It wasn’t just pro golfer Webb Simpson who emerged victorious during The Players Championship Tournament of the PGA Tour held earlier this month. The event proved to be a field day for Webb’s sponsor, Burns & Wilcox, as well.
Burns & Wilcox saw a 1-2 finish among its sponsored players, with Jimmy Walker tied for second. The wins were a quick payoff for the firm. In January 2016, it became the only wholesale insurance company to have a PGA sponsorship after signing Walker. The firm added Simpson a year later.
The 1-2 finish has reportedly given the company about $720,630 worth of TV exposure during the Championship’s final round on May 13. This was based on a mere 16 minutes of airtime, Eric Wright, president and executive director of research at Joyce Julius & Associates told Crain’s Detroit Business.
In its report, Crain’s said the figure amounts to what the wholesale insurance broker and underwriting manager would have paid for TV commercials or other marketing to get the same exposure its logo had during the event.
Learn the duties and responsibilities of a wholesale insurance broker in this article.
Both pro golfers wear the firm’s logo on their shirts. According to Wright’s estimates, that would mean more than $570,000 for the logo on Simpson’s shirt, and $6,240 for the same on Walker based on their TV time, Crain’s said. Add to that another $147,000 for the logo on the hat of Simpson’s caddy, and about $2,400 from the logo showing up on Simpsons’ golf bag.
“I can say that to be on a hat and a shirt for a player in the top 20, it would cost at least $250,000. Keep in mind that each of these sponsorships includes things like player appearances as well as commercial opportunities,” said Mike Dietz, president and director of Farmington Hills-based Dietz Sports & Entertainment as quoted by Crain’s.
Over the four-day event, Burns & Wilcox observed a significant spike in website visitors and Google search volume, which both increased by over eight times, it said in a statement. NBC reported the Players Championship ratings hit a five-year high, reaching 4.2 for Sunday’s final round and generating nearly 10 million impressions throughout the entire tournament. Aside from the Masters, The Players Championship is the highest rated golf event of 2018 to date.
