Disc Golf Commercial

[jjtwinnova]

How much would it take to get a disc golf commercial on ESPN?

Commercials are meant to draw people on to a product or service. A commercial for the PDGA on ESPN would possibly draw in many players. My guess is that a commercial on ESPN would cost about 30,000 dollars. This would be for a thirty seconds spot.

If you have watched Smashboxx then you will realize that PDGA has a commercial, as well as other disc brands and stores. The PDGA commercial is great, but who does it appeal to? I already play disc golf and have a PDGA Membership, so what would it do for me.

If this commercial were shown on National Television, or even local cable networks, it could grow the sport. Why hasn't anybody reached out to get a commercial on TV? Sure, watching live Disc golf on ESPN would be great, but starting with a 30 second commercial could do so much.

A commercial explaining what the sport is about and even showing tournament coverage etc. Would help.

Does anybody agree or am I being unreasonable...

 

[araytx]

How much would it take to get a disc golf commercial on ESPN?

Commercials are meant to draw people on to a product or service. A commercial for the PDGA on ESPN would possibly draw in many players. My guess is that a commercial on ESPN would cost about 30,000 dollars. This would be for a thirty seconds spot.

If you have watched Smashboxx then you will realize that PDGA has a commercial, as well as other disc brands and stores. The PDGA commercial is great, but who does it appeal to? I already play disc golf and have a PDGA Membership, so what would it do for me.

If this commercial were shown on National Television, or even local cable networks, it could grow the sport. Why hasn't anybody reached out to get a commercial on TV? Sure, watching live Disc golf on ESPN would be great, but starting with a 30 second commercial could do so much.

A commercial explaining what the sport is about and even showing tournament coverage etc. Would help.

Does anybody agree or am I being unreasonable...

It was done a couple years ago ... one of the standard commercials made it to ESPN and there were complaints from disc golfers -- not very nice complaints, I might add, about how a World Champ looked in her outfit.

 

[jjtwinnova]

It was done a couple years ago ... one of the standard commercials made it to ESPN and there were complaints from disc golfers -- not very nice complaints, I might add, about how a World Champ looked in her outfit.

Huh. I missed that. Is there any video of the commercial out there?

 

[araytx]

Someone will find it ... It was a PDGA commercial that you've probably seen before. If I recall correctly it was right when Rebecca Duffy first became president, and they had a last-minute, "had to get ESPN something that was already ready to go."

Personally, I think we're beyond that point. THe future of television(?) market is in streaming services, so the right way is to find where sports will be done. It's ironic that I'm old enought ot remember ESPN from it's inception (I was in college), and during the first few years of the "Entertainment and Sports Programming Network" they would have killed to have had access to the disc golf that we put on YouTube today...

 

[lyleoross]

It was done a couple years ago ... one of the standard commercials made it to ESPN and there were complaints from disc golfers -- not very nice complaints, I might add, about how a World Champ looked in her outfit.

Not sure about this, but the current version, with some work, could be quite good. It's the one where people talk about why they play disc golf. Look through any of the walk through vids, it might even have been in the shorts from the DGWT last weekend. For sure they showed it in La Mir, and at the GBO.


The acting is a little spotty at times, but not too bad, and the give away discs the guys who say they play "because it's inexpensive" aren't representative, the director was saying, "look, cheap discs," but our discs are cheap enough anyway. The sections with Paul are very good! Especially the fade shot at the end with him driving on a hole in Pennsylvania.

 

[Craig639]

How much would it take to get a disc golf commercial on ESPN?

Commercials are meant to draw people on to a product or service. A commercial for the PDGA on ESPN would possibly draw in many players.

Why is there a push to get more people disc golfing??? Our courses are already packed enough! Keep DG obscure!

 

[jjtwinnova]

Especially the fade shot at the end with him driving on a hole in Pennsylvania.

Moraine State Park Hole 15. My favorite hole at one of my local courses


I agree with the fact that the commercial is very good. I would love to see it on my TV

 

[grodney]

How much would it take to get a disc golf commercial on ESPN?

Commercials are meant to draw people on to a product or service. A commercial for the PDGA on ESPN would possibly draw in many players. My guess is that a commercial on ESPN would cost about 30,000 dollars.

There's local spots and national spots. Local spots are cheap. Back in the day, you could call your local cable company to ask about rates for various channels at various times of the day. I don't know if that's still true.

