wednesday, january 4th, 2012
PROUD TO BE NO. 2: COX CLASSIC GOLF TOURNAMENT
By Bill Roberts
Remember the old Avis ads that said, “We’re No. 2, we try harder”?
It’s kind of like that for the Cox Classic golf tournament, presented by Lexus of Omaha, according to tournament director Chad Mardesen. Except that the Cox Classic likes its position.
The Cox Classic is happy to trail the College World Series as Omaha’s top sports event – that still leaves room to be a pretty big deal on the local scene. And the Cox Classic is happy to be an event on the Nationwide Tour, which is second to the PGA but ahead of some 30 other golf tours worldwide.
“To be No. 2 isn’t so bad,” Mardesen said at the Jan. 4 luncheon meeting of the Mid-America Direct Marketing Association, as he filled his energetic presentation with ample evidence of the benefits of second place.
The Cox Classic, which started in 1996, is a summer event that essentially becomes Nebraska’s third-largest city for a week, Mardesen said. Last year’s total of 113,000 was a typical figure for attendance, which usually rises or falls with summer temperatures and storms.
“I would like to say it is all our doing, but it’s primarily weather,” he said.
The Cox Classic has a typical economic impact of about $9 million, he said, with $6.9 million coming from non-Omaha residents. Since its inception the tournament has generated $110 million, said Mardesen, who also is an adjunct professor of marketing and management at UNO.
He said the tournament does an especially good job of accommodating big crowds at the 18th hole and of serving beer. With a usual sales level of 6,000 cases of suds, the Cox Classic is the (what else?) No. 2 tournament in beer consumption, he said.
BEST STAFF
Mardesen said he and his three full-time employees – “the best staff on the tour” – turn a marketing budget of only $30,000 into an annually successful event that last year generated $700,000 in editorial/media value and $500,000 in advertising value. How do they do it?
“We work really, really hard forming partnerships,” Mardesen said. “It’s exhausting to build those relationships, but there’s no other way to do it.”
It starts with the primary sponsors, Cox Communications and Lexus of Omaha, Champions Run golf course; other sponsors, big and small; media partners; and the many vendors for all the services needed to run a small “city” for a week.
Mardesen said he and his staff become masters at the ancient art of barter as they trade out tournament tickets and signage rights for all the services. “Trade-out makes the world go round,” he said, adding that the tournament received $482,000 in goods and services through trade-out in 2011.
Every time he makes phone calls, Mardesen said, he realizes how helpful it is to be a “big deal” around Omaha and to have such a good public image in the community. “We get to live in a bubble of positive sentiment,” he said.
That’s due partly to the broad popularity of golf, partly to his and his staff’s enthusiasm, and partly to the fact that the Cox Classic is a nonprofit event that every year generates about $130,000 for a dozen local charities. Since its inception the tournament has donated almost $2 million.
Mardesen admitted that most Omahans, though aware of the Cox Classic, do not know that the event is nonprofit and benefits local charities. He said a goal is to increase awareness of that aspect of the event.
The charities for the 2012 Cox Classic are Boy Scouts of America-Mid America Council, Camp CoHoLo, Girl Scouts Spirit of Nebraska, Heartland Equine Therapeutic Riding Academy, Hogan’s Junior Golf Heroes, Donate Life Nebraska, Omaha Jaycees, Ronald McDonald House, Tangier Shriners, Youth Emergency Services, Junior League of Omaha and Special Olympics of Nebraska.
One important accomplishment of the tournament staff has been building and maintaining excellent relationships with area news media.
NEWS MEDIA
“We have the ear of the media,” he said, and it’s because he has a reputation of being straight with reporters.
“Have something good to say and be honest with them,” he advised MADMA members in dealing with reporters. “Never ever try to ‘work’ them.”
That good relationship paid off recently when the news came out that (initially) the Golf Channel would not cover the Cox Classic because the tournament wouldn’t pay the asking price.
Commentators could have portrayed it in a negative way. Instead they sided with the Cox Classic, criticizing the Golf Channel for overcharging a charitable activity. Eventually the two sides came to an agreement, he added.
That’s due to the Cox Classic’s well-earned reputation of being a nonprofit event that – even though it may be No. 2 – counts benefiting its home community as its No. 1 job.
“We have the honor of impacting Omaha,” Mardesen said. “We’re here to do good.”
January 2012 Mid-America DMA Newsletter Recap
Questions? Call Bill Roberts: 330-0110