When you picture Topgolf, the part-restaurant, part-golf simulator, you’re more likely to think of a driving range than driving a car.
And yet, today, American Honda Motor Co. announced a new, multi-year partnership with the golf entertainment venue. The move makes its Honda and Acura brands the “first and exclusive national Official Automotive Partners and Official Vehicles of Topgolf,” according to a press release.
Topgolf already has a lot to offer anyone who picks up a club at its establishments: food, drink, event spaces, music, and outdoor hitting bays where players earn points in a game by aiming microchip-equipped balls at targets on the driving range.
But now, with this new partnership, Honda could add more to the picture. While the team is still brainstorming as to what those additions will look like, some ideas include Topgolf tournaments, sweepstakes, and interaction with on-site Honda or Acura vehicles, said Jessika Laudermilk, assistant VP of marketing for American Honda These efforts could roll out as soon as early 2023, per a press release.
But there’s still a lot left to be determined as to what the partnership will look like. “We have a lot of ideas, but since this is so brand new, what’s exciting is we can kind of create it how we want,” Laudermilk said.
What’s in it for Honda? Two words: young people. Honda and Acura are trying to attract millennial and Gen Z car buyers—and those two generations represent nearly half of Topgolf’s 30 million players per year, according to a press release. For context, Topgolf has 87 global venues, and 78 of those are in the U.S..
Additionally, Topgolf has a variety of marketing channels that Laudermilk said she’s jazzed about. On a recent trip to Topgolf, Laudermilk said, “just looking around I was so excited” because of all the different advertising channels within the venue, from audio playing over the speakers, to video boards, to the opportunity to be involved with the game itself.
Honda and Acura are no strangers to sports marketing initiatives: Honda is the NHL’s official vehicle and automotive partner; and Acura has maintained a presence in March Madness. The brands are also involved in motor and esports activations. But the automaker’s golf priorities appear to be shifting. It signed the TopGolf deal in the wake of announcing late last year that it will end its sponsorship of what has been known as the Honda Classic Golf Tournament. The auto brand has had its name on the PGA Tour event for 40 years.
Laudermilk declined to disclose what Honda spent on the partnership, as well as the number of years it will be active for.
