Dunkin’ Donuts is sponsoring the 2004 Duff Challenge, amateur one-day, two-player regional events, underway at more than 80 public golf courses across the United States.
The events are open to any amateur player with a handicap index between 7.0 and 27.0. The top two regional teams from each one-day event will advance to the national finals hosted at the Casablanca Resort in Mesquite, NV, for a 54-hole event. The winning amateur team, with the benefit of their handicaps, then compete against PGA stars John Daly and Scott Hoch for $50,000 in an event to be broadcast on the Golf Channel.
Doug Chernack, tournament director of the Duff Challenge wanted to create an event in whick the average weekend golfer could feel the same tournament excitement as the pros.
“There’s something so cool about lining up for a 10-foot putt for the win, which is pressure enough, then knowing it’s for 50 grand, and looking up and seeing John Daly and a television camera staring you right in the face,” Chernack said.
The Duff Challenge, LLC is a joint venture between Benderspink, a management/production company and 9th Floor Media Holdings, Inc., a holding company for ventures in film production, talent management and writer development.
“This is good for the game of golf. It’s a great opportunity for an amateur golfer to win a lot of money and then go on to play in a PGA-sanctioned tournament,” said Bill Papariella, president & CEO of 9th Floor Media.
Papariella arranged to have Daly wear a Dunkin’ Donuts patch on his right sleeve while participating earlier this month in the Battle of the Bridges golf challenge, which was broadcast live during prime-time on ABC-TV. The sponsorship has handled by Bennett Global Marketing Group, Waltham, MA.
“There was only one product mention, but it was the only brand that was mentioned during the telecast,” Papariella said. “And it was on his right arm, so every time he swung, you’d see it.”
The Duff Challenge is being promoted with displays at clubhouses and locker rooms of the courses that will be used, use of those clubs’ e-mail databases to drive traffic to the www.duffchallenge.com Web site, regional advertisements, targeted P-O-P in Dunkin Donuts stores relevant to the markets, and e-mails to Dunkin Donuts employees encouraging them to play in their local tournament.
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