THE PLAYERS experience achieves major ROI for Grant Thornton

Grant Thornton, an Official Marketing Partner of the PGA TOUR and Proud Partner of THE PLAYERS Championship, saw a strategic opportunity to differentiate ourselves from the professional services sea of sameness at the 2019 THE PLAYERS Championship. By creating experiential golf programs that innovatively connect top targets with our people and brand, we deepened executive-level relationships and impacted considerable growth.
Our C-suite targets are busy people with extremely high standards and few events still make their bucket list. Our overarching goal is to create programming that from the onset, intrigues the buyer to attend and delivers an experience that increases consideration and closes sales. Steeped in “Moments of Influence,” our programming showcased how we play the same course, but in a completely different way exemplifying Status Go, our in-market brand campaign and the antidote to status quo.
From the time our guests stepped off the plane, they were VIPs. Grant Thornton airport branding provided immediate visual reinforcement of Status Go and our PLAYERS sponsorship. Guests enjoyed private transport to the Sawgrass Marriot resort, with Grant Thornton custom branding on all touchpoints and an exclusive gift bag of personalized merchandise in their room. A welcome reception featured a graffiti artist whose creations would live on in future golf events and a conversation with a PGA TOUR professional. Guests started their next day with a front-row seat to our live Golf Channel podcast recording highlighting the parallels of success on the golf course and in the boardroom, then enjoyed two private custom chalets with the best views at Sawgrass in the heart of the action. Wrapping up, guests interacted with industry celebrities and took photos with THE PLAYERS trophy during a white-glove dining experience. Peppered throughout each day, guests were starstruck by surprise appearances from our brand ambassador Rickie Fowler, and other golf personalities—the icing on the cake for this money-can’t-buy experience.
Our KPIs—$17.9M in attributable sales, 97.5% rating the experience better than other corporate events, 384% of client engagement goal and 447% of our ROMI goal met—confirm this multi-touch sponsorship experience left a lasting impression on our target.