Sponsoring Golf Is A Good Investment

Financial Blogger Tom Brown argues that Northern Trust’s sponsorship of the LA Open was a good investment:

Sponsorship deals like this are actually a worthwhile, lucrative use of the sponsoring company’s money. This will of course be obvious to anyone who hasn’t spent his entire career in the public sector. The event Northern Trust sponsored (the old Los Angeles Open) was an opportunity for it to splash its name and brand across the media for four straight days last month, including six hours of network TV exposure to what is presumably its target demographic. The tournament was also a chance for Northern Trust to entertain existing clients and woo new ones. The benefits of all this should be obvious—which is why corporate sponsorships of the type Northern Trust is now being criticized for are a staple of big-time consumer marketing.

There’s also a lot more sensible analysis in that article.

Sadly, the folks at Wells Fargo – Wachovia haven’t been reading the article: They’ve pulled their name off of the former Wachovia Championship. It will instead be referred to as the Quail Hollow Championship