R&A Golf Released ‘Golf Is Good for You’ Animated Campaign Pitches Golf As Part Of Healthy Lifestyle

The R&A launched a new animated campaign championing golf as a route to a healthy and active lifestyle.

The marketing push aims to encourage more people – especially youngsters – to take up golf in order to life a healthier life. It is linked to the R&A’s new ‘Golf Is Good For You’ global project – initially piloted in Wales in partnership with Wales Golf – aimed at encouraged new and lapsed golfers into the sport.

The programme was built on recent medical research demonstrating the health and wellness benefits of golf. Indeed, the research revealed that golfers, on average, live five years longer than non-golfers.

The project, which runs throughout Wales this summer ahead of a wider global roll-out later in the year, is also endorsed by the British Heart Foundation, medical professional Dr Andrew Murray and The University of Edinburgh.

The campaign, developed by London-based sports, fitness and wellbeing creative agency MATTA with Ritzy Animation, uses animated creative to tell a story about how three characters from different backgrounds are inspired to give golf a try and how they go on to reap the mental, physical and social benefits from playing.

The spearhead ‘Golf Is Good’ spot dropped across the R&A’s own channels, digital golf platforms and was further amplified by the agency from 6 July 2022.

“The interesting challenge in this brief was to present the huge variety of ways in which golf can improve your health, in a manner that will connect with a varied and international audience,” outlined MATTA Executive Brand & Strategy Director Matt Hunt. “We proposed animation because it has that power to engage people around the world – both emotionally and rationally – and we’re so excited to see how far these characters will go in spreading the word about golf’s remarkable health benefits.”

R&A Chief Development Officer Phil Anderton added: “We’re delighted to be activating this pilot health campaign in Wales this summer before it is rolled out internationally. Having undertaken research among golfers and non-golfers, we found that golfers were aware of some of the sport’s health benefits – but not all. Once we told them that the sport has been medically endorsed, their intent to play more golf went up significantly. We also found non-golfers and lapsed golfers were motivated to get into the sport. We have therefore sought to create a high-quality campaign that talks directly to golfers and non-golfers through various communication channels to encourage people to play the sport.”

Comment

The campaign launched to leverage spiking interest in golf and in the R&A ahead of the 2022 The Open Golf Championship held at the organisation’s home at The Old Course, St Andrews (Scotland) between 14 and 17 July.