Native Northern Ireland golfer Rory McIlroy has a bit of an accent, and golf brand TaylorMade and agency Zambezi have decided to mine his lilt for humor in a new spot promoting the brand’s Stealth 2 Driver.
On a driving range, three of the world’s top golfers, McIlroy, Collin Morikawa and Tiger Woods, are swinging their clubs. McIlroy hits a few drives, noting how forgiving and long it is, especially on mishits. McIlroy says that his Stealth 2 is “forgiving,” though it sounds to the other two like he’s saying “fargiving.”
TaylorMade went with the term to describe the club’s best attributes, calling the spot “Fargiving.”
“We’re all used to seeing Tiger, Rory, and Collin hitting great golf shots, but how many chances have they had to show off their acting abilities?” asked Jeff Siegel, group creative director at Zambezi in a statement. “The Stealth2 driver was created for performance and playability, which means more fun for the golfer, so we wanted a sense of playfulness to come through.”
Siegel said as soon as Woods and Morikawa heard they could poke fun at Rory’s accent for 30 seconds, they decided to have fun with it.
“It’s one thing for us to tell golfers that our new driver is special, but when you get three of the most recognizable golfers on the planet to bring forward their personalities and validate it in such a magnetic way, that’s where the magic happens,” said Scott Frost, associate director, TaylorMade Global Brand Marketing in a statement.
This marks the start of the ninth year of collaboration between TaylorMade and its long-standing creative agency Zambezi, which has seen the brand through high growth, including achieving leadership positions in many categories and enhancing its athlete portfolio across the PGA Tour and LPGA.
The campaign will run on broadcast, CTV, digital and social. “Fargiveness” was helmed by directing collaborative Jean and produced by Community Films with post production by FIN Studios.