Why LIV Golf turned to sci-fi creative to attract more fans to its team sport

LIV Golf, which has arguably gotten as much attention for its contracts and prize money as what happens on the greens, hopes to generate interest this year in its market differentiator—team golf—and the teams that play it. The rebel golf tour, which began its third season this month, is doing so behind “high-voltage” science-fiction-inspired creative that fits in with a brand that also wants to be known for lively, cheering crowds and music at its events, said Will Newell, LIV Golf’s creative director. “We always want to be showing up in ways that are unexpected. We want to be showing up in surprising, entertaining ways. We want to show up with an audaciousness that’s appealing to fans,” Newell said in an interview. Working with agency Media.Monks, LIV crafted a campaign it calls the “54th Dimension.” It began this month, focusing on establishing brand identities for each of the sport’s 13 teams. The creative mixes golf highlights with “glitches” that reveal a hidden dimension that’s part golf, part Minecraft. As Crushers GC captain Bryson DeChambeau takes a swing, he and his team flash into armored knights and their golf clubs become swords. Forearms become swinging sledgehammers for Brooks Koepka’s Smash GC team. And Bubba Watson’s moment of still concentration, as he lines up a putt, gives way to a dreamy cartoon sequence that Newell describes as a “Zen-like, Yellow Submarine” expression of Watson’s RangeGoats team. The media buy includes local and national linear TV, YouTube and The CW Network, which is LIV’s U.S. media rights holder. The best and worst Super Bowl ads Ad Age reviews the Big Game commercials Click here The “54th dimension” refers to something of a magic number for LIV Golf—which is named after the Roman numeral for 54. It refers to the score if every hole on a par-72 course were birdied, and also, to the number of holes played at LIV events. This year, with 13 four-player teams (along with two wild card players), 54 is also the number of players taking part in each LIV event. “The idea of the 54th dimension is a little bit informed by sci-fi and gaming culture touches—things that movie watchers and superhero fans would be familiar with,” Newell said. “But it also gives you a look at the team. It gives you a look at who the captain is, who the other players are. And then it shows you something about team golf specifically in an abstract, expressive, emotional way.” Team play For much of its first two years, LIV generated headlines for its battles with the PGA Tour, from which it sourced big stars including Koepka, Watson and Phil Mickelson behind enormous contracts. LIV’s backing from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund Public Investment Fund (PIF) sparked criticism that LIV was a way for Saudi Arabia to sportswash its human rights record. That conversation died down some after an agreement last summer to merge the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour and LIV Golf (that deal, which would also give PIF at stake in the PGA, has not been completed yet due to antitrust scrutiny). Newell said LIV Golf marketing isn’t designed to diffuse controversy. “We’re all in the business of building this community,” he said. Controversy “is not something that affects my thinking,” he added. “We have always pretty much kept our eyes on the prize.” Team golf shakes up the conventions of the professional game as most know it. Under LIV’s rules, play begins “shotgun” style, with players teeing off at all 18 holes at once then proceeding around the course. Teams have four players each and build a cumulative score over three days of each event (individual scores are also tracked). The top eight teams in each tournament score points; their cumulative scores determine seeding for a knockout style tournament in the final event of the year to crown a team champion. Team captains in LIV are invested in their success: They have a 25% ownership stake in their clubs, and are expected to act as a general manager—making trades and signing free agents, for example and marketing their team brand. Players prefer this style of golf, Newell said. LIV’s job is to convince fans of the same thing. “The idea of team golf is so embedded into the DNA of our products, so it’s important that we share with our fans that the understanding of how team play works… [and] on an emotional level, what it’s like for these players who for most of their lives have been playing individually,” Newell said. LIV’s players are finding joy in playing as part of team, “something perhaps they’d forgotten from their college days but is something they’re experiencing in their professional careers.” A younger fan By combining a faster-moving playing style with flourishes from sports, music and culture, LIV is also making a play for a younger fan. It has borrowed relegation from soccer and “walk-up music” from baseball. “Golf, but louder,” is LIV’s tagline. “I lead our internal design teams, and our photography teams and our promotional teams and, and we talk about electricity, this idea of turbo-charging and supercharging,” Newell said. “We have to be figuring out interesting and innovative ways to infuse our marketing materials, our campaigns, our imagery, our photography with this high-voltage approach." While existing golf fans are drawn to the skill and athleticism of the players, “we tend to focus on finding that next generation of fan,” Newell said. “We’re certainly looking for younger, more optimistic fans and spectators, people who have an appetite to know more.” Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs So far, the combination of the game’s best players and youth-focused marketing has not resulted in particularly strong viewership for LIV. The final round of LIV’s event in Las Vegas on Feb. 10 finished 51st in sports program ratings, according to Sports Media Watch. Last year, LIV generated around $3 million from U.S. television—vs. $500 million for the PGA’s broadcast partners, according to Golf magazine, illustrating the importance of deep-pocketed backers for LIV. LIV struck a TV rights deal of two years plus an option with the CW Network ahead of the 2023 season. CW typically airs the final two days of LIV’s tournaments; day one is broadcast on the CW app and on YouTube. Starting this year, LIV is promising viewers innovative viewing on its app. This month it announced a partnership with Google and PMY that will add a feature called “Any Shot, Any Time” to its LIV Golf Plus app. Launching this summer, the feature will allow fans to watch whichever golfers, teams or groups they prefer—up to four windows in the app at once—while offering searchable and customized highlights. A companion app, also launching this summer, will provide “3D aerial overviews of each venue, advanced real-time statistics, virtual caddy views, and customized competition recaps,” according to a press release.

Why LIV Golf turned to sci-fi creative to attract more fans to its team sport

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