Tiger Woods Is Back And Advertisers Cheer

by Bob Grant

The Masters Golf Tournament officially gets underway today. Tiger Woods is back from his recovery from knee surgery and Woods' sponsors and advertisers could not be happier. Sponsors will be counting their blessings as Tiger rounds “Amen Corner”.

Several months ago I commented on my blog on www.salesvantage.com about the adverse affect a brand icon like Tiger Woods would have on the companies that use Tiger as a brand icon for their company or products while he was out with knee surgery. Tiger Woods is the brand icon for companies such as Buick, Accenture, and of course the game of golf itself. We can’t blame Tiger for poor sales of Buick and the downfall of GM, but it is noteworthy that the viewership of the Buick International was down 57% without Tiger participating in the tournament.

While we don’t have evidence of the direct effect of the absence of Tiger Woods from the PGA tour due to his knee surgery on the companies he sponsors, we do now have the results of the effect of his absence on viewers of the PGA tour. The percentage of change of viewers watching the following PGA events with Tiger not participating follows:

British Open -13%
AT&T National -45%
NEC World Series of Golf -45%
PGA Championship -58%
Buick International -57%
Deutsche Golf Championship -57%
BMW Golf Championship -65%
Tour Championship -62%

Everyone likes a winner, and with the return of Tiger to the world of golf, sponsors of the PGA golf tournament will no doubt feel like winners. The Tiger Woods story is a good illustration of how strong brands survive downturns in the economy and come back faster on the rebound. Without Tiger, the PGA went through its own recession last year. I think we will see the dismal viewer numbers above turnaround dramatically with Tiger back in the game.

Tiger Woods Is Back And Advertisers Cheer

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