My suggestion 15-20 years ago was to produce a slick 25ish-second spot for disc golf, then let local clubs use it for free, and pay for local spots in their own markets. The 5ish seconds at the end are reserved for a custom local tag such as "FOR INFO IN THE AUSTIN AREA --- CALL 714-366-DISC".

I worked for a national pharmacy chain, and that's exactly how they did it. A slick non-area-specific commercial, with a custom tag on the end. Each store bought their own time in their own markets.

Of course you could have a national body (such as the PDGA) help supplement the cost for any local markets, if you want to go that way.

 

[grodney]

p.s. I found my post from Feb 1998 -- Quote: "Ad rates for some channels are alarmingly low. In Des Moines, 30
seconds on The Weather Channel, MTV, Cartoon, or Headline News is $10. I think Conan O'Brian goes for $5 per 30 seconds."

Yes, I had called the cable company and they faxed me the rates. Fax was a thing in 1998.

Original thread is here is you want to read it....it's almost embarrassing how exactly the same my post was then to my post above: https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rec.sport.disc/z-O0xi4a9WM/iht1ygHoy7AJ

 

[jjtwinnova]

There's local spots and national spots. Local spots are cheap. Back in the day, you could call your local cable company to ask about rates for various channels at various times of the day. I don't know if that's still true.

My suggestion 15-20 years ago was to produce a slick 25ish-second spot for disc golf, then let local clubs use it for free, and pay for local spots in their own markets. The 5ish seconds at the end are reserved for a custom local tag such as "FOR INFO IN THE AUSTIN AREA --- CALL 714-366-DISC".

I worked for a national pharmacy chain, and that's exactly how they did it. A slick non-area-specific commercial, with a custom tag on the end. Each store bought their own time in their own markets.

Of course you could have a national body (such as the PDGA) help supplement the cost for any local markets, if you want to go that way.

Sounds interesting. I live near Pittsburgh, so they have a large sports following thus a local sports channel. The local club could most likely get a commercial on the channel with proper funding.

 

[grodney]

Sounds interesting. I live near Pittsburgh, so they have a large sports following thus a local sports channel. The local club could most likely get a commercial on the channel with proper funding.

To be clear, it doesn't have to be a local channel. National channels have local spots for sale. Like when you're watching an NFL Monday Night game and all-of-the-sudden you get an ad for Local Larry Used Car Sales!!!!!

 

[jjtwinnova]

To be clear, it doesn't have to be a local channel. National channels have local spots for sale. Like when you're watching an NFL Monday Night game and all-of-the-sudden you get an ad for Local Larry Used Car Sales!!!!!

Thats true as well.

I hate Local Larry, he's a rip off. I used Nearby Ned's Used Cars and I couldn't be happier

 

[Cgkdisc]

From a business standpoint, it makes more sense for manufacturers to increase the overall number of disc golfers via advertising. If they thought it was cost effective, you would see DG ads on cable channels. Since we don't see them, my thought would be they either are not seen as cost effective or perhaps more likely, they are having a hard time keeping up with the rate of growth as it is without needing a boost.

The general public is not really the PDGA's market. It's current disc golfers who are not yet members, especially those competing in non-sanctioned events or leagues. Note it's estimated that only 1 in 50 to 100 active players ever becomes a PDGA member. So there's a large potential market for PDGA growth without needing to spend much money on general growth of disc golf. It's happening fast enough on its own. If anything, efforts to get more courses in the ground are more important these days for both manufacturers and PDGA.

 

[lyleoross]

Moraine State Park Hole 15. My favorite hole at one of my local courses


I agree with the fact that the commercial is very good. I would love to see it on my TV

You are so damn lucky, that is an awesome course and hole, and that four seconds of video is inspiring!

 

[lyleoross]

From a business standpoint, it makes more sense for manufacturers to increase the overall number of disc golfers via advertising. If they thought it was cost effective, you would see DG ads on cable channels. Since we don't see them, my thought would be they either are not seen as cost effective or perhaps more likely, they are having a hard time keeping up with the rate of growth as it is without needing a boost.

The general public is not really the PDGA's market. It's current disc golfers who are not yet members, especially those competing in non-sanctioned events or leagues. Note it's estimated that only 1 in 50 to 100 active players ever becomes a PDGA member. So there's a large potential market for PDGA growth without needing to spend much money on general growth of disc golf. It's happening fast enough on its own. If anything, efforts to get more courses in the ground are more important these days for both manufacturers and PDGA.

