Rain Bird – “Defend Your Turf” Winged Foot Golf Club Video

We asked Swanson Russell’s Stephanie Hays, vice president and account director, the following questions about their winning project “Rain Bird – “Defend Your Turf” Winged Food Golf Club Video.”

Please briefly describe your winning project.

To communicate key differentiators in a market where peer input drives decisions, we created this video that allowed Winged Foot Golf Club and the people involved in running it to tell their irrigation success story in their own words. This testimonial-driven video highlights the restoration process Winged Foot went through ahead of the 2020 U.S. Open, with Stephen Rabideau, director of golf courses, and JR LaPan, assistant superintendent, explaining how they were able to prepare their course with Rain Bird’s support and partnership.

What were your main objectives in developing this project?

We wanted to drive awareness of the innovative products, service and expertise that Rain Bird can offer and position the irrigation manufacturer as a partner for golf course superintendents’ needs.

What influenced your approach?

Two key insights influenced our approach. First, we recognize superintendents are often in a highly scrutinized, stressful environment. Faced with labor challenges and member/customer expectations, they’re forced to do more with less, and budgets are closely examined. An irrigation system is crucially important, but they don’t want to or have the time to think about it. They need to trust in product performance and expect the brand to provide 24/7 support, because the system simply has to work like it’s supposed to. And second, among superintendents, peer word-of-mouth is a strong influencer in the decision-making process. We strive to build Real Connection™ between our audiences and the brand, and in this case, we felt that our message was delivered in the most impactful way coming directly from the mouths of the people our audience rely on most: their peers.

Please tell us what you think stood out in your winning entry.

Authenticity. Every golf course and superintendent has different needs. A manufacturer can provide features, benefits and data to market their products and services, but the best proof points come directly from the positive stories – from the people actually using them. For this interview, we prepared questions and key themes to hit on, but what stood out was the diversity of the story told by this director and superintendent – why they chose Rain Bird and how a product allowed them to overcome a unique challenge. The authenticity of this story made this video an impactful tool to deliver on the objectives for the campaign and a successful mouthpiece for advocating the Rain Bird brand.