Golf P-O-P: Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On

Golf has come of age.Of the 25 million people who played golf in 1995, more than half were between the ages of 18 and 39 years old. That same year, participation levels among juniors 12 to 17 years old rose 17 percent compared to 1994.This time-honored sport, once the exclusive realm of middle-aged white guys, is appealing to a much wider audience these days.On-going developments range from new players -- with non-traditional shopping habits -- to new shops and new manufacturers. Point-of-purchase budgets are up and so are the number of companies involved in P-O-P creation.In addition to attracting younger players, golf's newfound appeal extends to women and minorities. The National Golf Foundation estimates that 40 percent of all new golfers are women. Two new magazines, Golf For Women and Minority Golf, testify to golf's growing favor with new consumers.But perhaps the most far reaching change is the image of the sport. With the help of Generation Xer Tiger Woods -- already a Nike spokesman -- the look of golf is growing less staid and serious. Today, golf is hip and trendy.All of these things influence the way golf products are presented at the point-of-sale. As the personality of the sport changes, its retail face is being examined under a higher-powered microscope.At Mizuno USA, Norcross, Ga., Marketing Services Manager Jackie Tyson chairs a company task force on P-O-P. "We never gave point-of-purchase the attention it deserved in the past; we would handle projects one at a time as they came up. Now we're focused on P-O-P as part of our marketing mix." Before, she says laughing, "we did banners and club racks and considered it done."The story is the same at manufacturers large and small. "We never focused [on displays] three or four years ago. Retailers weren't asking for them," says Steve Bostwick, marketing product manager for Phoenix-based Karsten Manufacturing Corp., makers of Ping brand clubs and equipment. "But now, it's just gone crazy." The industry has recently begun "spending enormous amounts of money on point-of-purchase," he says. Ping increased its spending from 1995 to 1996 "by a factor of 10" and plans to at least match 1996 figures this year. Manufacturers' budgets range from $500,000 a season for ball-maker Slazenger Golf USA, Greenville, Calif., to several million dollars per promotion by Carlsbad, Calif.-based Callaway Golf Co.Golf equipment merchandising is undergoing a revolution "rivaling what happened three or four years ago in the consumer electronics industry," says Ron Bowers, account manager at Frank Mayer & Associates Inc., Grafton, Wis.New Lines, New Looks for StoresA $5 billion retail industry, golf equipment draws a crowd. "So many people want to be in the golf industry, just for the jazz . . . for the fun," says Ron Addison, business manager/clubs at Wilson Golf, Chicago. And when new companies come into the marketplace, adds Fritz Frazier, "they try to launch with an aggressive marketing plan [within which] P-O-P is critical." Frazier is vice president and general manager of Ooltewah, Tenn.-based Arnold Palmer Golf Co.Custom-fitted club maker Zevo entered the market last year and in March established its own retail showroom at its facility in Temecula, Calif., to demonstrate ideal merchandising techniques. LaGrange, Ga.-based Tad Moore Golf launched in October 1996. Dunlop Maxfli Sports Corp., having spent the past 15 years focusing on mass merchants, is now expanding into green grass and specialty shops. The Greenville, S.C.-based company introduced 128 products for 1997."Retailers are becoming more savvy," says Dominic Engels, product manager with Tommy Armour Golf Co., Morton Grove, Ill. More and more, off-course shops are adopting an on-course pro shop atmosphere. "Retailers that may own 13 or 20 stores are starting to standardize their environments," Engels adds.Where shoppers buy has changed, as well. Drivers, irons, woods and putters are becoming the province of the golf specialty stores more so than the pro shops, which are stocking a preponderance of soft goods.Across the board, stores "are getting away from the cheaper looking P-O-P and going more upscale," observes Mizuno's Tyson. "There are fewer ceiling danglers and posters and banners ... it's more of a refined look." It helps that they're all going to wood, she comments further, even if different stores choose a different color of wood. It's just a matter of the manufacturer applying a different stain.New stores are also emerging with a well-developed appreciation for the retail environment. The owners of Wayland Country Club in Massachusetts will soon unveil a golf specialty shop in a Boston mall that will be half golf and tennis and half general sporting goods. "It's an interesting concept," says Ping's Bostwick. The store will feature a large area illustrating the manufacture of clubs, with Ping supplying photos of "heat-treating processes and various stages of casting heads." In addition to Ping's individual area, the brand will be displayed throughout the store in appropriate product sections."One Up Golf in Atlanta is also taking a forward approach to golf merchandising," notes Mizuno's Tyson. "You walk in and it looks like a pro shop on a course. They won't take any displays we have, because it all has to match. That's the direction I see golf shops going."While it's true golf stores do stock bags, balls, apparel and accessories, clubs command the majority of P-O-P that is created. It's hardly surprising, given that the $2.2 billion spent on