Prize money for the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open which has teed off at the K Club as you read these words, is up a staggering 60 percent on last year, rising from €2.5 million to €4 million. The strength of the event has been bolstered by the support of Rory McIlroy and the commercial partnerships that his commitment have pulled through.
Today Sport for Business can bring you a detailed insight into why that money being invested is considered to be yielding a positive return and we invite you to learn more at a special briefing to dive deeper into that insight.
Activation Transformation is a joint initiative between Sport for Business members Atomic Sport and Onside Research.
It shows that 50 per cent of the Irish population will be reached by a golf sponsor in 2016 and that financial services and the auto industry are leading the way in using golf to reach, influence and affect the behaviours of sports fans and consumers.
Worldwide spending on golf sponsorship is expected to exceed €1.5 billion this year, including sponsorship of professional and amateur sanctioning bodies and tournaments, charity fundraisers, endorsement deals and corporate hospitality.
The growth is coming from sectors including financial services, as demonstrated by the Irish Open’s new partnership with Bank of Ireland, and the auto category, the most active sponsor of golf worldwide.
“A renewed interest in golf sponsorship is being driven by a number of market forces including the success of players like Shane Lowry and Paul Dunne, the revamped Irish Open and a desire for sponsors and brands to be associated with this new momentum in the sport,” according to Onside CEO John Trainor.
“Our research shows that 62 different brands were linked by the Irish public to sponsorship of golf in 2015.”
“46% of the public made some link between sponsors and the sport of golf, including 1 in 2 of all males and 4 in 10 of Irish females.”
“As a sponsorship platform this is a sizeable prize and for the sponsors that effectively activate and get their fees versus activation formula right, the opportunity to grow their businesses with golf are marked.”
Request a Copy of the Activation Transformation Overview and if you are a member of Sport for Business, a possible place at a limited ‘deep dive’ session looking at the outputs from the wider research.
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Nike emerges as the number one brand most associated with the game in Ireland, reflecting the power of the McIlroy effect, while one in five of those surveyed named an existing or former Irish Open sponsor such as Murphy’s, Nissan or Three among those associated as sponsors of golf by the Irish public.
BMW, Rolex and Dubai Duty Free are coming into the week of the Irish Open with strong scores based on 2015 performance in the research, with Heineken and new sponsors Bank of Ireland also expected to be on the sponsors leaderboard come the weekend.
With creative activation of sponsorship rights being a vital ingredient in delivering successful returns for sponsoring brands, Patrick Murphy, Director at Atomic Sport, explains that “a solitary European Tour event on these shores means we have yet to see the level of activation from golf sponsors to match that which we have seen on the PGA Tour or at other major European events.”
“As a spectator experience, a major golf tournament can be a uniquely lavish and luxurious day out which focuses the minds of sponsors on the event experience. This has led to floating cars at PGA tour events, a car show-like feel to the BMW Tour Event at Wentworth and the dedicated parking for BMW owners at the Irish Open in recent years.”
As the sport of golf itself struggles to capture the minds of millennials and really embrace digital and social media, Murphy maintains that “forward-thinking brands in Ireland have an opportunity to fill that void and become the voice of golf for a younger audience with clever digital, social media and content activation around golfer stories, golfing data and tactical opportunities such as that represented by Tour Caddies.”
”With a now high profile European Tour event, arguably the world’s best golfer, the universally-liked Shane Lowry, and a broad playing base, golf in Ireland is a sport with plenty of scope for innovative and successful sponsorship with previously untapped content opportunities and many stories that have yet to be told.”
How has technology impacted on the world of sports wear and performance? Join us at a global gathering of sports and technology leaders in Dublin at Sports & Tech in the RDS on October 17th and 18th with speakers from The Golden State Warriors and the US Olympic Committee among this already confirmed.
