Marketing in The News

 When thinking about research ideas for this blog post I was thinking about things that I was interested in not what I think my peers want to hear. So, I decided on Malbon Golf. The relatively small company compared to the big dogs of the market like Nike, FootJoy, Titleist, and so on started only back in 2017 with a couple out of Los Angeles named Stephen and Erica Malbon. They very quickly started gaining interest among the younger group of golfers who were more geared toward fashion rather than golf. Quite an interesting take when you think about the game of golf, it had never been about the looks of the players, the main demographic of golfers five to ten years ago were old retired folks who ran their local country club. Over the course of the article, the author does a great job explaining their takeover in the golf industry, starting with the recent signing of three huge PGA and LPGA players Jason Day, and Charley Hull, who both left from Nike, as well as adding the addition of Swedish star Jesper Parnevik. Signing these stars made quite the noise with the combining of stealing Nikes Talent in the very limited space they have left in the game to the chatter it made online when Jason Day had his PGA season debt in Hawaii, showing off a new style of clothing on the PGA tour. 

Yet this wasn't going to be the last time Malbon broke headlines, just today the 22nd of January the brand is announcing a partnership with Adidas, which could mean we are in for more future product lines from these two great companies. When really thinking and considering their marketing approach I think it's incredibly unique but very successful. The way they are able to get creators and people of influence of a younger generation involved with their brand. Not just people within the sport. They have managed to get music artists, basketball stars like J.R Smith, and other people of influence involved with a game that has been made out to be for rich old men. If I was founder Stephen Malbon I wouldn't have attacked a marketing campaign any other way. One challenge I can for see him facing is backlash and very serious hate towards what he's doing from the older generation of golfers, especially professionally who have a chance of tearing him down.  

While looking through the website I found the value proposition to be very straightforward. "The brand is fueled by meticulous and tasteful customers who have a passion for golf as well as expressing themselves through what they wear. " as described by their website and I believe this to be completely true. They have been able through their clothing to get a whole new demographic of people involved in a game that was dying out not that long ago. Pretty cool stuff to see from the Malbon team. All in all, don't be surprised when you see Malbon becoming a headlining sponsor of PGA events going into the future.