Ad Man Goes For The Green Agency Selling Space At Bottom Of Golf Holes
Just when you thought those creative types in advertising might have finally run out of new spots on which to stick ads …
Golfers may soon want to look more closely into the cup when they putt.
Greg Duval of the Dallas suburb of Garland has begun to sell advertising for - you guessed it - the bottom of the golf holes.
Duval recently opened It’s In The Hole Advertising, the North Texas franchise of Ad-In-The-Hole, a St. Louis company founded in 1988.
“It’s better than looking at dirt,” golfer Steve Perez of Arlington, Texas, said this week when shown a sample of the product.
Duval says that everyone looks into a hole before sticking their hand in, and he boasts that he has no competition for the new ad venue.
“It’s like being the only radio station in town,” he said.
Duval, who spent about 18 months developing the business, has not yet signed up any advertisers but says he has had a lot of interest expressed.
He does have agreements with the city of Fort Worth to place ads in 90 holes and 45 putting green holes on seven municipal courses. He also has a deal to put ads in holes at Willow Springs in tiny Haslet, north of Fort Worth, an 18-hole course with nine putting green holes.
In Dallas County, Duval has agreements with 11 golf courses, covering 208 holes, and he’s working to gather more courses.
Under the agreements, Duval turns over a percentage of the ad revenue to the course.
Advertisers pay to place their ads for one year. The more greens you buy, the better the plan. For example, one green can run about $750, but if you buy nine or more greens, the cost drops to $550 each.
Duval said the medium should appeal to any size advertiser, from a business near the golf course to major retailers.
The ads are printed on discs that are sealed into a clear plastic device that snaps into the bottom of the hole.
The ad becomes visible five feet from the hole for a 6-foot-tall player, the company says.
“We guarantee, without equivocation, that the ad will be seen by the intended target,” said Duval, a former marketing director for the Fort Worth Transportation Authority. “The ads are sitting in the very location that golfers are trying to get.”
Ad-In-The-Hole said that more than 75 national advertisers and 400 golf courses were part of the initial roll-out of the product after the company was founded seven years ago.
Now, about 2,500 courses participate nationally, Duval said, with 70 licensees who have bought rights to market the product. It is also licensed in Canada, Australia, Denmark, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia.
Company research suggests that golfers are able to recall ads.
In an informal sampling at Meadowbrook Golf Course in Fort Worth this week, golfers who saw the product said they were impressed and probably would remember the advertiser.
“If I saw a food ad, it would probably make me hungry,” said Tom Bargas, a Fort Worth retiree.
xxxx Target audience Nationally, there are about 24.6 million golfers, with an average household income of about $53,000. They play an average of nearly 21 rounds a year.