On the cusp of the reinvented PGA Tour Canada’s season, the tour has partnered with MF1 Marketing to create a national branding campaign called “The Roar Starts Here.”

Television spots that feature the theme began airing last week in anticipation for the Times Colonist Island Savings Open – the season opening event for PGA Tour Canada starting June 3.

The goal of the campaign is to introduce PGA Tour Canada to the Canadian public, and “build excitement for the arrival of the PGA Tour brand in Canada,” said PGA Tour Canada president Jeff Monday.

“It’s important for us to quickly break through to the marketplace with this campaign. Our strategy has been to create an emotional connection between Canadian golf fans and PGA Tour Canada,” said Brian Woyt, senior director of brand development for the PGA Tour.

It’s a 360-degree involving print, digital, radio, and TV and uses PGA Tour Canada alumni to help focus on the fact that the tour is a gateway to the PGA Tour.

It was announced late in 2012 that the top five players on the season ending money list will qualify for the Web.com Tour, just one step away from the PGA Tour.

My take:

Unless it is lumped in with “digital” – I’ve not yet seen a social media activation included with the campaign, however, I wouldn’t be surprised to see one as the season presses on. PGA Tour Canada has started to include #TheRoarStartsHere hashtag on some Tweets, will have to keep a keen eye on that to see if it continues

It’s an emotionally-charged campaign that is aspirational in focus – which ties in nicely with the aspirational nature of the tour.

It will be interesting to see what other spots come out for each of the tournaments for the rest of the season.