Innovation | Branding | Customer Experience

Union Green

Building a new challenger brand for Acushnet's growth consumer.
Union Green

Uncovering golf's counterculture,
then creating the go-to brand for it
 corner-left-box

Spotting growth on the fringes

Over the course of our longstanding partnership with Acushnet, we’ve spanned their portfolio top to bottom with a wide scope of work, all aimed at strengthening their market position, while driving topline growth in a category that’s overwhelmingly played out.

With brands like Titleist that have long been coveted by competitors—both on the green and in the aisle—Acushnet had already won their share of loyalists in the golf scene. But while the biggest players in the category set their sights on the same crowded territory, we looked to the fringes—where a new generation of golfers was rapidly emerging. Young, progressive, diverse—and quickly growing.

Spotting growth on the fringes

Over the course of our longstanding partnership with Acushnet, we’ve spanned their portfolio top to bottom with a wide scope of work, all aimed at strengthening their market position, while driving topline growth in a category that’s overwhelmingly played out.

With brands like Titleist that have long been coveted by competitors—both on the green and in the aisle—Acushnet had already won their share of loyalists in the golf scene. But while the biggest players in the category set their sights on the same crowded territory, we looked to the fringes—where a new generation of golfers was rapidly emerging. Young, progressive, diverse—and rapidly growing.

Tapping an overlooked consumer

Through our immersive insights work, we pinpointed a consumer segment that was overlooked, in part because it didn’t look like any other audience in their target market. These golfers played by a different set of rules, challenging the exclusivity and elitist stereotypes commonly associated with country club culture. By identifying this new, game-changing consumer segment, we were able to uncover a vacancy in Acushnet’s portfolio.

Our objective: fill it. Our approach: create a new brand that would extend Acushnet into emergent territory; a brand that could resonate in the changing cultural current, without diluting Acushnet’s status and longstanding reputation in golf’s highest-ranking circles.

Tapping an overlooked consumer

Through our immersive insights work, we pinpointed a consumer segment that was overlooked, in part because it didn’t look like any other audience in their target market. These golfers played by a different set of rules, challenging the exclusivity and elitist stereotypes commonly associated with country club culture. By identifying this new, game-changing consumer segment, we were able to uncover a vacancy in Acushnet’s portfolio.

Our objective: fill it. Our approach: create a new brand that would extend Acushnet into emergent territory; a brand that could resonate in the changing cultural current, without diluting Acushnet’s status and longstanding reputation in golf’s highest-ranking circles.

Charting a proven path to $25mm

It is too easy to point to big piles of money, hoping to win a share. It is much harder to build a proven, data-driven model that focuses on capturing the opportunity. Online Proto-Selling provided clear data benchmarks for creating a proven path to our $25MM revenue goal.

Sprinting
to validation

 

We used our nimble, digital validation tools to translate key consumer insights into testable concepts, fast-tracking us to an understanding of purchase intent while laying the groundwork for the brand’s visual and verbal expression.

Aligning quickly, creating closely, launching decisively

With collective buy-in on the strategy, we began rapidly building the brand—from the name, identity and packaging, to merchandise, photo strategy and marketing collateral.

10 months

from kickoff to launch.


Union Green went live in January 2020 with two golf ball SKUs and a variety of lifestyle apparel that’s already showing up on the greens.

10 months
from kickoff to launch.


Union Green went live in January 2020 with two golf ball SKUs and a variety of lifestyle apparel that’s already showing up on the greens.

“

I've never been a part of something that has been so universally well-received. Not only is it the work, but also the process that made Union Green come to life.

MICHAEL MAHONEY

VP, MARKETING, TITLEIST, ACUSHNET

A brand & innovation consultancy
Work with us
Josh Bokelman
josh.bokelman@lpk.com
+1 513 241 6401
© 2023 LPK, Inc. Global Brand Design Agency
Linkedin Instagram Twitter Facebook-f

Get LPK in Your Inbox

 

FIND YOURSELF HERE.

We are a coveted brand and innovation consultancy. A collective of curious minds and creative souls. But this is not simply a place. It’s a direction; a movement pointed ever forward. Here, each of us leads by doing. We inspire our fellow specialists, but also our clients and industry colleagues. The work we create means something and makes something: makes minds change. Makes needles move. Makes watershed moments.

You are different here, and you’ll keep on changing. You will grow here. You will be smart, brave, closer to the truth.

And your transformation will also be ours—a progression paved by following your deepest passions and wildest ideas.

Because here, you own a piece of what happens next. Here, we’re united in the belief that LPK is never finished. We are ravenous for the new, the emerging, the uncharted. We know what we hold sacred. And clinging to that, we charge ahead.

Return to Careers page
Subscribe

    • CPG Brand Workshops

     

    Desires Workshop

     

    Desires Canvas

     

    Innovation Platforms

     

    Have a challenge? We’re all ears.
    Let’s talk about how we can partner.

     

    Have a challenge? We’re all ears.
    Let’s talk about how we can partner.

     

    Have a challenge? We’re all ears.
    Let’s talk about how we can partner.

     

    Have a challenge? We’re all ears.
    Let’s talk about how we can partner.

     

    We use cookies. By continuing we’ll assume you accept the terms of our privacy policy.