Over 50,000 Fans Enter Contest To Have Tiger Caddie For Them

Around 50,000 golfers have signed up to have Tiger Woods serve as their caddie for a round at Torrey Pines Golf Course, the site of Woods' U.S. Open win yesterday, and Buick, which is running the promo, "expects thousands more by the Sept. 27 deadline," according to Jerry Kronenberg of the BOSTON HERALD. As part of the "Win Tiger as Your Caddie" contest designed by Digitas, Boston, Woods will caddie a round for one contest winner at the course. Buick Golf Marketing Manager Larry Peck said when Digitas proposed the idea to auto execs, "everyone thought it was a hit." Woods also "teed up to the plan when Peck sounded him out separately." Peck: "The first thing out of Tiger's mouth was a big chuckle. Then he said, 'Do you really want me to carry the bag?'" Fans can enter the contest at TeeOffWithTiger.com (BOSTON HERALD, 6/17).

Watch The Clip

THROUGH THE NEVER: The Nike TV spot "Never," via Wieden & Kennedy, featuring quotes and images from the late Earl Woods, debuted during NBC's broadcast of the U.S. Open this past weekend. ESPN.com's Eric Neel wrote the ad "draws its power from its simplicity, an uncluttered combination of words and pictures with a subtle percussive, echoing score laid underneath. Though Earl's presence feels somewhat miraculous, it does not feel especially engineered." Wieden & Kennedy's Eric Samsel: "We wanted to trim this story of this one part of their relationship down to the bare essentials." Neel noted the spot uses footage from last year's British Open and family videos, and the voice track is "cribbed from Tiger Woods' authorized three-disc DVD collection" (ESPN.com, 6/12). Nike Golf U.S. GM Cindy Davis said the company ran the ad "to honor (Earl Woods) in the life lesson that Earl gave Tiger and to tell his story" (Fox Business, 6/17).

IM-MEDIATE IMPACT: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's John Paul Newport notes PGA Tour member Rocco Mediate, who lost to Woods yesterday, was "sporting a newly introduced Odyssey Sabertooth putter from Callaway" at the U.S. Open, and the company is "taking calls" for the product. Newport: "Call it the best product placement money can't buy" (WSJ.com, 6/16). Meanwhile, WCI, the homebuilder that sponsors Mediate, last month "sold the community where Mediate lives -- Tuscany Reserve -- to foreign investors for $65[M]." Tuscany Reserve "was originally supposed to sell some homes for [$2-5M], but homes now can be found for less than $1[M]" (CNBC.com, 6/16).

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