I suspect, without having a clue, that it is they have all they can handle now. I'm amazed at the growth. Five years ago, I did some research on growth rates of what I will call the lesser sports, and even then, disc golf was killing it. They are growing way faster today. It's often over looked how much Brian H. did for the PDGA, and the choice of Brian G. as his replacement was a great one. Kudos!

 

[grodney]

From a business standpoint, it makes more sense for manufacturers to increase the overall number of disc golfers via advertising.... perhaps more likely, they are having a hard time keeping up with the rate of growth as it is without needing a boost. .... If anything, efforts to get more courses in the ground are more important these days for both manufacturers and PDGA.

Which brings me to my other half-baked and not-well-accepted thought from 10-15 years ago. Namely, manufacturers should employ sales people that spend 100% of their time on the road doing 2 things: 1) Helping entities (city/state/fed) get courses installed, and 2) Getting discs in stores in those markets.

Seems like on #1 you could give away the baskets for free....the real money is in discs.

This was roundly booed by the internets at the time. Also, I don't *know* that manufacturers aren't already doing this. But if they aren't, either a) They haven't thought of it, b) It wouldn't work, or c) They don't want that growth.

Option (c) sounds most likely.

Of course back then we were talking about only 2 and a half different manufacturers. It was also true that "discs in stores" was important because online sales essentially didn't exist.

Ah the good ol' days.

 

[lyleoross]

Which brings me to my other half-baked and not-well-accepted thought from 10-15 years ago. Namely, manufacturers should employ sales people that spend 100% of their time on the road doing 2 things: 1) Helping entities (city/state/fed) get courses installed, and 2) Getting discs in stores in those markets.

Seems like on #1 you could give away the baskets for free....the real money is in discs.

This was roundly booed by the internets at the time. Also, I don't *know* that manufacturers aren't already doing this. But if they aren't, either a) They haven't thought of it, b) It wouldn't work, or c) They don't want that growth.

Option (c) sounds most likely.

Of course back then we were talking about only 2 and a half different manufacturers. It was also true that "discs in stores" was important because online sales essentially didn't exist.

Ah the good ol' days.

It would be great to know all the numbers across the board, but that ain't going to happen any time soon.

The selection of discs in stores has grown significantly in the past couple of years. Try this on, Academy has been hawking Innova and Millennium for years. I suspect it was a deal done by Houck some years ago, but I don't really know. At some point, Discraft got into the stores, in a less significant way. A month ago, Dynamic Discs showed up, in a big way. I suspect, and I admit I don't know, it's about having a forward looking aggressive CEO. The guy at DD has an MBA and he's done a number of things that no one ever looked at before. Starting with his relationship with Latitude, and followed by the OGIO deal and now this, he is knocking the ball out of the park. Wish I could invest in the project.

 

[jjtwinnova]

You are so damn lucky, that is an awesome course and hole, and that four seconds of video is inspiring!

If people saw that clip in my town, they would be like "heu, that's only 20 minutes from here!" They try it once, and like all of us, they'd be hooked!

If each club made a video specific to the area that would work great too

 

[araytx]

Someone will find it ... It was a PDGA commercial that you've probably seen before. If I recall correctly it was right when Rebecca Duffy first became president, and they had a last-minute, "had to get ESPN something that was already ready to go."

Took a while to find it ... I couldn't get to it on YouTube or Vimeo

https://www.facebook.com/glen.baldwin.35/videos/891845607498595/

 

[corin_brown]

I think dg growth is right where it should be. It is a healthy niche sport that is supported and guided by an intense but minuscule group of people. Unless, for some reason, disc golf becomes widely popular to the general public, things will progress as they have been for the immediate future.

A good indicator that things will really be about to pop for disc golf is if/when a venture capital firm or private equity company or some sporting good giant starts seriously investing in the game and starts buying disc golf related businesses, like Innova, for instance. There are plenty of smart people around the world whose job is to study tiny businesses like disc golf for potential growth. Those people know the relevant numbers for disc golf. I wouldn't be surprised if one of these firms doesn't already own a little bit of Innova, for instance. But until someone buys Innova, hook, line and sinker, I think things will continue to move steadily, in the same way they have been.