The Worst Golfer in Dallas Just Taught Us Something
During the month of March, you may have driven past a Dallas billboard promoting the website “worstgolferindallas.com.”
It wasn’t a joke. Fiona Cohen, owner of the relatively new golf apparel brand, Kingfisher, ran a contest to find the worst golfer in Dallas. In addition to her billboard, the company’s social media accounts promoted it heavily with numerous posts asking people to submit themselves or friends as the winner.
Cohen started Kingfisher roughly a year ago. Like most companies White Hound resonates with, she had a purpose beyond simply selling golf apparel. As Cohen tells it, one day she was with her brother and saw him wearing a golf shirt that felt like it was filled with clipart. The shirt was pixelated and looked inexpensive, despite it being exactly the opposite. The designer in her decided she wanted to do something about it.
Cohen is very clear that she doesn’t believe the golf polo is “broken”, simply that there is a gap in the market. With that in mind, Kingfisher has started selling golf polos and t-shirts that focus on clean, upscale design at reasonable costs (think $50 and $35, respectively).
But as a new brand in a heavily competitive market, how could Kingfisher break through the noise? Enter the “worst golfer in Dallas” contest.
Most brands are too afraid to essentially call members of their audience a “loser.” Brands like Nike and Adidas want us dream we could be the next star athlete by wearing their clothes, while even Malbon, who we focused on last month, pushes the idea that its audience can appreciate great art and design.
Instead, Kingfisher focused on the true everyman and pushed for a race to the bottom. Tell us why you’re the worst golfer in the area. Give us every reason your friend is absolutely abysmal on the course. Insult yourself, because we’re a brand built for those who can and will. Oh, and we’ll actually give you a prize. Multiple social media posts, the aforementioned billboard and tagging of golfers like John Daly were used to promote it.
To be clear, there’s no arrogance in Kingfisher’s approach. Watch a few of their posts and you’ll quickly see Cohen, the face and voice of the brand, is just as self effacing as she believes her audience is. And that’s the key - it’s a brand for people who don’t think too highly of themselves, but want a quality product. Which, usually, is most of us.
As if being crowned worst golfer in a city of over 1.3 million people isn’t enough, Cohen sweetened the pot with prizes. The winner of the contest would obviously become Kingfisher’s first sponsored athlete, because what brand wouldn’t want someone terrible at a sport repping their clothing? They also would receive tickets to the Byron Nelson tournament, a free round of golf, lessons from a local pro and “general glory and fame.”
While we don’t have the total engagement or sales numbers from the campaign, one post alone has over 1,300 likes and 2,200 shares. Multiple news outlets, including Fox and D Magazine, picked up on the story and ran pieces about the contest. That’s the kind of phenomenal exposure a local brand less than a year old can’t buy.
The contest wrapped up in April, with an unknown (of course), Colin Perry, winning. His quote from a call with Cohen? “You have no idea the menace that you’re setting loose in Dallas. This is the best day of my life. Don’t tell my daughter.”
What can we take from this inventive and subversive campaign? It’s not that you need significant ad spend, influencers or even a billboard. It’s definitely not “be quirky” either. After all, quirky for its own sake is just noise or cringey.
The real lesson is more simple. Understand your brand, your core audience and what genuinely connects the two. Cohen knew exactly who Kingfisher was for: the golfer who doesn’t take themselves too seriously but still wants something worth wearing, both on and off the course. Everything about the campaign flowed from that.
This is exactly where the “why”, or philosophy behind a brand, comes into play. When we understand what we and our most passionate audience members care about, we can create something that is truly unique to our brand and that fits us.
That connection is what keeps people connected and engaged with your business and when you know that about your own business, you stop chasing campaigns and start creating moments that only you could pull off. So, what’s your “worst golfer in Dallas” idea?
At White Hound Co, we help businesses grow, particularly those who keep a mission or passion at the center of all they do. We make your budget work for you, whether it’s branding or strategy that you need. After all, we’re here to help.
Curious about what that looks like? Let’s talk!