Small firms' senior links - advertising at 1992 Senior Professional Golfers' Association Tournament

Nation's Business, Sept, 1992 by Glen Macnow

From a perch above the first green, Ann York looked down on a recent Senior PGA Tournament. She saw two of golf's legends, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, preparing to tee off. Even better, she saw "a veritable sea of silver heads" among the spectators. "That's when I knew I had come to the right place."

York is the public-relations director for Combe Inc., a manufacturer of hair-care products for men who no longer possess all the hair color of their youth. Company executives had been looking for a new way to market "Great Looking Gray" and "Just For Men" to a target audience of high-income decision makers over age 40. They found it among the 75,000 paying fans at the GTE Suncoast Classic Tournament in Tampa, Fla.

For less than $10,000, Combe set up a tent along the first fairway and gave out samples of its shampoos and colorings. "The response was overwhelming," says York. "For four days, the tent was packed with men wanting our products. We gave out thousands of freebies, all to people who were eager to try them. The tournament was a great investment for us."

Combe Inc. is not alone. The Senior Tour has proved to be a great money-maker--both for its sponsors and for the small businesses cashing in on its boom.

The tour began modestly in 1980, with two tournaments and $250,000 in prize money This year, players will make 43 stops and divvy up $21.5 million in prize money.

Golfers must be over age 50 to compete. And most players are former PGA regulars thrilled about the chance to swing before a gallery again. "If I played any other sport, my career would have ended 25 years ago," says Bob Charles, 56, the tour's all-time money leader, with more than $3 million. "I'd be home in New Zealand shearing sheep. So I thank God every day for the Senior Tour."

He might also thank the sponsors. What has made this enterprise work, more than anything, is a profitable embrace from corporate America and entrepreneurs.

The blue-chippers--such as GTE, Du Pont, and the regional Bell companies--spend up to $5 million a year backing the seniors. They plan ad campaigns around televised tournaments and pay mightily for the publicity that comes from being a title sponsor. Thus have tournaments taken on names such as the NYNEX Commemorative and the PaineWebber Invitational.

Small businesses, of course, can only dream of such campaigns. Yet with packages costing much less than major corporations pay for sponsorships, small firms can get out their messages in a variety of creative ways. Consider, for example, Pursley Tree Farms, a Parrish, Fla., nursery that spent about $5,000 this year at one Florida tour stop. Pursley supplied the golf course with temporary flowers, shrubs, and trees--with each display carrying a sign identifying the nursery.

"It's brand-name awareness we're aiming for," says Pursley's marketing director, Elizabeth Hamilton. "The people who attend these events include a lot of builders, contractors, and ... golf-course superintendents. Those are our customers, and the tournament allowed us to show them our product."

Overall, the Senior Tour's biggest attraction to advertisers is its audience. By and large, the people who attend the events or watch them on television are highly educated men between ages 40 and 60 with salaries above $50,000 a year. Many are high-income executives.

"The demographics of the people who follow the seniors are perfect for us," says Tom Chaplin, president of Unilens Corp. USA, a Largo, Fla., firm that makes bifocal contact lenses. Unilens spent about $8,000 at a recent tour stop, setting up a display booth and giving out free tickets to local ophthalmologists. The company also supplied 12 of the senior golfers with its lenses.

Typically, the fans of senior golf are the same age as the participants. They began their business careers during the years in which Lee Trevino, Gary Player, and Chi Chi Rodriguez were building their own careers on the course. Those are the players the fans identify with, the players they want to meet.

Tour officials recognize this. And while many professional athletes are simply out of touch with fans, the senior golfers regularly mingle with their followers. Some even conduct clinics for them.

The elder players seem to go out of their way to involve fans, smile, and joke around. It is a deliberate marketing effort by the tour to make these senior athletes more accessible.

During a recent practice round in a suburb of Detroit, Lee Trevino seemed to sign a half-dozen autographs between each shot. Afterward, he visited a hospitality tent that contained the booths of several dozen small companies, thrilling those sponsors in attendance. He joked with local business people and made fun of the regular tour players, whom he calls "flat bellies."

"The flat bellies are so serious," he said. "They don't smoke, they don't drink beer, many of them never even smile. I guess the difference is that they're out there struggling to make a living while those of us here are just happy to be riding the gravy train."