Global Trader's Putt for a Million campaign saw 14 lucky South Africans given the opportunity to sink a 60-foot putt for R1 000 000. The challenge took place on 29 November at Fancourt Links as part of the Gary Player Invitational and all finalists who sunk the putt could walk away with R1 000 000.
“A large percentage of Global Trader's core target market are golfers, which is where the thinking for the Putt for a Million campaign originated,” says Charles Savage, CEO of Global Trader.
The main objective of the campaign was to generate leads and convert them to active trading clients. “From the stats provided by Global Trader, the Putt for a Million campaign generated a substantial number of leads and also resulted in very positive exposure for the Global Trader brand,” says Morné Fourie, MD of thirtyfour.
“The entries provided a pool of leads for our sales people to follow up on and we were able to interact regularly with entrants through email updates about the competition and the downloadable gadget,” says Charles Savage, CEO of Global Trader.
The Putt for a Million competition was launched on 1 September, with finalists drawn from online entries on a monthly basis.
Each month an online draw took place where two winners would go through to the final event at Fancourt. This was supported by various other entry channels including media, Global Trader Social League, Golf Network, Hedge Funds, existing Global Trader clients and LuvSport. To ensure interest right up to the final event, the final contestant was selected from spectators on the day.
Activations included promotional staff at golfing ranges in JHB, CPT and KZN and demonstrations on various driving ranges. There was also a branded Global Trader “business zone” stand at the Hedge Funds conference on 11-12 November 2008 at CTICC where delegates could register for the competition and have a few practice putts on the putting mat. The activations were supported by media exposure to the value of R5 000 000 on a R700 000 budget.
By associating the campaign with the Gary Player Invitational, it gave the initiative extra credibility. Finalists included celebrated cricketer Herschelle Gibbs, who seemed to be a crowd favourite. Gibbs was selected to take part in the Challenge through the SuperSport series LuvSport, which was involved with the Putt for a Million Challenge from its inception and hosted the event on the day. The spectators proved to be just as impressive as the finalists - with Shaun Pollock and the Godfather of Golf himself, Gary Player, watching from the sidelines.
Putt for a Million was a truly groundbreaking, truly memorable event and following the success of this year's pilot, Global Trader is discussing the feasibility of making this worthy initiative an annual event.
