PGA Tour Partner United Airlines Amplifies Young Players Voices In ‘Golf Is Ours’ Film

Summer 2022 saw PGA Tour partner United Airlines amplify the next stage of the ‘Golf Is Ours’ initiative championing the tie-up with the Historically Black College and Universities programs.

The campaign, created with agency 72andSunny LA, was spearheaded by a hero spot titled ‘United – Golf is Ours’ which dropped across the airline and property owner platforms from 17 June.

As the creative states: ‘United is proud to fly the next generation of golfers’ and has ‘partnered with the PGA TOUR to help break barriers for golf teams at Historically Black Colleges and Universities by providing travel grants to 51 schools.

Running under the campaign’s ‘Because Golf As All Of Us’ tagline and seeking to bring to life United’s shared purpose of ‘Connecting People. Uniting the World’ through its ‘Good Leads The Way’ big idea, the video tells the story of the brand’s partnership with the PGA Tour: one which stretches beyond sponsorship and seeks to remove barriers to golf through programs at Historically Black College and University (HBCU) with air travel funding provided by United.

Told from the young player perspective, the film amplifies the voices of student athletes and uses compelling imagery to build an appreciation of the shared respect and love for sports and athletes. In the ad, one young woman says “It’s in the way I swing, the way I move”, followed by a young man declaring “When I step on the course, it’s not with caution, but with pride. And with power”, before all the young golfers declare “Golf is Black. Golf is mine. Golf is ours. Golf is for all of us.”

The work acts as a call to action for Black golfers to be seen, heard and included in the story of golf moving forward. After all, as the campaign acknowledges, “For as long as there’s been golf, there have been barriers” and goes on to show HBCU golfers who are breaking down those barriers, with help from United.”

The content also encourages viewers to find out more on the brand’s website and follow United’s various social channels.

The programme itself sees United award HBCU golf teams more than $500,000 in grants – divided equally among 51 programs. Each team will receive $10,000 in travel credits, which will help an estimated 250 student-athletes and their coaches fly to tournament sites that might have been previously out of reach.

“Removing barriers for HBCU students to have the same opportunities given collegiate athletes will open doors for countless young Black golfers to achieve their dreams and for HBCU golf programs to develop to their full potential,” said United President Brett Hart.

To make the ‘Golf Is Ours’ activation, 72andSunny intentionality brought in an all-Black crew behind the scenes: including the director, DP, agency creative teams, creative director, editor, colourist and the agency also developed the campaign in consultation from United’s internal Black employee resource group BEACON.

“We first launched United’s brand mission of Good Leads The Way in May of 2022,” outlined 72andSunny Creative Director Tahirah Edwards Byfield. “This sponsorship, our work behind it, and the impact on the young golfers at HBCUs is one of the examples of how this airline is not just doing good in the air but on the ground as well. We are both proud and privileged to tell this story.”

The campaign was created for United by a team at agency 72andSunny LA led by Creative Director Tahirah Edwards Byfield, while the films shot by Director Lauren Crew and with DP and Post Production led by Justin Lamar of Source Productions.

Comment

This campaign rolled out as a new era of commercial travel took off with historic rises in air travel demand reported in the US during the summer travel season.