The Pellucid Perspective - October 2010 - (Page 3)

AMERICAN GOLF CENSUS What’s in a name … and an email address? Making sense of — and cents off — the American Golf Census By Jim Dunlap to the Census on their web site or encouraging their members to fill out the Census. Not everyone is on board W hen the National Golf Foundation launched the American Golf Census initiative earlier this summer, the program was touted to offer something for everyone. The golf industry would get demographic data to support lobbying efforts, golf courses and consumer-focused industry businesses would add golfer names to their marketing databases, and golfers themselves would get a chance to win sweepstake prizes for answering a brief census questionnaire. At first glance, the Census appears to be just as advertised — an innovative and admirable step toward providing the golf industry and its stakeholders with a tool to market their product more effectively, and a chance, albeit slim, for golfers to win valuable prizes. The sin, if there is one, is one of omission in the NGF’s promotional efforts on behalf of the Census. The likelihood is that the most obvious benefactor from the Census will be the NGF itself, which will be the aggregator of all the golfer names and information from the Census, and will then offer those very golfer profiles up to virtually any entity willing to pay the list rental fee and agree to the NGF’s opt-in policy for golfer solicitation. It is a service the NGF has offered to industry customers for years, although not everyone in the industry, and very few golfer customers, are aware of it. The Census will merely add numbers — and cost — to those lists. “You’re darn right we’ll use [the Census names] for that,” said NGF CEO Joe Beditz when asked about the organization’s motivation for creating the Census. “We have hundreds of customers like golf schools, resorts, travel agencies, all kinds of businesses who want to reach golfers. We service that business now with our own lists and with those that we rent.” While Beditz admitted that the NGF would benefit from the Census results, he pointed out that the Census offers facilities a painless and inexpensive way to dramatically increase their own golfer databases. For every golfer who registers for the Census through a golf facility’s website, the NGF promises to provide that golfer’s information to the course, and to match each name gathered through the course site with a new name for the course’s database. And Beditz said the Census information would be available for use in industry promotional campaigns at either the state or national level, although access to the information would go first to those organizations either offering a link As with any such initiative, including the U.S. Census, some reluctance has surfaced in regard to providing personal information, no matter how seemingly innocuous. One major management company marketing executive said his company had not yet decided what position they would take on the Census at their various properties. “It might make sense for a property with a relatively small existing database, but some of our properties have pretty substantial databases,” he said. “I’m not sure how much the Census would benefit us there, and whether it would be worth encouraging our existing customers to throw their names into the Census.” Beditz said it is impossible to say at this point how many new names the Census will eventually yield. He said that NGF had been hoping to garner between 300,000 and 500,000 names in the first phase of the Census effort, which began in July and ends on November 2. That seems unlikely, given that the total on the Census web site on Sept. 30 was just over 140,000. All in all, while the benefits to the facility and to the consumer are probably overstated, the benefit to the industry at large is yet to be determined, and the benefit to the NGF is definitely understated, the American Golf Census is probably harmless enough, if not the answer to the industry’s prayers. n Jim Koppenhaver Jim Dunlap Richard Steadham Published by Pellucid Corp. 680 Mayfair Lane Buffalo Grove, IL 60089 For subscription information, contact Jim Koppenhaver at (847) 808-7651, jimk@pellucidcorp.com For editorial or sponsorship information, contact Jim Dunlap at (760) 212-3714, jdgolfer@cox.net Copyright © 2010 The Pellucid Perspective. Published electronically, 12 times a year. A RT D I R E C TO R E D I TO R PUBLISHER www.PellucidcorP.com The Pellucid PersPecTive 3 http://WWW.PELLUCIDCORP.COM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Pellucid Perspective - October 2010

The Pellucid Perspective - October 2010
Contents
Bringing a Pellucid Perspective to Golf Industry Information
What's In a Name.... and an Email Address?
September Weather Impact, August YtD Utilization
Will the PGA TOUR be Subject to Repricing?
Alternative Uses for your Golf Course 'Factory'
Los Angeles Market Profile
Survey Says... You're Still Employed
SCGA-PLGA Merger: Sign of the Times?
Sunshine Laws and Midnight Marketing

The Pellucid Perspective - October 2010