FINANCIAL SERVICES
FEBRUARY, 1999

"Driving the Point Home: Targeting Golfers with Each Swing of the Club"

Financial Services Marketing, Jan-Feb, 1999, p. 13

Janet Webb

Research shows that golfers are 80 percent more likely to have a hefty stock portfolio

To an advertiser, nothing could be more ideal than a captive market. A California marketing company believes it's found advertising nirvana on golf driving ranges, where clients' messages reach affluent educated golfers who are looking for ways to invest their money.

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Pinpoint Golf Marketing is targeting financial services institutions because it believes golfers are prime bank customers. Along with clients like Citibank Visa, American Express and the Franklin Templeton Fund, the San Francisco-based company is also courting on-line investment services.

Golfers, whose average household income exceeds $60,000, are 80 percent more likely than the average consumer to hold a stock portfolio in excess of $75,000 and insurance policies worth more than $100,000, says Pinpoint's president and CEO.

The typical golfer, who works in management, administration or other professional jobs, owns 2.5 cars, at least one piece of real estate and a home computer. "Golfers are typically upscale business decision-makers," says [Pinpoint's CEO], whose company was founded in 1996. "They have a lot of disposable income, and they're more predisposed to put their money to work for them."

Pinpoint focuses on advertising in golf practice facilities and golf course, particularly in the 9,500 practice or "driving" ranges in the U.S., 7,000 of which are part of public golf course grounds. Pinpoint places the 18-by-24-inch color ads on the tee dividers that separate the approximately 50 stalls in a driving range. Only two advertisers appear per facility, each sharing one side of a stall. The price: $1,000 per facility per month.

Pinpoint also sells ad space on Global Positioning Satellites, which are electronic golf-cart screens that display course layout plans and distance measurements.

In California's San Mateo County, golf is a major part of the area's lifestyle, says VP and branch administrator of First National Bank of Northern California.
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The U.S. Open was held in nearby San Francisco last year, and golf tournaments have become the most popular type of fund-raising events in San Mateo County, [he] says, adding that the bank hosts its own tournament.

First National, which has employed Pinpoint to display ads at local ranges for the past year, placed the ads hoping to attract more affluent customers and more small- to medium-sized business owners, [he] says. "Golf is an expensive sport, and it attracts people with a higher net worth."

While First National hasn't measured the results of the ads, & [First National's VP] says they couldn't have hurt since 1998 was a record year.

[The CEO of Pinpoint] believes golfers remember the products advertised on driving ranges because they are exposed to ads during hour-long practice sessions. "The only thing they're seeing is the ball and our advertising message," [he] says [Pinpoint] has contracts with about 300 driving ranges, with 90 ads appearing presently. Most of Pinpoint's ads are in California driving ranges, but displays will appear in Arizona, Florida, Hawaii and New York in the next two months.

According to a Nielsen study commissioned by Pinpoint, respondents recalled their ads at a rate double the average for other place-based ads such as bus stop displays.

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Pinpoint has a good chance of expanding its services throughout the country, unless a competitor beats them to it, says James Dettore, president and CEO of Brand Institute, a biotechnology branding, pharmaceutical branding, and consumer branding consultancy firm. "It's an extremely unique concept and a very worthwhile strategy for brand-building," he says. "Here you have a real targeted, select group."
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