Bridgestone Golf already has the most iconic player in the men’s game under contract. Now it’s added perhaps the most high-profile American in women’s golf to its endorsement roster.
Following up on the momentum of the most successful year in company history, Bridgestone Golf signed 22-year-old LPGA Tour star Lexi Thompson to a multiyear deal to exclusively play and promote its golf balls. Thompson played Bridgestone’s B330-S the past two seasons in a non-endorser capacity and is now using its new TOUR B ball.
Thompson, an eight-time winner on the LPGA Tour, joins Tiger Woods in the Bridgestone Golf stable. Like Woods, Thompson will be featured prominently in marketing and promotional initiatives that highlight Bridgestone’s push for golfers of all skill levels to play golf balls that suit their individual needs.
“Even before we officially partnered, I competed with Bridgestone golf balls and they helped me find the winner’s circle against the best players in the world,” said Thompson, who had the lowest scoring average on the LPGA Tour last season.
Bridgestone in 2017 set company records for total sales, advertising reach and the number of golf ball units it’s shipped in a calendar year. The brand’s notable sales increases at major off-course retailers followed an aggressive marketing campaign that largely revolved around Woods, who signed with the company in December 2016. The impact for Bridgestone was especially notable given that Woods wasn’t even playing at the time.
Recently selected as one of the Top 100 businesses in the golf industry, Bridgestone also counts Brandt Snedeker, Matt Kuchar, Fred Couples and Bryson DeChambeau among its professional staffers. In addition to an increased focus on digital marketing to improve brand awareness, Bridgestone says its increasingly wide range of products was a driving force behind its record ball sales in 2017.
“While our competitors try to shoe-horn golfers into their most expensive offering,’” says Bridgestone Golf Marketing Manager Elliot Mellow, “we have proven that fitting customers into the best ball for their game delivers on-course results and creates brand loyalty.”
Having two of the world’s most visible golfers, in both the men’s and women’s game, to feature in commercials certainly won’t hurt either.
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