In their own words: Keith Pelley

Alistair Dunsmuir
By Alistair Dunsmuir January 20, 2020 10:47

Writing exclusively for The Golf Business, the chief executive of the European Tour takes us through the organisation’s branding changes.

Over the past four years the European Tour has been at the forefront of change in the game, but one of the most major modifications we have made took place only a couple of months ago when we unveiled the results of our brand refresh.

More than a decade has elapsed since we last embarked on such a venture and it is fair to say that both the game and the European Tour have evolved considerably in that time. We have strived to lead the transformation of global golf but there was a consensus that our organisation was accelerating beyond our brand.

Our fresh and modern identity however, alongside our first official strapline of ‘Driving Golf Further’, which underpins our three pillars of being innovative, inclusive and global, unequivocally reflects where we are at now.

Of course, that is not to say we do not continue to recognise and respect our past. As I have always said, innovative formats such as GolfSixes are necessary to appeal to modern audiences but 72-hole stroke play tournaments, such as our Rolex Series events, will always remain the core of who we are.

We are incredibly proud of our history and will continue to cherish that in everything we do. Our headquarters in the grounds of Wentworth Club has recently undergone a complete renovation, creating a modern and open-plan working environment within a timeless structure.

Our offices now feature several bespoke meeting rooms, equipped with state of the art technology, three of which have been named after the greatest European players in our history.

Seve Ballesteros, Sir Nick Faldo and Colin Montgomerie all have meeting rooms which bear their images and a list of their many achievements, while a powerful mural of John Jacobs, the founding father of the European Tour, presides over our new-look boardroom.

Our past will continue to inform and shape our future; that will not change. But it was important that we revisited our brand, which in turn affords us the opportunity to better engage with our fans and our partners.

As a business our focus has shifted in recent years from B2B to B2C through extending our ecosystem beyond traditional revenue sources and the existing model of simply staging golf tournaments. Our new logo is representative of this evolution.

It is more modern and more commercially friendly than before, with the ‘T’ more instantly recognisable and more flexible, giving us the ability to create greater brand identity.

We reprised one of our most popular social media pieces of recent times, ‘The Content Committee’, to help celebrate our brand roll out. Our players are, after all, central to everything we do and they are the key ingredient in our recipe for success.

It is their Tour and together with our world-class partners, we will continue driving golf further.

For more information, visit www.europeantour.com

 

Alistair Dunsmuir
By Alistair Dunsmuir January 20, 2020 10:47
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1 Comment

  1. Stuart H May 19, 11:50

    In my view, the European Tour needs to join the real World. The only way for fans to enjoy live Professional Golf in this Country is either to attend the very limited number of events held or afford “Pay to View television”.

    My daughter and I are both really keen golfers and our one treat each year is to go and watch the BMW Golf at Wentworth. When we purchased our tickets recently from the European Tour we just could not believe why the cost of the identical package to last year had increased by 44.18% (as shown below) after including the newly introduced booking fee.

    Item 2021 2020 Increase

    £ £ %

    Adult Season ticket 110 80 37.50

    Concession Season Ticket 100 60 66.67

    Daily Parking Ticket (per day) 20 18 11.11

    Despite being faced with these substantial increases to rub salt in the wound they have also introduced a booking charge of £15.66.

    For a lot of people in this Country times during the past year have been really tough and to implement such a large increase, in my view, is totally inappropriate at this time.

    I know the European Tour represents its playing members but perhaps the time is now to help those fans who have struggled during the past 12 months of this pandemic. Perhaps savings could have been made through both the total prize fund and or cutting back on the pampered lifestyle of the players.

    Lets not forget we are all in this together.

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