automotive

GM's Cadillac Unit Sponsors PGA Tour

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Cadillac is backing the PGA Tour. The General Motors luxury division signed a multi-year agreement making it title sponsor of the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship and an umbrella sponsor of the World Golf Championships, which next year will be played at TPC Blue Monster, Doral Golf Resort & Spa in Doral, Fla.

Cadillac gets branding and advertising across the four-event global series, as well as grassroots opportunities. Cadillac says it will have vehicle display programs throughout the year at Doral Resort, and will run dealer and lead-generation programs around its presence at the resort.

The sponsorship aligns with the brand's "New Standard of the World" brand positioning launched in October. A spokesperson for the brand said the company has not yet developed specific programs. "Our marketing integration will focus on our core models -- the CTS family [sedan, wagon and coupe], the SRX crossover and the Escalade," he said.

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Cadillac replaces CA, whose last event was the CA Championship this year. The brand, which had player endorsements and a presence on the Champions Tour, is part of a bigger plan to put GM back in golf. The Detroit Free Press has reported that GM is angling to get one of the PGA Tour events into Detroit in 2012.

GM's Buick division had been the company's golf-focused brand for about half a century, with title sponsorship of as many as four tournaments, and Tiger Woods as lead spokesperson and advertising star -- until last year, when Buick backed out of golf and ended its relationship with the golf star after nearly 10 years together. Last year, Buick also stopped sponsoring PGA events because of GM's financial problems, and before Tiger drove into his personal problems.

The PGA Tour has over 40 corporate sponsors, although the Tour reportedly has had trouble finding title sponsors for the Heritage in South Carolina, the Bob Hope Classic, the Reno-Tahoe Open and the St. Jude Classic in Memphis.

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