Client: Puma & Inter Sport
Event: Rocket Mortgage Classic 2023
Activation: Area 313 & In the Rough Fan Zones
Location: Detroit Golf Club, Detroit
The Brief:
With Rocket Mortgage as the title sponsor and Puma as a long-standing partner of the tournament, both brands wanted to utilise the event as an opportunity to connect with fans and widen their audience reach. The focus for Puma was to look at how they could create an urban basketball feel within the context of golf. For Rocket Mortgage, they wanted to elevate fans experience of the event through an immersive and engaging fan zone, also promoting the Area 313 Challenge PGA Tour players would be taking on across holes 14, 15 & 16 in aid of the Rocket Giving Fund.
The Process:
It was important to distinguish both Fan Zones through the use of branding, interior fit out and specific activations that represented the brand and key messages. We made sure to include activations that could be enjoyed by fans of all ages, backgrounds and abilities, providing an exciting and exclusive experience at the tournament. Our design & production teams envisioned a new way of how we could produce some elements across both areas that embraced brand assets and appealed to golf fans.
The Result:
Area 313 Fan Challenge: Fans were encouraged to show off their golf skills across three club in hand activations with the chance to win a prize! The activations were all based around holes 14, 15 & 16 to replicate the Area 313 Challenge, to give fans an opportunity to engage in the charity challenge and realise just how tricky it is!
Bunker Challenge: Fans had three attempts to chip the ball out of the greenside bunker to get the ball as close as possible to the pin – a make or break golf shot!
Closest to Pin Golf Simulator: An opportunity for fans to get an insight and experience the golf course at Detroit Golf Club, fans had three attempts to hit the ball as close as possible to the pin on the 15th hole.
Putting Course: Three hole putting course recreating holes 14, 15 & 16 (as part of the 313 Challenge) that tested fans putting skills.
In the Rough Fan Zone: Our design & production teams worked hard to create an eye catching and impressive urban basketball court, achieved using Astro turf, chain link fence enclosing the truss structure and the Puma branding. Fans could get a slow-mo video of their best action shot out on the court, which was emailed to them with the option to share across social media.
For the first time activation played a major role in the fan experience at the tournament, where both Fan Zones were hugely popular with some famous faces trying their hand at the activations on offer – Rickie Fowler, the tournament winner, to name one! Our team had fun getting stuck into this project, as we moved into new design elements and built bespoke activations that embraced both the event and the 313 Challenge. 2023 has seen our presence increase greatly on the PGA Tour, with the demand for activation becoming a necessity for sponsors and brands to get their name out there and most importantly, to give fans a reason for their return to the event next year!