clubs in 1995 comprised nearly half of all sales in the golf equipment category, according to the National Golf Foundation. At one point in his pro shop career, Tim Corrigan, a PGA professional who is now conducting merchandising seminars for Arnold Palmer Golf Co., recalls, "it got to the point where the best thing we could do was make an aisle out of 16 different manufacturers' racks back to back." And it's not unusual for today's retailer to carry as many as 50 different club makers.Luckily, today's marketers are considering the changing look of shops when designing displays and increasingly providing custom materials. "Displays are fitting into selling environments better," observes Dan Novak, the senior member of Mark Novak & Associates Inc., a P-O-P design house in Park Ridge, Ill.Brand vs. Technology"Golf has become a marketing game," says Mark Novak, founder of Mark Novak & Associates. "The golf industry never used to have brand managers."Where education once was de riguer at the point-of-sale, the trend today veers toward promoting the brand. Information on components and technology takes a back seat increasingly, with manufacturers featuring component and technology messages in print and television advertising instead.Not even small manufacturers feel compelled to sell the game improvement story. Tad Moore Golf hopes to break out of the mold with a caricature of Tad Moore figuring largely on its first club rack. "We're trying not to be too serious," says Doug Woods, the company's vice president of sales and marketing. "The quality of products amongst Taylor Made, Callaway, Cobra and others including Tad Moore are all extremely good; the differences are minimal," asserts Woods. "Certainly technology is important today, but many companies have it. It's not like it's unique anymore."When Andy York joined Nicklaus Golf Equipment Co. in June 1996, he recalls, "no one stood out at retail. There wasn't a lot of differentiation from [golf] manufacturer to manufacturer."Since Mark Novak, then at Chicago Display Co., Melrose Park, Ill., designed the first club rack for Taylor Made in the mid 1980s, a majority of club makers resolutely clung to the form. The simple, yet revolutionary, design has since been refigured, re-colored and copied over and over.That uniformity represents a "competitive opportunity," says York, director of marketing for the West Palm Beach, Fla.-based Nicklaus. "We're trying to raise the bar," he adds.York's first effort was the talk of the industry at January's PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Fla. Not only is the unit interactive, but its footprint consumes a whopping 32 square feet. The $4,000 display houses 72 clubs, two bags, a computer monitor, touchpad and CD ROM.An Interactive FutureJust like consumers and stores, golf P-O-P is becoming more sophisticated and more exciting. Flashy, high-tech, interactive, electronic displays define the next frontier."It's fast becoming the standard. [Even] fringe competitors are getting on board," says Armour Golfs Engels. Electronic displays are "going to shape the future." Part of the reason, he admits, is because "it's a benefit in terms of sales, [but] also because it's a nuclear arms race situation -- everybody's racing to outdo the other guy." In a way, Mark Novak adds, it seems these "huge displays are almost ego trips."Armour Golf, for one, hesitates to cross that new frontier of electronic marketing. "Consumers can spot fluff," says Engels. "You don't want to do something, in terms of touchscreens, where you really don't get that many options, that's not really all that high-tech." Armour Golf prefers to master the technology before trying to incorporate it. "You'll start to see more of that within the next two years," he predicts. Frank Mayer & Associates' Bowers agrees: "The majority of traditional golf manufacturers may not be at this stage yet, but are definitely standing in line to get ready to do that."As befits its position as an industry leader, Callaway Golf is on the forefront of the electronic trend. At this year's PGA show, the company unveiled a unit in development for the past two years. Bruce Parker, president of Callaway Golf Sales Co., Carlsbad, Calif., describes the modular display as "big, but not too imposing." One of the system's four versions features a centrally placed video monitor. "We spent several million dollars to have a very strong presence in the best golf shops in the world," says Parker. The result is a display, primarily a club rack, that can also stock accessories.Newcomer Zevo launched with a computer fitting system for clubs. A tester iron and wood have two magnets attached that communicate with sensors in a mat beneath the test ball. "The system computes the x, y and z axis of the club face at impact . . . and a fitting prescription is faxed or modemed to Zevo," explains Gerald Stefanko, the company's vice president and director of marketing."The days of having a black wire frame with tubing and header are gone," insists Arnold Palmer Golfs Frazier. "There's nothing new [about that look] to entice retailers to put it in the shop."Mark Novak agrees, saying "the goal of many club marketers now is to break the mold and come up with new and different types of displays." Updated versions of the club rack involve more wood, especially blond wood, and brushed metals. Visual elements like giant 3-D club heads are replacing traditional headers."The companies that are on the cutting edge from a technological standpoint with product are also the companies that are taking advantage of merchandising