Professional sports are designed to be watched. Of course they are competitions amongst the world’s most skilled athletes, but they are also entertainment. They compete for people’s time, attention and money. So when a brand engages in the sports world they are committing to entertain. And to do that, the content it creates needs to be as worthwhile a use of that fan’s time and energy as watching the sport itself. This series not only delivered on that challenge, causing golf fans to spend real time watching, but also brought new fans into the sport.

In 2019 Charles Schwab took on the title sponsorship of The PGA TOUR's oldest event, The Colonial Invitational, which over time had lost some of its shine. Schwab believes greatly that golf is a target rich environment for both client hospitality and new client acquisition , but for that to be true at Colonial, the event would need some of its luster to be restored.

We reimagined the entire tournament to create a better experience and more excitement amongst players and golf fans (in person and at home).

We renamed and branded the event The Charles Schwab Challenge - breaking with PGA Tour naming convention.

We created a new approach to TV advertising in golf coverage making not one TV spot but 18 - one for every hole at Colonial.

We created golf's first #throwbackthursday and first moment of silence to commemorate the tournament’s Memorial Day timing.

Finally, since golf prizing is usually limited to a gaudy trophy and a gaudier jacket. We created a new trophy: a one-of-a-kind hand built muscle car… the world’s first '73 Schwab Challenger.

Schwab took over the title sponsorship of The Colonial golf tournament in order to build its brand reputation. We set out to restore shine to Colonial, and generate buzz for the event by leaning into Schwab's challenger brand philosophy and challenging everything about a PGA TOUR event.

To increase its brand reputation, we had to create excitement amongst three core audiences:

Players. The tournament was over skipped by players. More exciting players drive greater attendance and viewership. Our ideas had to get players excited and willing to play.

Fans: The tournament was losing fans watching live and on television. Our ideas had to energize hardcore and casual golf fans to get them to attend and watch.

Texas community: Schwab recently moved many employees into offices across Texas. Our ideas had to create buzz amongst employees and pride for the company.

Our efforts lasted 6 months. First, we unveiled the tournament’s new name and identity when the PGA Tour schedule was announced in December with a letter from Charles Schwab himself to each PGA Tour player.

Between January and May, we used new content and choreographed a series events to sustain interest and generate new news:

The Challengers film series

A series of 18 unique TV/digital spots

We created matchbox cars for players to tease the car

But our most significant efforts happened the week of the tournament:

-We unveiled the car at The Texas Rangers baseball game

-We promoted and launched #ThrowbackThursday at the live event

-We promoted and launched the PGA Tour’s 1st ever moment of silence both live and on CBS.

Total paid reach for all Charles Schwab Challenge efforts totaled approximately 38MM with more than 22BN earned media impressions.

The new mythology for an old tournament was a huge success.

Attendance was up 20% year on year.

TV ratings were up 18% year on year.

And press coverage was huge with more than 9000 stories about the car.

22BN total media impressions, 4.7BN for the car alone.