I know for some of you this is not totally new that TaylorMade allowed Jason Day to sign a contract with Nike Golf. However, it is interesting to see, how Adidas is becoming more permissive and flexible even with World No. 1 Jason Day and No. 2 Dustin Johnson.
Jason Day‘s agreement with Nike covers footwear, apparel, headwear, and gloves. The value of the contract is $10 million per year, according to my sources. In 2016, Day was the world’s 69th highest paid athlete. His earning was $23.6 million ($8.5 million from endorsements (e.g. Lexus, Rolex, NetJets, TaylorMade, Zurich etc.).
Since turning pro in 2006, Day has secured ten PGA Tour titles and 57 top-ten finishes. Jason Day will first wear Nike this week at the Tournament of Champions in Kapalua, Hawaii.
What are the sponsorship trends in 2017?
In 2017, live experiences and social engagements will have great importance in sponsorships. This means that it will not be enough to appear in the media with the branded apparel and golf equipment, but also to provide real-time experiences for fans via channels like Periscope, WhatsApp, SnapChat and chat bots.
Actually, the previously mentioned communication channels can be interesting sponsorship venues at the same time. Well, they are much more interesting and engaging then forum sponsorships used to be in the past.
Another major trend is the use of virtual reality. Last year, the PGA worked with a HoloLens developer in the U.S. on a concept that would help to analyze player performance data in a new way. So, let’s find solutions for fans to enable them to feel like they are Jason Day during the tournaments and after the events (or other PGA Tour professional).
As sponsorship is becoming more-and-more data driven, it will be important for marketers like Nike Golf to know if their partners (e.g. Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods, Jason Day etc.) understand their audiences. Namely, who are their fans and what are their expectations and needs.
This means that the future professional golfers will have to have such merits and skills like Arnold Palmer who was very close to his fans (aka Arnie’s Army).
The bottom line is that sponsorship will be more technology and data driven from now on…