Editor’s note: This story is revised from the print edition.
Vineyard Vines’ smiling pink whale will swim in PGA Tour waters for the first time thanks to a new three-year endorsement deal just struck with golfer Jason Dufner.
Dufner is Vineyard Vines’ first brand ambassador. The deal also marks Vineyard Vines’ entry to professional golf at a time when the Connecticut clothing company is increasing its investment in the game with a new line of performance wear.
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Jason Dufner will endorse Vineyard Vines, the first PGA Tour deal for the apparel brand.
Photo by: VINEYARD VINES
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“We’ve done golf in the past, but we’re really ramping it up,” said Shep Murray, who along with his brother, Ian, co-founded Vineyard Vines in 1998. “By this fall, we’re going to be much more entrenched in golf than we have been. We’ve had a presence before, mostly with accessories in the pro shops, but it’s been more of an afterthought for us. Now we want to step it up.”
Dufner, whose agent at IMG Golf, Ben Walter, negotiated the deal, will wear the pink whale on the left sleeve. Vineyard Vines will supply Dufner with shirts, sweaters, belts and other apparel. Financial terms were not available, but apparel deals like this run in the low to mid-six figures, according to industry experts.
The Murray brothers, along with Christine Capone, negotiated for the up-and-coming brand, whose mantra is “Every day should feel this good.”
Capone, director of sponsorship and events, previously worked in partnership marketing at the U.S. Tennis Association before joining Vineyard Vines in 2010.
The Murrays said they do not anticipate working with outside sports marketing agencies at this point. Vineyard Vines has a corporate relationship with the Kentucky Derby and a handful of regattas, but the brand’s presence in sports has been limited to date.
Dufner, a three-time PGA Tour winner who also claimed the 2013 PGA Championship, previously had apparel with the PGA Tour Pro Series. In addition to sporting the smiling pink whale, he’ll also have Fox Business Network on his collar and NetJets on the back yoke of his golf shirt.
Shep and Ian Murray met Dufner for the first time at last year’s Kentucky Derby, where Vineyard Vines is designated as the event’s official style.
“We had been kicking around the idea of getting more serious with golf, and that [meeting] really solidified our desire to do something,” Ian Murray said. “We just loved Jason’s attitude and personality, and we stayed in touch with him after the Derby. The more people we talked to, the more we were convinced that he was the right guy.”
One of the people the Murrays reached out to was Pete Bevacqua, CEO of the PGA of America. Shep Murray, the older of the two brothers, attended high school with Bevacqua in Connecticut, so he used that connection to get Bevacqua’s feedback.
“Jason’s whole style and approach really endeared him to us,” Shep Murray said.
Vineyard Vines has grown from a company that did $8,000 in sales in its first year selling specialty ties on Martha’s Vineyard to a company with reportedly well over $100 million in sales last year. The Murrays described top-line growth as doubling or sometimes tripling each year.
With 51 branded stores, Vineyard Vines intends to grow by 10 or 15 this year. That growth includes moving 150 employees in its Stamford headquarters into a new building this spring.
Dufner’s new apparel deal coincides with what amounts to a makeover of sorts for the laid-back golfer, who is known for his relaxed approach on the golf course. After a season fraught with injuries in 2014, Dufner has lost 20 pounds and even trimmed back the trademark bushy hair that flows from underneath his cap.
He is scheduled to make his 2015 debut at the Humana Challenge next week.
