Preacher’s New Campaign for Golfsmith Celebrates The Worst Kind of Golfers

By Erik Oster 

Golf-related advertising understandably tends to focus on professionals whose skills far outstrip those of your average customer; take, for example, recent efforts by VB&P for adidas Golf and W+K Portland for Nike Golf.

In its latest campaign for Golfsmith, however, Preacher takes a different approach by shining a light on everyday players whose swings are decidedly subpar.

The 60-second “This is the Round” celebrates the “just wait until next time” attitude of such enthusiastic but not necessarily gifted golfers.

“You’re good, you got this, this is going to be the round where you finally put it all together,” begins the voiceover, followed by a series of flubbed shots. The voiceover continues, reassuringly, “The good news is every shot’s an opportunity, even your next one” before encouraging blaming your club or the wind for such errors. The interaction between voiceover and onscreen action is nothing new, exactly, but the amateurs replacing celebrity cameos is a nice respite from the category norm. A series of 15-second spots recycles some footage from the longer spot with new voiceover focusing on a particular individual (and terrible shot).

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“We hope to increase customer loyalty by showing that Golfsmith is the best place for golfers of any level to shop for their game by showing humorous, relatable moments that then segue into why customers should visit our stores,” Kim Lewis, vice president of omnichannel marketing at Golfsmith, told Adweek. “Our stores have always been the place for golfers of all skill levels, but we’ve never done a good job of communicating that through our messaging. That was the major goal of this campaign. It clarifies that ‘Anything for golf’ does not just mean that we’re a place for people who would do anything for golf, but that we will do anything for golfers. And we have anything golfers need for their game.”

“So many golf brands, through their marketing, appeal to the avid player,” added Preacher founder and chief strategy officer Seth Gaffney. “There are only so many perfect shots you can show, so Golfsmith is setting out to appeal to a broader audience than just the hard-core golfer. The word we used was ‘approachability.'”


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