MERCEDES-BENZ will complete its first year as “Official Patron” of three out the four golf Majors when the 93rd PGA Championship concludes at the Atlanta Athletic Club, Georgia, this Sunday.
The PGA Championship partnership is part of a wider PGA of America deal with Mercedes-Benz, valued by Frontiers at between $3m to $5m per annum (2009-2013), and adds to the luxury car brand’s “top down” strategy in golf, which now includes sponsorship of the Masters, the Open Championship and the 2012 Ryder Cup.
The Majors-led marketing strategy, backed by a worldwide print advertising and online campaign, is aimed at “younger target groups”, says Lueder Fromm, Director of Global Marketing Communications for Mercedes.
“The sport is on the increase in emerging markets, like China, and we prepare a marketing tool kit for these markets, which includes print advertising, money can’t buy experiences (to give something back to our clients) and activation online,” Fromm told Frontloaded.
“We are very experienced in golf at the amateur level, but we are young in the top down world of major championships. Golf has a big overlap with our buyers, more so than F1, and the Majors share the same mix of brand values with Mercedes-Benz – perfection and fascination.”
Fromm stressed that it’s the potential for global activation rather than brand awareness from signage on a selection of tees on the course, which provides the greater part of the sponsorship value at the Majors.
In global terms, Fromm said that Mercedes Benz now targets five main marketing areas – F1, golf, fashion, product placement (movies) and the Laureus Awards (CSR). On a more national market basis, Mercedes Benz is also a leading sponsor of the US Open tennis and the World Equestrian festival in Aaachen, Germany.
This year’s PGA Championships follows the successful activation of its first year as an Official Patron of the Open Championship, which saw more than 100 Mercs on the ground at the Royal St George’s Golf Club in Sandwich.
In a deal valued by Frontiers at between £1m-£1.5m per annum Mercedes-Benz took over from Lexus in the Open’s official car category and shared Official Patron status (and on-course signage) with Rolex, HSBC, Nokia and Doosan. Next year’s Open will also see MasterCard join the Official Patron club as the first official payment card of The Open Championship.
Paving the way for its move into golf, Mercedes-Benz ended its $13m annual sponsorship of the ATP Tour in 2008.