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Corporate India goes golf crazy to boost business
Monday, 08 September 2003, 19:30 IST
NEW DELHI: Want to maximise on a corporate initiative or looking to close an important business transaction?
The place to be then is the golf course where more and more deals are being swung or sealed over a tee on the green.
"Business golf" is slowly becoming a part of the corporate lexicon in India and a place to be in for corporate honchos and business tycoons.
Golf is happening for corporate India in terms of brand building and sponsorships. Hero Honda Motors, Chivas Regal, Business Today, Tag Heuer, Mercedes Benz all are queuing up to sponsor golf tournaments.
Some brands such as Hero Honda, India's largest motorcycle makers, use the halo of golf for enhancement of their own brand equity and others such as Mercedes Benz lend halo to golf and thus drive its popularity.
"Golf allows for the perfect brand fit of glamour and a high spending audience," says Navroze Dhondy, chief executive officer of Creatigies, a leading sport-marketing firm that specialises in golf tourneys.
"This allows not just a sports sponsorship but a complete product with mileage far beyond what you would have from a one off sponsorship," Dhondy told IANS.
The other more important reason for golf becoming a hit in corporate India is the opportunity it provides for networking.
Says a prominent executive search consultant: "Today if you want to meet the CEO the best bet is not in the boardroom, it's the golf course."
And facts speak for themselves.
Over the last 10 years, the number of golf courses in the country has almost doubled from 85 to 165, including world-class high investment Jack Nicklaus signature courses like the Jaypee Greens on the outskirts of New Delhi.
What's more, from almost next to nothing five years ago, India now has 100 days of pro golf challenger on the calendar.
Says Jamie Stewart, who heads the marketing services for the world's number one Golf Sponsorship firm IMG: "Golf is the perfect medium for classy brands to reach out to a high net worth audience.
"In India, in particular, the game has now reached critical mass and many smart brands are fast realising this."
The prize money in golf now ranges between 
150 million and 200 million. The sponsorship amount is 70 million annually and growing at a brisk 20 percent annually.
"Golf has become in India both a social and a business network option," says Brandon de Souza of Tiger Sports, a leading golf marketing firm.
"With the number of world-class golf courses coming up and with the foreign investment scenario looking up both expats and Indians are gravitating towards golf. This was the pattern in Thailand and this is now happening in India."
Wherever globalisation goes, golf follows. This is true in the case of Mercedes. Their golf tournament allows for building a global brand relationship with their clients.
If you have a Mercedes in your stable you get a call to play in their global golf tournament with other Mercedes owners around the world. Thus the brand is able to communicate through golf a world-class image and a quality recall.
It is not easy for anyone to forget a game played in Scotland or Hawaii as a part of a sponsored trip. The brand advantage is established right away, say analysts.
And it is not just the professionals and brands that are seeing a revival in the game. Amateurs too are joining the rush to tee off.
"Earlier the impression was that this is an old man's game," says Rupinder Anand, a jewellery exporter and member at the Tony Delhi Golf Club.
"Over the last five years I have seen a sea change in youth's attitude to the game; the sheer number of people lining up to check their handicap is heartening."
As for the sponsors, many a liquor firm among them, they feel happy as most golfers after an eighteen hole game head towards the nineteenth hole - which in golfing parlance means a drink at the bar!
Source: IANS
150 million and 200 million. The sponsorship amount is 70 million annually and growing at a brisk 20 percent annually.
"Golf has become in India both a social and a business network option," says Brandon de Souza of Tiger Sports, a leading golf marketing firm.
"With the number of world-class golf courses coming up and with the foreign investment scenario looking up both expats and Indians are gravitating towards golf. This was the pattern in Thailand and this is now happening in India."
Wherever globalisation goes, golf follows. This is true in the case of Mercedes. Their golf tournament allows for building a global brand relationship with their clients.
If you have a Mercedes in your stable you get a call to play in their global golf tournament with other Mercedes owners around the world. Thus the brand is able to communicate through golf a world-class image and a quality recall.
It is not easy for anyone to forget a game played in Scotland or Hawaii as a part of a sponsored trip. The brand advantage is established right away, say analysts.
And it is not just the professionals and brands that are seeing a revival in the game. Amateurs too are joining the rush to tee off.
"Earlier the impression was that this is an old man's game," says Rupinder Anand, a jewellery exporter and member at the Tony Delhi Golf Club.
"Over the last five years I have seen a sea change in youth's attitude to the game; the sheer number of people lining up to check their handicap is heartening."
As for the sponsors, many a liquor firm among them, they feel happy as most golfers after an eighteen hole game head towards the nineteenth hole - which in golfing parlance means a drink at the bar!
Source: IANS