Ratings and Research
For PGA Tour fans, there’s priceless and there’s Mastercard
Credit card company receives its highest sponsor recognition in 13 years of survey; Bridgestone and Coke also score top marks for each
It’s not exactly priceless, but Mastercard’s PGA Tour sponsorship certainly has paid off.
Thirty percent of PGA Tour fans correctly identified Mastercard as the property’s official credit card, the highest recognition rate the brand has received in the annual Sponsor Breakthrough survey conducted for Sports Business Journal by Turnkey Intelligence. The brand spent an estimated $2 million during men’s professional golf tournament telecasts last season, an increase of 22 percent compared to the previous year, according to iSpot.tv. Mastercard began its PGA Tour relationship in 1995 and trails only Anheuser-Busch (1994) as the property’s most-tenured partner.
Recognition compared to 2017
+9% points: Charles Schwab — Chuck aired 13 different spots and increased its prime-time ad presence.
+4% points: Mastercard — The brand also enjoyed its best-ever recognition rate in our recent MLB survey.
+9% points: Coca-Cola — Logo was everywhere during Tiger’s Tour Championship victory.
-5% points: Ace Hardware — Even with little competitor presence, the brand struggled to gain recognition.
Other notable findings from the data:
■ Bridgestone’s 38 percent recognition level was a record high for the brand. The 7 percentage-point increase also made golf the tire’s most-recognized sports partnership, pushing it past the 32 percent it garnered in our NHL survey conducted during last season’s Stanley Cup playoffs. In April, Bridgestone extended its PGA Tour sponsorship through 2022.
■ Coca-Cola, which joined the tour in 2002 and is signed on through 2020, also enjoyed its highest recognition rate (43 percent) in the survey’s history.
Ad effectiveness
Turnkey draws from its database of more than 20,000 sports fans to analyze the impact of creative spots running on PGA Tour programming.
Charles Schwab, “THE BROKERBREAKER”
Grade: 9 (excellent)
During a round of golf, a billboard advertising Schwab’s $4.95 online trades and satisfaction guarantee looms over a broker and his friend. The agitated broker, whose firm doesn’t offer these perks, hits his ball into the bushes. The integration of humor resulted in a high resonance among golf fans of Charles Schwab’s branding, according to Turnkey.
Citi, “MORE TIME IN THE MOMENT”
Grade: 7 (fair)
The ad, which featured golfer Justin Thomas being able to spend more time with his dad due to the ease of the mobile app, performed reasonably well among PGA Tour fans. Although viewers reported liking the Publicis-created spot, Citi’s branding was not considered as being distinctive.
