The “arms race” in the 3rd Party Tee time Marketing (3PTM) services sector heated up recently with EZLinks acquiring Golfswitch which now puts the patent for web-based tee time aggregation and display on a single site beyond the clutches of GolfNow. While this is still very thin on public domain information, Stuart Lindsay and Jim Dunlap were able to have a quick conference call with the folks at EZLinks to get their directional strategy and intent prior to seeing how the story unfolds in subsequent weeks in action vs. words. Stuart’s article on the topic headlines this month’s issue:
http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pellucid/perspective_201509/
In addition, we also cover in the September issue the following topics of industry interest:
• In our developing commitment to having various “industry voices” weigh in monthly on topics we perceive to be of wide interest, Jeff Woolson of CBRE outlines his perspective on member-owned private clubs in the “middle market” which are generally struggling to combat the equity club death spiral
• Jim Dunlap gets the role of the upbeat voice of optimism in this month’s issue as he outlines the slow but steady and encouraging growth of the Youth on Course program and how it’s creating a win-win for youth on affordability and creative funding behind-the-scenes which avoids facility operators having to financially “invest” in this play beyond their current Junior rate card rates
• Stuart Lindsay revisits and updates a topic he covered in the State of the Industry; the increasingly confusing payment processing choices in light of the rapidly-approaching deadline for merchants to be EMV “smart card” capable and compliant. He tries to simplify things for our readers but as you’ll read, the payment processers are the masters of obfuscation
• Jim Koppenhaver bats clean up with an observation about golf being passed by the farming industry in the collection and use of information while opining on when golf will come to the realization that co-op information sources and responsible handling of that by qualified 3rd parties is necessary and actually yields benefits that outweigh the perceived risks
• Plus the monthly Industry Scorecard (the only integrated scorecard of weather, rounds, utilization, revenue, RevpAR and equipment sales in one place) and Tampa/St. Petersburg/Clearwater FL as this month’s Market Focus which registered as the 13th healthiest of the Top 25 US Golf Markets in our annual ranking update
We recognize and thank our continuing sponsors; KemperSports, Troon Golf and Bayer CropScience. As we enter the back half of the year, that means both budget planning for 2016 as well as potentially small opportunistic spends to build awareness in advance of the PGA Show in January (not as far away as you think). For either situation, might we suggest that your organization consider whether Pellucid Perspective sponsorship could help your business gain awareness and trial? For the 2016 planners, we’d suggest our successful 12-month sponsorship offering at a slight discount vs. the basic six month sponsorship rate. Twelve-month sponsors also receive all Pellucid industry-standard reports (State of the Industry, Outside the Ropes, Monthly Weather Impact Tracking (Nat’l, Reg’l, Markets), Top 25 US Golf Markets Scorecard and National Golf Consumer Franchise Health Scorecard). Sponsorship provides monthly exposure to approximately 30K industry leaders and followers and associates your brand with Pellucid’s effort to expand intelligent thinking on today’s most challenging industry issues. For the 2015 opportunistic spenders, we would suggest one of our smaller-bite “Ad Partner” programs for those who may not be able to make a 6 or 12-month commitment (as short as 3 months are now available) or who may not need a half page or more exposure (quarter pages now available). If you’re interested in knowing more about sponsorship opportunities or are interested in a preview of our ad partner options, contact Editor-in-Chief Jim Dunlap (760-212-3714, mailto:jdgolfer@cox.net).
If you know of associates who would benefit from the topics and insights covered in this issue, feel free to forward this email and encourage them to register on the Pellucid website (http://www.pellucidcorp.com/news/elist) to join the conversation, discussion and debate.
As always, you can review and order any of Pellucid’s range of reports and services at www.pellucidcorp.com. From the numbers and details of how our industry’s consumer base is changing at the national level to our individual facility-level services including weather impact (Cognilogic) and market analysis (Golf Local Market Analyzer), we’ll keep you one step ahead of the competition in this increasingly challenging industry landscape.
Contact:
Jim Koppenhaver, President, Pellucid Corp.
jimk@pellucidcorp.com
www.pellucidcorp.com
