Asia Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC)

When we began our collaboration with the Asia Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC), the event was a newly launched initiative backed by three of the world’s foremost governing bodies in golf: Augusta National Golf Club, the R&A and the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation. Their goal was to expand the game of golf across the Asia-Pacific region by staging a premier amateur event that would feature the best players from the area.

Despite the promising start, the AAC faced a major challenge with their PR strategy. They required skillsets that could tailor a solution to the region’s specific needs, including native language proficiency in Cantonese and Mandarin, as well as expertise in Traditional and Simplified 繁體中文. This gap in effective communication and cultural understanding hindered their outreach efforts. Recognizing the need for a more nuanced approach, AAC turned to us for our deep cultural knowledge and specialized connections within the Asian markets, which are essential for promoting high-level golf events.

Global Marketing requires local expertise

Our solution was to offer a bespoke service that addressed these issues comprehensively. We provided full-service communications and digital marketing, which included driving significant earned media coverage from top publications throughout Asia. We built local-language social media accounts and created original content in 繁體中文, Japanese, Korean, Thai, and English. By leveraging our local connections in government, business and media, we were able to increase awareness and achieve key business performance indicators (KPIs). Our efforts also focused on raising the status of the tournament and better engaging local prestige media in targeted Asian markets.

To implement our strategy, we took several key steps. We produced bespoke press releases in each language and established connections with both private and state-owned media within a single tournament cycle. We distributed native press releases widely and leveraged our extensive contacts within the region. We engaged influential media, including hard-to-reach state-owned outlets, to attend and drive positive coverage on major distribution platforms, including print, digital, and broadcast. Additionally, we created tournament-owned digital content across all platforms, broadening the tournament’s reach.

Our approach also included providing easy-to-understand press releases that avoided overly technical language, making golf more accessible to a broader swath of the sports and general-interest media. We simplified complex concepts and offered special access to exclusive stories, using players to provide media outlets with unique insights.

As a result of our comprehensive efforts, the AAC is now regarded as the premier amateur golf event in Asia. It draws top players from across the region and is held at some of the most prestigious golf clubs in the Asia-Pacific. Media coverage has increased significantly, with a sevenfold increase in media impressions and coverage expanding to 30% more countries.

This transformation not only elevated the status of the AAC but also significantly enhanced its visibility and prestige in the global golf community.

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