their products in a very visually impactful way," says Carl Mallory, director of trade marketing for Dunlop, a division of Dunlop Maxfli Sports Corp., Greenville, S.C.Still, displays don't have to be elaborate to be effective. "Whether the display is fancy or inexpensive doesn't matter if it does a good job of highlighting the product," says Wilson's Addison. "Retailers don't want junk, but it doesn't have to be expensive as long as it's functional."The range of displays varies wildly in golf. Adjacent to thousand dollar displays, simpler things like Mizuno's holographic countercard or oversized glove still communicate a message. Acrylic sign holders, like those from Armour Golf or Karsten Manufacturing, continue to attract attention and serve a necessary function."We have a nice corrugated ball prepack that cost $2, but is very effective," says Addison. "We also have a combination glove and ball floor display that cost us over $400."Engels says while Armour continues to do a lot of small displays, "we're also doing complete 14-foot walls [where] we'll go out and spec the site and custom build it for that shop." Armour, so far, has spent between $5,000 and $9,000 on each of 20 custom areas, with more in the wings.What a ConceptIn the last year, the store-within-a-store concept shop has really taken root in golf. Arnold Palmer Golf, Karsten, Callaway Golf, Taylor Made, Titleist, Tommy Armour Golf, Nicklaus and others are all pushing the envelope with pre-packaged branded areas.Palmer's shop measures 6 feet wide by 8 feet high by 10 feet long. "It's a 360-degree display unit that has clubs, bags, gloves and balls. It's almost a destination center for golf shops. It enables us to look like a dominant player in the store. We don't have $40 million in advertising to compete with the likes of Callaway and Taylor Made. But we will be the main focus in 270 Nevada Bob stores," says Frazier.Stores often present two opportunities for concept shops to golf equipment makers. A store designer will either ask a manufacturer for suggestions and financial support or allow the brand free rein to outfit an assigned space. And once they're in, displays tend to stay put. "If [a brand] can garner the space, and establish a merchandising tool, that space is theirs," for as many as five years or longer, according to Bowers. Golf displays, especially club displays, have long life spans, typically as long as the life of the product.Short of a full-line concept shop, manufacturers are making larger modular displays -- because retailers don't carry the same SKUs nor do they necessarily carry enough inventory to keep large merchandisers filled. "The worst thing you can do is have more display than product," says Arnold Palmer Golf's Corrigan."We're trying to make modular systems that can work at several different accounts and save us tooling costs," says Mizuno's Tyson. "We've made everything adaptable because in golf, everybody has a different store environment."Location, Location, LocationNational Golf Foundation research shows golfers buy from golf course pro shops, off-course golf discount stores, sporting goods stores, general discount stores and department stores.Yet, most displays tend to be designed for either the spatially challenged facility or the off-course shop. Thus, versatility wins placements, as even within channels, store environments vary. A green grass pro shop, for instance, could be a rough municipal course or a plush resort boutique. "Diversity is probably greater within green grass shops than with off-course stores, which are much more likely to be similar in size and location and stock a wider variety of brands," says Corrigan."You always have to consider the fact that pro shops and specialty shops may only have 3,000 square feet. You have to look at ways to maximize efficiency almost to a point of revenue per square foot," says Dunlop's Mallory. "You don't encounter the same set of problems in the Wal-Marts and Kmarts. With green grass and specialty, you have to look at how high you can go instead of how wide."To be successful, experience says a display has to fit the strategy of the brand, it must be easy to assemble and ship, its footprint must be manageable and it must stock a significant amount of product.While that remains true in many cases, increasingly, the old rules exert less sway. For the biggest players, even footprint and sightlines are growing less restrictive. "Now it's more important to get the message out with some glamour," says Novak.A Good InvestmentMany companies commonly use P-O-P to make up for shortcomings in advertising. "It's difficult to make noise and get brand awareness and communicate your product's features when you're up against Callaway and Cobra and Titleist who are spending $50 million a year in advertising," says Nicklaus' York. Point-of-purchase displays provide a much more efficient return on investment, say marketers.Even at $4,000 [a recent Nicklaus display] or $ 30,000 [a Lynx concept area], merchandising materials are commonly supplied free of charge. Although, Armour's Engels cautions: "When offered something at no charge, [golf retailers] sometimes have a very casual attitude toward it." Hence many companies, including Armour and Nicklaus, first exact a promise from accounts to support and maintain the displays."You can do one of two things: partner with the retailer or pump up national advertising and cut retailers' margins," says York. And with clubs, especially for off-premise retailers, margins are already low enough.

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