Zach Johnson’s history-making comeback at St. Andrews was a thing of golf beauty. To hear him thank the Lord for blessing him with the win was even sweeter. Way to go Zach! (Here’s to your SeeMore putter!) Watching 21-year-old Jason Spieth struggle through the back 9 desperately trying to be the first golfer ever to win the third leg of a Grand Slam reminded me, though, of the struggle that the PGA is experiencing trying to get the next generation of golfers to become fans. Last year, the PGA was forced to confront the fact that they had lost 400,000 fans in 2013. As they dug into the figures, they realized that their loyal mainstay of the last few decades (the Boomers) were greying out and dying off in increasing numbers. But worse than that, the numbers showed that 200,000 of those they lost were Millennials who now made up 25% of the population passing the Boomers as the largest generation. What to do? Sound familiar? Over the last 10 years that we having helping brands and causes reach the college and Millennial demo, we have seen a major reversal of interest in brands and non-profits who have gone from “I don’t need no Millennials” to “Help! I need new donors or customers!” Matt Powell, in his Forbes article “Sneakernomics: How Golf Lost the Millennials,” paints a compelling portrait of why he believes the PGA has lost the battle with attracting the Millennials in spite of pouring millions of dollars into new programs. He shows how the values of golf do not line up with the values of Millennials. And he believes that no amount of rule changes or dressing up the game will help. Powell finishes with the scathing conclusion that “golf has lost the Millennials.” In spite of that, we’re putting a strategy together in an effort to help the PGA line up its values with the Millennials. Don’t know if they’ll hire us, but we’re going to pitch it. And we can do the same with your brand or non-profit. Leave me a comment if you’d like more info.
