The Masters of playing their own game and winning...

The Masters and Augusta National: The importance of exclusivity in branding.

Like every other golf fan on the planet, I was glued to The Master's coverage over the weekend whether it be on TV, on their impressive app or on social media. And I loved absolutely every minute of it on every platform.

This might not be the most unique hook to start to a newsletter, ‘big golf fan loves big golf event’, but think about many events do you engage with where you follow the official brand coverage in this way for 4 to 5 days straight?

I barely take notice of the official accounts for most sports events, even when I'm a huge fan.

With my marketing hat on, I have been trying to understand why this was the case. Why did it feel so different and so fresh? Why did I enjoy every minute of the brand coverage so much in comparison to other events?

And I think it boils down to a very rare thing in sports content marketing these days, exclusivity.

Before I dive into what I mean by exclusivity it's probably worth explaining what I mean by the opposite of exclusivity. Most rights-holders with long-term heritage have instead fallen into the trap of being obsessed with being universal, being all things to all people. The way this usually manifests in most marketing meetings is 'we've been around for a while, we need to broaden our appeal, we need to target Gen Z'. This lazy strategic thinking leads to more events, more content, more often and created for more audiences. We've all seen heritage brands create pointless team names based on alliteration, animals or weather, engagement-bait Twitter polls, some form of 'partnership' with Chunkz, a tick-box CSR campaign, a lo-fi TikTok channel and a 'rebrand' with a minimalist logo and sans serif typeface. We've seen many brands devalue themselves chasing these trends and this supposedly elusive Gen Z audience.

By chasing two hares, Gen Z and 'traditional fans', heritage sports brands end up catching neither. The content they build for Gen Z actually adds no value to Gen Z and doesn't stand up to the quality of younger brands with a more native and authentic brand ID, and it simultaneously alienates traditional fans who have turned up for proper sports insight and yet find IShowSpeed making irritating loud noises on their screen. They fall into the trap of trying to play someone else's game and forget what made them successful in the first place.

I can think of many consultancies, agencies or brand managers who could have destroyed The Masters in service to this prevailing sports marketing obsession where brand positioning goes out of the window in service to Gen Z. It would be very easy to look at The Masters brand from the outside and say ‘Here’s a brand in desperate need of modernisation’. The stuffy rules, the out-of-date serif font, the dull green, those dinosaurs banning mobile phones and why don't they just let DJ Khaled tear up the course because you know that will get Gen Z watching on YouTube?

But The Masters knows what it is, who it is for and crucially who it is not for. This takes us back to exclusivity. It is not for casual low-attention fans who get their sports knowledge and insight via social media soundbites and YouTuber analysis. Crucially, it doesn't care that it's not seen as a cool, young brand and it has no interest in being as such, if The Masters was a person it probably wouldn't spend much time on this platform worrying about being relevant. It’s for the golfing purists, who want to know every detail of every facet of the event.

Because as a brand its secret sauce, that younger competitors in the world of golf and sport simply can't replicate, is its allure. In plain English, it's the mystery and magic surrounding the event.

The foundations for this brand ID lie in the course itself, with absolutely no stone unturned, the course itself is absolutely pristine, a stunning sea of rolling green, pine trees and azaleas. The incredibly exclusive access to the course also keeps the sense of mystery, membership is by invitation only and even ex-Champions struggle to play a round there. This only ramps up the hype for the one time a year when the public can access the course and the best 90 or so pro golfers in the world gather to play. The banning of mobile phones and digital cameras, even for top influencers, also puts the Masters in a unique position where only it can feed the curiosity of global golf fans. Again its exclusive.

This is a timeless and very clear value proposition, they provide a window into the magic of The Masters. Despite being this incredibly traditional brand, they use every modern marketing platform available to deliver against this value proposition but they don't use technology for technology's sake.

The app allows you to track every player, and watch every single shot and even uses AI to provide audio coverage providing extra depth as well as making it more accessible.

The photography, as you expect, is out of this world, forgive the crude description but for the average weekend player who hacks their way around a municipal this is basically golf porn. The Masters even launch a 1-hour YouTube video that is simply epic imagery of the course.

The visual identity is stunning, a unique serif font absolutely taps into the magic and history of the event, and the relentless use of green, from the green jacket itself to green highlights on the scorecard and infographics, it all adds up to a pristine vibe.?

The level of detail is also off the scale, I can think of no other sports brand that could get away with publishing the length of its grass in fractions of an inch and have millions of fans talking about it.?

And you want to know the best part, this relentless focus on detail, ritual and brand consistency rather than trying to be all things to all people? The Masters is still growing, viewing was up 21% YoY.?

The lesson here for other brand managers in the world of sport? Don’t get distracted by trends or the latest marketing dogma, invest time in knowing yourself and what puts you and only you in a unique position to add value to your target audience.

And if you’re a heritage brand, be incredibly protective of your brand, its rituals and traditions, it takes decades to build but days to destroy.