Golf can be a very expensive and exhaustingly difficult sport to play, but watching the pros makes hitting the dimpled little ball seem like child's play. Pro golfers can have the same effect on the car buying process, as a recent study by Compete.com shows that web traffic for three sponsors of The Masters are getting a huge spike in site traffic in advance of the event. Mercedes, Cadillac, and Buick are pouring money into golf, and at least online the strategy is paying off. This is especially true for Buick, which has the one and only Tiger Woods as its pitchman.
Golf lovers are five times more likely to visit a Buick website than the average consumer and two to three times more likely to visit a Mercedes or Cadillac site. We're no marketing experts, but if those numbers hold up, that's an impressive return for the automakers marketing dollar. It'll be interesting to see if the up-tick in online interest will spur sales for Buick, Mercedes, and Cadillac in the month of April. The chart above shows web traffic in the months before The Masters, which begins April 10. Thanks for the tip, Eric![Source: Compete]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
BLS @ Apr 11th 2008 7:45AM
Atleast Buick has started making a car that Tiger wouldn't be embaraced (sp) to drive. (Pictured)
PJ @ Apr 11th 2008 9:42AM
His ad for the Rendezvous' "sports sedan handling" was priceless...
tankd0g @ Apr 11th 2008 11:29AM
The man has no shame. They could bring back the Aztek and slap a Buick badge on it and he'd (try to) sell it for them.
Flashpoint @ Apr 11th 2008 7:52AM
Buick, Pontiac and all thee other GM marques have benefitted from the exact same design team, Drexl Meyer, behind the redesign of the Escalade's interior.
The Escalade has higher quality components, but its easy to see, there is no big difference between the Escalade, Denali, Tahoe, Avalanche and the Enclave.
BUICK is doing really well in China - selling only to the richest Chinese - mostly because they perfer Buick over Chinese made automobiles. I have lived in China on Buisness and I've checked out their cars from Gao Xing Motors and Mei Tian...they are cheap and relatively untrustworthy. That is why Taxi Fleets in China prefer Volkswagons (Santana) or Hondas/Toyotas.
I think the Enclave is probably the best car Buik has ever put out, but, I hate the design personally. I don't like anything that looks like a beetle or insect.
FThorn @ Apr 11th 2008 8:00AM
I have no need for celebrities. Nor their paid endorsements. Nor their unpaid political or social agenda.
Scott @ Apr 11th 2008 10:29AM
Do you feel better now?
FThorn @ Apr 11th 2008 11:37AM
Does ANYone feel better opening up on the internet to complete strangers? My need for them extends to you, too. :)
icu812ru469 @ Apr 11th 2008 8:23AM
What were those numbers before these "celebrity" endorsements and what are they now? I think that Buick just gets more hits from golfers because they cater to their old, boring, slow paced, life styles. If given truth serum, Tiger would never fess that he likes to drive a Buick. He's a sell out and golfers are not even athletes...
FThorn @ Apr 11th 2008 8:48AM
I think that if every child was brought up like Tiger, and made to live/breath golf all the time, that he'd be mid-pack; and we'd have a lot of fantastic golfers. Not that I would want that or care. I was on the golf course a lot as a child; but certainly can't afford more than a couple rounds nowadays. But I still beat the rich guys with my Sam Snead 100s I bought from K-Mart in 1981! ;)
500 @ Apr 11th 2008 11:28AM
Exactly icu, a correlation between golfing and buying Buicks does not imply a cause and effect relationship. A more relevant question would be: what has happened to Buick sales since they hired Tiger Woods as a spokesman? I would bet they've fallen dramatically.
Does the average Buick buyer care one bit about what Tiger Woods says? I think GM just enjoys showing him off at their events.
Will @ Apr 11th 2008 12:56PM
Maybe not all golfers are athletes, but Tiger most certainly is. He is the most dominant player in any major sport right now- and on a tour that is deeper with talent than it has ever been. He's rewriting the record book and is less than halfway through his career.
And have you ever taken a look at his arms? The man has guns like a battleship. You want to tell him to his face that he isn't an athlete-- or shake his hand and feel the calluses that his absurd practice schedule has built up?
Honestly, I don't know how a brand like Buick managed to snare this guy. If I were him I'd have held out for Lamborghini.
Mike @ Apr 11th 2008 8:58AM
Tiger certainly has an agenda but I'm not sure if striving to become the best golfer of all time could be considered a politcal or social agenda.
mr.ed @ Apr 11th 2008 9:03AM
It was a stroke of genius to pair the young Woods with the Buick's aging ownership. He helped to save this brand, which was about to sink under the waves like Olds.
Dan @ Apr 11th 2008 1:22PM
Watching golf is like watching paint dry.
That the people dim enough to be entertained by it are also dim enough to buy what they're told seems reasonable enough to me.