When it came to marketing the 2018 Masters, the new Green Jacket winner Patrick Reed was overshadowed by past champions Tiger Woods (see Nike), Jordan Speith (see AT&T) and even by other less high profile players such as Charl Schwartzel (see Michael Kords).
A combination of Tiger’s (almost) Lazarus act, Jordan Spieth’s near-miraculous final day move and the youth appeal of Ricky Fowler and Rory Mcllroy all boosted CBS’ TV ratings for the final round of the 2018 Masters to a three-year high.
According to Nielsen, the last day at Augusta was watched by 13m+ viewers: a rise of 18% from last year’s 11.1m.
The tournament may have gone down to the wire, but it was 14-time Major winner Woods who was the biggest draw for viewers and marketers.
Despite some struggles with his irons that saw him finish in 32nd spot, the sight of Tiger in trademark red-and-black Sunday battle dress saw both CBS and marketers give the aging superstar plenty of TV time.
CBS has been the tournament’s official US broadcaster since 1956 and it is reported to pay between $10m and $15m for the rights. A sum which seems a steal, except ad sales are limited to showing commercials from only the three official sponsors AT&T, IBM and Mercedes-Benz (the tournament also has three overseas/international commercial partners in Delta, Rolex and UPS).
Thus, ad interruptions are limited in the year’s first Major – with just four minutes of commercial time per hour (that’s about 25% of the average sports broadcast spot load.
According to iSpot.tv data, Mercedes aired 13 spots during Sunday’s final round, while AT&T and IBM ran 11 ads each.
That means, of course, that there is plenty of ambush activity and online marketing leveraging the tournament.
From official sponsorship activation such as AT&T dual consumer/B2B campaigns and the latest in IBM’s tech-led, utility-focused fan offering, to ambush activity such as silly catchphrase medieval marketing from Bud Light and campaigns promoting other golf partnerships like those from Vodafone and KPMG simply timed to leverage peaking interest in the sport due to the year’s first Major, Activative votes for its Top 20 Campaigns activating around the 2018 Masters.
1: Nike ‘Welcome Back’ & ‘Chase Yours’
2: PGA Tour ‘Live Under Par’
3: IBM ‘Watson My Moments’ & ‘Let’s Put Smart To Work’
4: Bud Light ‘Dilly Dilly Ambush’
5: AT&T ‘It Can Wait’ & ‘Edge To Edge’
6: Delta ‘Perfection’
7: UPS ‘Founders Vision’
8: Rolex ‘Rolex & Golf’
10: Mercedes-Benz ‘What Makes Us’ & ‘Mercedes-Benz masters Experience’
11: Michael Kors’ Charl Schwartzel’
12: Callaway ‘Various’
13: The Masters ‘History You Can Feel’ & ‘Roaring Back’
14: European Tour ‘A Year As Masters Champion’
15: The Open ‘The Greatest Walk’
16: Vodafone India ‘Magic Of The The Walk’
17: KPMG ‘Leaderboard’
18: Tourism Ireland ‘Home Of Champions’
19: Titleist ‘That’s How You Know’
20: TaylorMade ‘Why I Chose’
