TOPGOLF IN COLLEGE STATION! By: Clayton Chapin Brainstorming Partner: Lexi Gericke (Teaching Assistant)
POTENTIAL TARGET MARKETS College Students Alumni Business offices (for events) Parents Golfers Couples While TopGolf is readily available for alumni, parents, and couples, our primary audience is college students and alumni. Being in a growing college town, a majority of our customers will be Texas A&M students. Due to Aggie Alumni always coming back to College Station to visit, we hope that they will want to come swing the sticks while reminiscing on their glorious days of being Texas A&M students. TopGolf also hopes on being the venue for office functions such as parties, reward ceremonies, etc.
CAMPAIGN OBJECTIVES Sell the TopGolf brand Increase profitability Build a strong relationship with Texas A&M University TopGolf would connect with the university by taking advantage of the opportunities that come with the Aggie tradition such as using Yell Leaders to be the face of TopGolf on campus. Make contact with our target audience with our marketing strategies Explain how TopGolf makes golf fun for everyone! Establish a solid following on social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc.) TopGolf believes that selling our brand is the key to opening doors around College Station. By selling our brand we can truly identify all the great things TopGolf has to offer. While selling our brand is important, our relationship with Texas A&M is crucial to our success in College Station.
ANALYZE THE SITUATION TopGolf is the number one venue for family entertainment around the world, thriving in various cities around Texas such as San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas. While TopGolf is a family hot spot, we believe that establishing ourselves in a college setting would open up numerous opportunities that we do not have at other locations. The best way to establish TopGolf in College Station is through a strong relationship with Texas A&M University. The town of College Station is built around the university. By developing a strong relationship with Texas A&M, we will be able to brand ourselves as the Official entertainment venue of Texas A&M University. TopGolf needs this campaign to identify those opportunities. TopGolf plans on being the premier entertainment venue of College Station.
SWOT ANALYSIS Strengths: u Change of pace (different) u Some find it more entertaining than golf u Best bang for your buck around College Station u Offers more than just golf u Used as practice for real golf Opportunities: u College Station is growing u Northgate marketing u Tailgate marketing u On-campus marketing u Social Media (Twitter, Instagram, etc.) u Demand in jobs for college students Weaknesses: u Not real golf u Considered expensive to some college students u Seasonal u Not everyone likes golf Threats: u Golf Courses u City ordinances u Competition with other employers (labor costs, benefits, etc.) u College student budget
CAMPAIGN STRATEGY First, meet with Texas A&M University to inform them on new business and to hopefully be an option for a venue for University functions. Explain how family oriented TopGolf is and elaborate on how Texas A&M and TopGolf share some of the same values. Excellence, Integrity, Leadership, Loyalty, Respect Explain how TopGolf provides a safe environment for college students by having security guards and police at hand, having a connection with Uber, etc.
TACTICS Utilize Northgate. Set up a digital driving range on Northgate and hand out free TopGolf beer koozies, TopGolf tees, etc. We want to communicate to our target audience (college students) that TopGolf is not just a typical driving range. We are an entertainment venue that provides a setting that is relative to college students, but can also be a host to family entertainment, while carrying the Texas A&M tradition at the same time. Potentially, TopGolf could participate in certain Aggie traditions such as Silver Taps, ring dunks, Aggie Bonfire, etc. With social media being as big as it is today, we believe that making an account on twitter, instagram and facebook would be extremely wise. By doing this, we would hope to have a huge presence among college students.