Callaway Golf launched a one-day consumer-generated display ad campaign on ESPN.com‘s home page on April 8 (ahem, the second day of the Master’s, golf’s first Grand Slam of the year). The initiative, part of the golf products manufacturer’s “Winning Redefined” campaign, promoted the company’s line of Razr drivers and Iron golf clubs. Callaway developed the campaign with its agency Eleven.
Callaway developed the interactive campaign to communicate with consumers in a more immersive fashion, said Rob Price, cofounder and executive creative director at Eleven.
“We saw an opportunity to get people engaged and to actually not just read the words that this club is delivering performance but to actually think about performance,” he said.
As of 3:30 pm EST, Price said the agency had measured 6,800 clicks on Callaway’s secondary advertisement on the ESPN.com home page and that the page had garnered more than 10 million impressions (ahem, again, second day of one of the most highly watched golf tournaments of the year). He was unable to offer specific metrics regarding the number of headline posts because they are “changing rapidly,” but said that they are “in the thousands.” The initiative runs until midnight EST.
Consumers can click on the Callaway banner ad on the ESPN.com home page and fill in the blanks on a company-generated tagline about the promoted products. Consumers share the personalized tagline to their Facebook wall. Any Facebook member who clicks on the post would be directed to the ESPN.com home page with the participating consumer’s tagline featured on the Callaway banner ad.
To participate in the initiative, consumers must provide Callaway access to the basic profile information as well as their current city. Asked how Callaway will be using information about consumers’ current city, Merle Marting, VP of US marketing at Callaway Golf, said via email that Callaway “won’t be using this information.”
Callaway is measuring consumer interactions with the initiative and collecting consumer-generated quotes that “will potentially be used in future advertising,” said Marting.
He said that the one-day initiative is a test that could be extended for additional days. “With this being [the weekend of the] Masters – and the Friday leading into a great weekend of golf – it was the best day to conduct a test,” said Marting.
