Lexus – The Open Championship Sponsorship

Objectives:

To broaden Lexus’ association with The Open Golf Championship message to a wider audience and provide value added content to the golfing community. To create a response mechanism and underpin the core activity with a “Pursuit of Perfection” theme.


Solution:

The Times utilized both its in-paper platform as well as Times Online. A 16 pp Preview Supplement which was seen as the most effective way of broadening the message to a mass market audience. This stand-alone pullout was promoted across The Times in the lead up to the tournament.

 

“Perfect Play of the Day” graphic: For each day of the tournament, we produced a graphic with Lexus and The Times bringing you the day’s perfect shot.

 

Targeted Ads: in the days leading up to the Open and to congratulate the champion, we guaranteed placements alongside golf editorial. A series of co-branded ads promoted the “In Pursuit of the Perfect Round” promotion.

 

Also online, a three-week sponsorship of the golf section to get people involved with the “In Pursuit of the Perfect Round” promotion and further reinforced the sponsorship to the core golf audience.

 

 

Results:

  • The Times and Times Online successfully provided Lexus with a high-quality platform to communicate The Open Championship message and engage with the appropriate target audience.
  • The campaign achieved high recall levels particularly for The Open Preview Supplement (45%), the co-brands (27%) and branded ads (25%).
  • 1 in 4 read every page of the supplement and readers found it insightful, enjoyable and interesting.