Firebrand

Titleist wasn’t a brand that I heard much about, but they are one of the brands you cant miss if you turn on the Golf Channel or a PGA event. They don’t have the same high end sex appeal like Taylor Made or Callaway, but they are extremely interesting in their own right. Much more than I anticipated.

Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF)- lessons from Titleist:

• Brand dissonance: The NXT TV or In The Cup advertisements are silly, and are different than the rest of Titleist marketing which has a more serious tone. The although the humour is a welcome differentiation from the other overly serious ads of the other golf brands, they need to take lesson’s from Ping’s ad to be funny and on message.
• Social media: Titleist promotes both it’s blog and Facebook fan page heavily on their site. It also has a regularly updated Twitter profile that interacts with fans. There is also the Titleist Performance Institute, which helps enthusiasts with health articles related to golf. Titleist is the most connected with their customers of the brands we have looked at; if there is a customer problem to be solved, they will know first.
• Flagship product doesn’t need to be the most expensive product: We are used to seeing the Corvette on the turntable in the middle of the showroom to trickle down some equity and sell some less expensive trucks. But Titleist flips that strategy on it’s head by focusing on the relatively inexpensive golf ball, and letting the clubs promote themselves. Exactly the opposite strategy of we Callaway, as we discovered.

Company Info:

• owned by Fortune Brands (NYSE: FO), managed by golf devision called Acushnet Company
• Acushnet had $1.26 Billion in revenues in 2005
• Acushnet also manages Footjoy, Cobra, Pinnacle, Vokey Design, Scotty Cameron
• Based in Fairhaven, Massachusetts

History:

• Acushnet went into the golf business in 1930 because of the poor quality of golf balls at the time.
• Original ball was called “The Titleist.” It was based on winding rubber around a core so the center og gravity of the balls was always centered.
• First to develop the mechanical golf swing machine to consistently test balls.

Current Marketing:

• Products: balls (6 varieties, flagship product), drivers, woods, irons, wedges (sub brand: Vokey design), putters, balls, bags, headwear, various clothing, gloves, umbrella, towel
• Position: #1 in Balls. Consistant performance in all products.
• One of the only companies to promote their Facebook fan page.
• On Twitter: http://twitter.com/Titleist
• Blog with more than 1 post a week.
• Titleist Performance Institute (TPI): website with a great collection of golf related health information.
• Brand Ambassadors: put a lot behind the professionals who back them.
• TV Spots are both humourous (inside the cup) and serious (#1 Ball in Golf)
• 5 primary channels of distribution: on course pro shops (”green grass”); off course golf shops; sporting goods stores; mass merchants; and the corporate custom channel for logo golf balls

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By Colin Finkle. Colin Finkle is an award winning industrial designer who works with large multinational brands everyday designing retail displays for FX Displays in Toronto, Canada. He is the principle designer at Firebrand Creative. He also writes for AMD’s FireUser.com blog.

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