Is It Just A Jolly Up?

In 2023 Manors Golf Apparel collaborated with a major hotel group called Marine & Lawn Hotels & Resorts to host the launch of our 2023 Spring Summer collection in St Andrews, Scotland. We had an inkling that throwing an awesome party at an aspirational location would be a great way to reach people with our brand - now we know it is.

24 influencers arrived in St Andrews to enjoy the best golf party you could possibly imagine. Our hosts, the five star Rusacks Hotel served the guests Old Tom Morris cocktails whilst his portrait peered down from the lobby wall.?

Upon entering their rooms attendees were met by a world class gifting experience. Locally made Highland candles scented with gorse and bluebells, hand crafted ash alignment sticks embroidered with The MANORS logo and date, a brand new pair of G Fore brogues, a Marine and Lawn hamper complete with Scottish tablet and chocolate golf balls, and of course the entirety of the new MANORS collection. A branded waxed sealed letter hinted at the adventure that lay before them…

The famous Dunvegan pub bedded us in so by the time we played Crail Golfing Society golf course the next day the team was well acquainted. The South Koreans and Americans had never laid eyes on links golf before and were blown away by the charm and humility at the 7th oldest course in the world.?

That evening's cocktail reception in the aptly named 18 Restaurant was alive with stories of best shots and worst score cards as we watched the last golfers come down the 18th of The Old Course. For dinner we chose our fare from a MANORS branded menu inspired by previous Masters winners - just one of a selection of branded moments that elevated every tiny detail.

Soon after it was down to The One Under Bar where an award winning Traditional Scottish band picked up the evening tempo. 24 Guinness were lined up for a seamless transition.

Breakfast overlooking the Old Course prepared us for the glamour and glitz of Kingsbarns the next morning. A new course compared to its ancient neighbours but one that quickly landed a reputation amongst the world’s best. ￡350 for a green fee - free for our guests.

That week we’d like to assume our new friends left with MANORS in their hearts and an experience they’d never forget. The launch of our collection went off with a resounding success. Sales rolled in. Life was good.

And yet… by June monthly revenue was steadily declining.

What was going wrong? Why couldn’t we keep pace with launch? What would we do to improve our figures? The team gathered for breakdown talks and decided to risk another large investment doing what we knew how to do well - an event.?

This time we hosted on home turf leveraging our network in London to come up trumps on the guest list. England cricketers and Lionesses, award winning musicians and actors - the great and good of London - came out to enjoy the MANORS Summer Invitational at The Grove .

Under guidance from Creative Director Luke Davies we filmed everything and provided a steady stream of content for our guests and their digital audiences. Sales spiked again and MANORS doubled down on events, scrambling at breakneck speed to launch the Ryder Cup Invitational at Pyrford Lakes just 5 weeks later.

Swallowing the cost of hiring a golf course was not an option again so we sold tickets for the first time ever. We expected influencer turnout to plummet when we introduced a ￡100 green fee but to our delight, they came in force. Side by side with MANORS newsletter subscribers were national celebs and no one batted an eyelid.

The Ryder Cup Invitational marked the end of the golf season so afterwards we sat down as a team to review the sales data. Without fail our best months were those during and following major event activations. Each one, bigger than the last and the longer the gap between them the more sales lagged.

MANORS took a huge risk investing what little money we had to throw our first "jolly up" (We referred to it as that during less confident moments). But without that risk we never would have met the people we’ve met or positioned the brand in the way we have. Only by focussing narrowly, on 24 people to be exact, were we able to build out our events and attract the people who make the brand what it is today.

In March 2024 MANORS will host 32 people at Royal Dornoch and invest with confidence in a world class experience for an influencer guest list. We know the event will go far beyond those 32 people to position MANORS and our partners Marine & Lawn as two of the most aspirational golf brands in the UK. Brand awareness and authority will go up - sales too.

If you are interested in reaching a premium U40 audience and you’d like to collaborate on an event with MANORS - we’d love to talk.