiled its Michelob Ultra Blue Room, a ticketed area where fans could access all-inclusive beer, wine, soda and water; food from top local restaurants; entertainment and games; and air-conditioned seating.
  Avid Casual
Insurance 2014 2013 2012 2014 2013 2012
MetLife* 23.2% 36.5% NA 11.9% 18.0% NA
Geico 17.7% NA 20.0% 11.4% NA 13.5%
Allstate 19.2% 14.0% 10.5% 8.5% 7.0% 12.0%
State Farm 14.6% 16.0% 22.0% 9.5% 6.0% 9.5%
Nationwide 15.2% 14.0% 13.0% 8.5% 7.0% 6.5%
Aflac* 13.1% 17.5% 22.5% 10.0% 11.5% 16.5%
Travelers* 12.1% 17.5% 18.0% 7.5% 7.0% 14.0%
I’m not sure 25.3% 20.5% 28.0% 46.8% 45.5% 42.0%
Aflac, MetLife and Travelers all carry official insurance designations for the PGA Tour (Aflac: supplemental; MetLife: life; Travelers: property casualty). Aflac sponsors the in-telecast trivia questions during event broadcasts. MetLife used an ad campaign to tout its MetLife Premier Client Group. Travelers, in February, announced with the tour a 10-year extension of its title sponsorship of the Travelers Championship event, a role it has held since 2007. Travelers also this year extended its official marketing deal with the tour through 2018.
  Avid Casual
Credit Card 2014 2013 2012 2014 2013 2012
MasterCard* 27.8% 31.0% 29.0% 17.9% 14.5% 24.0%
American Express 17.2% 20.5% 17.0% 16.9% 21.5% 19.0%
Visa 18.7% 17.0% 20.0% 15.4% 15.5% 15.5%
I’m not sure 25.8% 23.5% 26.5% 42.3% 39.5% 36.0%
During this spring’s Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard, TV ads featuring golfers Tom Watson and Brandt Snedeker debuted in support of MasterCard’s “Priceless Surprises” campaign. In one ad, Watson and Snedeker surprise cardholders working with a club pro and take over the golf lesson. The company also rolled out a new website, www.pricelessgolf.com, that gives cardholders access to lessons with a pro golfer and complimentary rounds of golf at a TPC course. Additionally, MasterCard’s “Best Seats in the House” promotion allowed cardholders at select tournaments to text-in for a chance to win an upgraded hospitality experience.
  Avid Casual
Spirit 2014 2013 2012 2014 2013 2012
Grey Goose* 26.3% 16.5% 17.5% 15.9% 8.5% 10.0%
Smirnoff 8.6% 6.5% 16.0% 8.0% 9.5% 11.0%
Absolut 8.6% 9.5% 7.5% 6.0% 6.5% 9.0%
Ketel One 5.1% 9.0% 14.5% 1.0% 5.5% 15.0%
I’m not sure 41.9% 48.0% 36.0% 61.2% 63.5% 51.0%
In the first year of a three-year deal as the official spirit of the PGA Tour, Grey Goose hosted a branded bar and lounge, the Grey Goose 19th Hole Lounge, at select events throughout the season. It also featured player ambassador Matt Kuchar in golf-themed advertisements and meet-and-greets.
  Avid Casual
Investment firm 2014 2013 2012 2014 2013 2012
Charles Schwab* 23.2% 31.0% 28.5% 14.4% 15.0% 23.5%
E-Trade 10.1% 10.0% 13.5% 7.5% 7.5% 11.0%
Fidelity 10.1% 8.0% 6.5% 7.5% 9.0% 8.0%
TD Ameritrade 10.1% 5.0% 5.0% 7.5% 5.5% 4.5%
Scottrade 5.6% 9.0% 8.5% 5.5% 5.5% 4.0%
I’m not sure 34.3% 32.5% 35.0% 54.7% 56.0% 49.0%
Charles Schwab has been the official investment firm of the PGA Tour and Champions Tour since 1997 and sponsor of the Charles Schwab Cup, the Champions Tour’s seasonlong points race, since 2001. Throughout the season, Schwab-backed GolfTec booths were available to capture customer swings on video and give instant swing analysis, along with comparisons to PGA Tour players, golf tips and drills. The company is also the presenting sponsor of the PGA Tour Social Hub on pgatour.com.
  Avid Casual
Airline 2014 2013 2012 2014 2013 2012
Delta 17.7% 13.5% 9.5% 10.9% 8.5% 6.0%
American 14.6% 9.5% 13.0% 9.5% 16.0% 14.0%
United* 12.1% 23.5% 19.0% 11.9% 10.5% 22.0%
Southwest 8.6% 12.5% 9.5% 5.5% 5.5% 8.0%
I’m not sure 38.9% 33.5% 36.5% 53.2% 53.5% 45.0%
United Airlines, a tour partner since 2011, offered its MileagePlus frequent-flier program members discounts and access to more than 30 courses within the TPC Network. The airline also activated at tour stops with the United Fairway Club hospitality venue for MileagePlus Premier members. Promotions from other airlines included Southwest Airlines and Adams Golf sponsoring the Ultimate Golf Course Surprise, where tour pro Kenny Perry surprised golfers at a Houston golf course with airline tickets and a chance to play at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego. The only catch: They had to leave immediately for the trip.
  Avid Casual
Hotel 2014 2013 2012 2014 2013 2012
Hilton 14.1% 7.5% 6.0% 10.0% 7.5% 7.5%
InterContinental Hotels Group* 12.6% 9.5% 9.0% 8.5% 4.0% 6.0%
Wyndham 9.1% 5.0% 6.0% 7.0% 3.0% 1.0%
Best Western International 6.6% 4.0% 3.0% 3.0% 2.5% 4.5%
I’m not sure 31.3% 40.5% 46.5% 55.7% 61.0% 59.5%
For a third consecutive year, IHG’s Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts built an ad campaign around Rickie Fowler. A series of videos for the latest round of its “Big Win” loyalty program promotion launched in March and ran through the end of April. The videos showed Fowler giving golf and business trip advice to members of the brand’s rewards club.

* Official PGA Tour sponsor
NA: Not applicable. Geico was not tracked in the 2013 survey; MetLife was not tracked in the 2012 survey.


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