The TetherGuard anchors head covers to one another or to a golf bag to prevent accidental loss.
We are so committed to the branding initiatives of our strategy, we are offering our own tethers at the same cost and discount schedules as branded tethers. Only set-up fees prevent the costs for branded and non-branded tethers from being identical.
Buffalo, Minnesota (PRWEB) May 30, 2014
In a creative move today, TetherGuard Sports Products, LLC announced an innovative and tightly coupled product and a marketing strategy to add leverage to their marketing efforts.
The product, The TetherGuardTM, prevents the loss of golf head covers by anchoring head covers to another or to golf bag hardware, causing them to “dangle not drop”. Regardless of whether the head cover was removed by the golfer purposefully or whether it fell from the cart or the bag accidentally, the tethered head cover remains attached to the bag and clubs.
This dual strategy addresses both the need for a product for minimizing the cost, frustration and aggravation associated with lost covers for the golfers, as well as the opportunities for the use of branding technologies to achieve broader impressions for a wide range of golf organizations for a large number of promotional uses.
The "missing golf cover" segment is a large opportunity despite little attention from traditional golf equipment suppliers.
There are 26.2 million golfers in the US. that spend $4.7 billion on equipment each year. “Avid golfers” (defined as playing 25+ rounds a year) are the target market for The TetherGuard, representing 6 million golfers in the US, - 23% of the golfing population, yet account for 63% of golf equipment revenues each year.
TetherGuard Sports Products is targeting avid golfers as they typically buy from high end suppliers of equipment who carry brands they prefer from sellers they trust, such as PGA pros. Removing the expense on balls, tees and other minor expenditures, these 6 million avid golfers spent $2.7 billion on golf equipment last year.
If we assume that 0.5% of golfers lose a cover each year, that targets 300,000 avid golfers who need to replace a cover. They are typically sold in matched sets or designed to be sold in separately costing an average of $30-45 per set. As such, the avid golfers could spend many millions on head covers.
The US represents approximately one third of worldwide golfers, with equal amounts in Europe and Asia. That takes us to almost a million avid golfers a year that spends over $8 billion a year on equipment.
Golf head covers have always been a thorn in the side of the golfer. If you lose one of a matching pair of golf head covers, it is frustrating and expensive, since lost head covers are not generally available outside of the set in which they purchased.
The marketing element of today’s announcement also revealed a TetherGuard design capability that enables tethers to be custom branded to provide a logo, messages or other graphic treatments to tethers to advertise their to their products, clubs, or events, such as tournaments.
Alan Codkind, inventor of The TetherGuard, provided further insight into the design considerations that they expect will add tremendous marketing leverage. “We noted that The TetherGuard represents a great branding opportunity for members of the golf community. By designing the tethers to be imprinted with absolutely any colors, text, logos or other graphic designs, and to be guaranteed against losing its luster and retaining its print, it would be a terrific promotional tool.”
Mr. Codkind continued, “It changed our whole view of the business. We went from focusing on selling head cover tethers to golfers on the Internet to being providers of branding opportunities in the golf industry. We have optimized the quality of the tethers and of the tethering branding technology to ensure that we can provide a message in a high quality way and then deliver a high-quality product to back it up. We are so serious about the branding aspect of our strategy, we are offering our own tethers at the same discount schedules as branded tethers. Only set-up fees prevent the costs for branded and non-branded tethers to be different.
According to Mark Sudheimer, President and COO of TetherGuard Sports Products, LLC, “The benefits of the product are obvious. It is an insurance policy against the expense, frustration, and aggravation of losing head covers.” Mr. Sudheimer continued, “But more importantly, the product must be easier to use than not to use. It is amazing how many golfers take off their head covers and leave them in the trunk of the car or in the golf cart so they don’t get lost. Those defeats the whole purpose of the head covers to begin with!”
Mr. Sudheimer added, “Golfers want quality products with the more well-known the branding the better. The TetherGuard product design adds double thickness, color-fast weatherproof nylon and nickel-plated clips to add quality that would complement even the most expensive driver, fairway wood, hybrid or putter and their covers. The TetherGuard works with any head cover for any club, of any design, and of any brand. So it can be branded to pro shops, head cover providers, tournaments, providers of equipment that include head covers as part of the sale.” He continued, “Imagine that you go into a big box sporting goods retailer to buy a well-known driver. It could be branded with its own name, the retail store name, the driver manufacturer’s name, the driver model brand head cover design or any other promotional message, such as support for a charity. That is a lot of opportunities for branding based on selling one driver.”
Mr. Codkind added, “So take the number of golfers that lose head covers and consider to that number of channels that would benefit from having a branded TetherGuard as a proactive measure with their impressions, this product and marketing announcement offers us the opportunity for plenty of upside. We have made it easy by providing a consistent volume pricing agreement that charges the same for tethers that are branded or not, with the only difference being set up fees.”
To purchase TetherGuards in sets of one or three, visit The TetherGuard Sports Products web store on http://www.thetetherguard.com or by calling 888-234-8817. The triple kit can tether together four head covers. The single kit is available primarily for those considering high volume purchases and want to see it before they make a final commitment, although it can also be used to tether a single head cover to a bag or two head covers to each other. The cost of the single tether kit is credited to anyone that proceeds to purchase 100 or more custom branded, or traditional branded tethers within in 60 days.
For more information on custom branded TetherGuards, please contact customer service at 888-234-8817 or complete a short form for custom branding on http://www.TheTetherGuard.com for design, pricing and packaging options. Delivery is two to three weeks from sign off of your prototype drawing. These may be delivered in retail packages or bulk packages, depending on your need.
TetherGuard Sports Products, LLC is focused on addressing the opportunities made possible by the inadvertent loss of golf head covers. The company’s formula for success is to provide a meaningful, cost effective and quality accessory to golfers and to reach them through such leveraged channels as their web store, pro shops, golf stores, sporting good chains, and internet sites with tethers that benefit from their own custom branding.