Why is Asian Tour partnership tempting for ECCO?


By: February 15, 2016


While Asian Tour will resume negotiations with the European Tour over a proposed merger, they have just announced a partnership with ECCO Golf brand.

Jesper Thuen, ECCO’s new Head of Golf, Asia, said, “We see the Asian Tour as a great platform for us to promote the ECCO Golf brand. This new partnership with the Tour is a great way to extend and grow our existing market reach, and connect with golfers across the whole of Asia.

The Asian Tour extends into many of the markets we have a presence or intend to have a presence within, hence this is a strategic partnership with the official sanctioning body for professional golf in Asia. It also gives us a foot in the door, providing us with the opportunity to promote our footwear range throughout the entire region.

In this, there is nothing peculiar. This sponsorship even can be lucrative if:

  1. It was designed for selected customer groups (= customer centricity);
  2. They get category exclusivity;
  3. Asian Tour will come up with custom made activation program for ECCO Golf. So ECCO Golf will be able to get more out of the experience. If Asian Tour means “direct customer engagement” is the same as the activation program then there is no issue.
  4. They develop the venues together;
  5. Events will be mobile friendly: to enable visitors to share their experience & check out ECCO Golf‘s online offers.

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Asian Tour Commissioner Kyi Hla Han pictured with Jesper S. Thuen Head of Golf-Asia Pacific ECCO