Golfsmith

March 14th, 2010 by John Dawson

Golfsmith

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The Situation

Golfsmith Golf & Tennis is the largest specialty golf retailer in the United States. With more than 70 stores, the company had established a presence in just about every important golf market in the country. Except for one.

When Golfsmith decided to open in Palm Springs with its new superstore format—at more than 30,000 square feet a veritable “candystore” for golfers—it wanted to do something special to capture an immediate customer base.

The Response

Over the course of a week, Traffic PRM and the Golfsmith marketing team executed a grand opening program that included a VIP party, an in-store charity event and a tutorial with one of the world’s foremost golf instructors:

Traffic PRM created and coordinated invitations to hundreds of prominent residents in the Coachella Valley for the VIP event, which offered a special sneak preview of a store that includes an indoor driving range and one of the only full-size indoor tennis courts in the area.
On Saturday of the grand opening, Golfsmith played host to a “longest-drive” contest, inviting customers to swing for charity in the store’s computer-simulated driving range. The contest benefited Healthy Family Foundation.
Top-ranked golf instructor Hank Haney, coach of Tiger Woods, offered a free clinic on the store’s indoor putting green to a rapt audience of hundreds.

Around all of these activities, Traffic PRM developed a full-on media blitz to all print, broadcast and online media in the Palm Springs area.

The Results

Media “preview” stories kicked in leading up to the opening. The morning of, the ABC and CBS affiliates sent local correspondents to do live shots from Golfsmith’s driving range and tennis court. As a result, local TV aired more than 15 segments about the store over the course of the next two days.

The morning of the grand opening, more than 500 Coachella Valley residents stood outside Golfsmith’s double doors waiting to get in, attracted by Golfsmith’s strong marketing push and the PR blitz.