Jaguar and Land Rover have bought local sponsorships in a Southern California portion of a national golf competition carrying an incredibly long title: “The Mutual of Omaha Drive Chip & Putt Jr. Challenge Presented by The Golf Channel.”
Adlink and its SportsLink L.A. marketing division sold the car makers into the competition, in which boys and girls ages 7 to 14 will compete. Both advertisers will be prominently featured in Adlink’s on-air promotions for the competition and will display their models March 4 to 13 at four golf courses as a lead-up to the national championship in Orlando, Fla., this fall, to be televised by the Golf Channel.
Adlink’s involvement in the Southern California competition will encompass four weeks of on-air promotions across the 44 networks it carries, plus four days of on-site exposure at golf courses in Dominguez Hills, Palm Desert, Moorpark and Irvine, Calif. “The other Los Angeles multiple system operators, Adelphia, Comcast, Cox and Charter, can also maintain a presence at the event in their coverage areas,” Maureen Bennett, Adlink’s director of strategic planning, said.
“Our account execs were going after business from Jaguar and Land Rover, and we gave them the opportunity to sponsor the competition and reach upscale families,” said Matt Brown, Adlink’s VP of marketing and communications.
This is SportsLink’s first promotion with the Golf Channel. The Adlink division, which debuted last July, was created to strengthen Adlink’s sports business under the aegis of Neil Viserto, who is VP of sales and marketing and a former Washington Redskins president of broadcast and marketing, and Adlink national account executives Dave Matthews and Keith Green.
Adlink is customizing a 30-second event spot provided by the Golf Channel that tags both car manufacturers and which it claims will run at least 300 times from Feb. 16 through March 13.
The Truck
Working with motor vehicles seems to be the right highway for SportsLink to travel.
“Last year ESPN provided us with its interactive vehicle, known as The Truck, which visited affiliates around the country who signed up as local partners,” Mr. Brown said. Then in January, when Santa Anita Park placed buys on ESPN to promote the opening day of its racing season, The Truck was brought to the track. “We were able to integrate the promotion for ESPN and Santa Anita,” he said.