This could be another post about the latest innovation or offer of PING. However, the new partnership between PING and Arccos Golf shows something more.
Similar to Cobra Puma Golf, PING will offer from now on Smart Grip and Smart Sensor technology on all PING golf clubs through the company’s custom-order process.
Golf Pride will be PING’s exclusive supplier of the Arccos Smart Grip, which is engineered with an embedded sensor to automatically record and analyze every shot taken during a round of golf when paired with the Arccos Caddie app.
The agreement includes a 90-day free trial of the Arccos Caddie app. After the free trial period, golfers can purchase a 1-year subscription for $99.99 through Arccos.
PING: the shift from products to experiences
PING President John K. Solheim is talking about
The app collects true distances from actual shots hit on the course, tracking your best and average shots while being smart enough to ignore your extreme misses. This ‘intelligence’ leads to club recommendations that give you the best opportunity to play your best.
This tells me that PING, just like Cobra Puma Golf understood the change in consumer behavior. More and more companies understand the shift from products to experience ecosystems.
By creating a differentiated experience, we will be able to achieve a much bigger impact on consumer behavior (e.g. loyalty, repeat purchasing, and so on).
I assume both companies (PING, Cobra Puma Golf) are thinking about how to help their customers in self-improvement to enhance their experiences with their golf clubs.
Launching a network of performance center would be very pricey. We golfers want to understand our game and performance in real situations and not in an artificial environment like a performance center.
Let me give you some examples from other industries:
- Nike – They provide value to consumers through Nike+ Running App, Nike+ Training Club, and the many running and training events they run globally.
- Lucozade – Their ‘Yes’ campaign has spanned from an experiential activity at festivals (digital access, sampling, and competitions) to sponsorship.
- Callaway Golf: The Links at Petco Park. Golfers had the opportunity to take shots onto the playing field from various tees along a course designed within the ballpark.
- Another Callaway Golf example is the Callaway Community (75 082 registered members right now). They are using the Lithium customer engagement platform to build a community around the brand and its products.
- Under Armour acquired in 2015 Endomondo (for $85 million) and MyFitnessPal (for $475 million) to Establish the World’s Largest Digital Health and Fitness Community.
- Red Bull – ‘Stratos jump’ (128,000 feet, about 24 miles above Earth’s surface) – Red Bull’s superterrestrial marketing campaign featured Felix Baumgartner, a skydiver from Austria who partnered with Red Bull to set the world record for highest skydive.
What I like in Arccos Golf’s solution is that it can help its partners create more engaged, more connected and more empowered consumers by taking advantage of mobile technology.
By the way, the original concept of Arccos Golf came from Callaway Golf.