CareerBuilder, one of the PGA Tour’s newest tournament title sponsors, has signed Intersport to handle its branding efforts as the company pushes into the golf industry.
Chicago-based CareerBuilder announced a deal in May to take over title sponsorship of the former Humana Challenge tournament held near Palm Springs, Calif. The tournament, well-known for its celebrity pro-am, is now called the CareerBuilder Challenge in partnership with the Clinton Foundation.
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CareerBuilder put its name on the Palm Springs PGA Tour stop linked to the Clinton Foundation.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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The affiliation with former President Bill Clinton’s foundation dates to Humana’s debut event as title sponsor in 2012.
CareerBuilder’s six-year deal with the PGA Tour for the event sponsorship rights also makes the company an official marketing partner of the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour.
“This is CareerBuilder’s first foray into a PGA Tour event and they are rebranding themselves,” said Jason Langwell, senior vice president of sponsorships and events for Intersport. “They see a good opportunity and will take advantage of being host of a pro-am. The company is more than just a job board, as they offer a lot of human resources software solutions.”
CareerBuilder was a presenting sponsor in 2013 and 2014 of the former Encompass Championship, a Champions Tour event held in suburban Chicago.
“The tournament is a great venue to promote our mission of empowering employment and we are excited to work with the Clinton Foundation to make an impact on communities,” said CareerBuilder spokeswoman Jennifer Sullivan Grasz. “We believe this sponsorship will be a way to showcase our evolution.”
The company’s deal with Intersport is for one year, Langwell said, with the immediate focus on rebranding the 2016 event — set for the week of Jan. 18 in La Quinta, Calif. — with a strong business-to-business focus.
“We will look to extend beyond the one year,” Langwell said. “The primary focus in year one is the tournament, and then we will evaluate and assess the official marketing side in year two.”
The addition of CareerBuilder for the golf business adds to the Chicago-based agency’s growing golf portfolio. Intersport in 2014 signed Quicken Loans for work on its title sponsorship of the Quicken Loans National PGA Tour stop outside Washington, D.C. Intersport also represented Quicken Loans in signing Rickie Fowler to a multiyear endorsement deal this year.
“Quicken Loans dabbled into golf and is now getting into it in a big way, and this is a good parallel,” Langwell said.
Staff writer Terry Lefton contributed to this report.
