Through a partnership with LIV Golf, Stuburt – a British apparel brand since 1860 – has become the exclusive on-course apparel partner for all three teams (out of 13): Torque GC, Fireballs GC, and Stinger GC.
The partnership has been reached in conjunction with the launch of the revamped 2024 Stuburt golf apparel collection.
The forthcoming multi-year partnership will introduce exclusive golf apparel and accessories bearing custom branding of respective teams.
The products will be available to global golf enthusiasts through online and retail channels in the summer of 2024.
According to Stuburt‘s interpretation, it appears that their forthcoming golf apparel collection for the year 2024 will feature the following items:
- Be more European;
- Modern but minimalist: modern designs that are stylish but not over the top
- Affordable quality;
- Function first: Each piece comes with a unique function set. Stuburt offers the perfect wardrobe for every condition.
- Performance essentials: Our collections offer all kinds of essential pieces for a complete golf wardrobe.
In the year 2023, the Stuburt brand underwent a process of rejuvenation and refinement. This redevelopment initiative aimed to enhance the brand’s appeal and optimize its performance in the market.
To evaluate the success of the revitalization process is still very early.
Team apparel development
The Stuburt design teams worked closely with each team Captain (Sergio Garcia, Joaquin Niemann, Louis Oosthuizen) to produce a complete on-course apparel collection for each of the three LIV Golf teams.
The designs for each team are bespoke and incorporate the team’s DNA, featuring their logos and unique brand accents throughout.
The partnership will produce team-specific men’s polos, pants, travel kit clothing, rain gear, lifestyle apparel, and various accessories.
Torque GC Captain and 2024 Mayakoba and Jeddah Individual Champion Joaquin Niemann says:
“We want our fans to feel closer to us, and this partnership will allow them to do that when we release our on-course kits this summer.”
Each team will have at least 7 different colorway options. The gear will also be worn by player caddies and made available for children.
Items from each of the team’s Stuburt collections will be available to purchase at
- LIV events,
- online from www.stuburt.com, and
- through select global retail partners starting this summer.
Stuburt’s Managing Director, Graeme Stevens says
“Over the last 2 years, we have implemented a growth strategy for the Stuburt brand that has enabled us to reach this point and see our products worn by some of the best players in the world. Their response to the product range has been fantastic and their input has been incredibly valuable.”
Sponsorship challenges: Reach, visibility & other important KPIs
If your sponsorship’s objective is to increase brand awareness, some possible KPIs are the number of impressions, reach, or mentions of your sponsor’s logo or name across different channels.
I collected for you some important KPIs for your next golf sponsorship project/initiative:
- Sponsorship recall – How well can consumers recall your brand, which is related explicitly to the sponsorship exposure?
- Brand sentiment and favorability;
- Net Promoter Score;
- Share of voice vs competitor brands;
- Brand awareness is one thing, but consideration is entirely different. Purchase consideration follows brand awareness.
- Online searches,
- Web traffic, etc.
I mentioned these because the PGA Tour outperformed LIV Golf head-to-head in its first full season on TV. Golf.com found
“In weeks that LIV events on the CW ran up against Tour events on CBS and NBC, the Tour averaged some 1.89 million viewers, roughly nine times the viewership of LIV, which averaged roughly 200,000 viewers — and reportedly dropped in viewership as the season went on. “
This shows how much we have to consider before sponsoring anything. It’s not enough for LIV Golf to look cool; it has to deliver the expected numbers and results.
Within 1-2 years, it will probably be more balanced among the viewership data.