sports

Callaway Drives Buzz On Twitter For New Club

CallawayCallaway Golf is launching a social campaign via Austin, Texas, digital firm Mass Relevance that precedes the January launch of a high-tech driver. The effort, "Tweet to Unleash," targets year-round golfers who are inclined to engage in social media. 

The campaign lets golfers Tweet with #LongestDriverInGolf to get a look at the club and be entered to win one of 10 drivers before they hit the shelves next year. It also lets users unlock various portals to content and shows multi-stream, real-time tweets from participating golfers and a counter with the number of drivers still available to participants. 

The creative around the Twitter ticker has beauty shots of different parts of the driver, with a “tweet to unleash” message for each photo. When you tweet, you can then get an in-depth rundown of whatever element of the club is hinted at by a given photo.

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"What sets up well is the execution element of our strategy; it allows us to have more of a conversation with fans and followers and let them feel more part of what we do versus a one-way message," says Harry Arnett, SVP of marketing at Callaway.

He tells Marketing Daily that the campaign bucks the status quo. "This is a secretive, controlled, and highly 'marketed' sport when it comes to product launches; it's where consumer electronics was eight years ago. We wanted to do the exact opposite of that and let consumers feel like part of it, let them comment on it -- good, bad and ugly.'' 

Says Mass Relevance CMO Matt Corey: "Callaway is going to be one of the first that jumps out to say we are going to tie paid media, digital efforts, and other marketing to drive to an owned media experience. 

The effort follows a similar one-week project last summer via Mass Relevance that drove more people to follow them on Twitter than the top three competitors combined, per Corey. "At the end of the day, marketers are looking for ways to amplify the brand.” 

Arnett says the approach also aligns with Callaway's brand DNA around being approachable, friendly and fun. "So we wanted to do that in a modern and contemporary way. It's sort of the tip of our spear; this the first breaking of the ice. This is also a test to see how this might work going forward."

The KPI's are oriented toward awareness, click throughs and conversation, he says. "[Twitter] has become an integral part of conversation in the culture at large. We want to build out this network -- a Callaway environment -- from internal to sales reps and customers." He adds that PGA tour players will also participate. 

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