IBM and the Masters: A Technology Sponsorship Unlike Most Others

An "inside the ropes" look at IBM's sports partnership strategy, and the risk vs. reward game that the technology vendor takes on as Tiger Woods returns to golf and viewer interest hits an all-time-high in the storied tournament at Augusta National.

By Thomas Wailgum
Tue, April 06, 2010

CIO — When viewers tune in to coverage of the 2010 Masters golf tournament, they will see IBM advertisements on the CBS (CBS) and ESPN TV broadcasts and the IBM (IBM) logo on the Masters.com website. Viewers will most likely hear about IBM's vision of a "smarter planet" campaign. (I always look forward to the guy who says "Smarter Stuttgart.")

Viewers don't have to fret about being overwhelmed with the volume of ads. This is the Masters, after all. The annual golf tournament prides itself on a "less is more" philosophy when it comes to advertisements. Commercial interruptions are the exception, not the norm: During eight hours of TV coverage on Saturday and Sunday of the 2009 Masters, Nielsen data showed just 36 minutes of commercials.

In fact, unlike most professional golf tournaments, the Masters has only three sponsors: IBM, AT&T and ExxonMobil (XOM). These three business giants pay for the exclusivity of the Masters' "limited commercial interruptions," though that price tag is a closely guarded secret.

Even so, the return of Tiger Woods back into the public eye and the professional golfing world will likely make this year's edition a marketer's dream: TV ratings are projected to be through the roof and fan interest in the event is, impossibly, at an even higher level than typical. According to one Bloomberg article, the trio of Masters sponsors could realize a 43 percent boost in the value of TV ads simply because of Woods' return.

IBM's sponsorship, however, is a little bit different than AT&T's or ExxonMobil's arrangements with the executives who operate the Augusta National Golf Club. Sure there are the TV spots that IBM buys, but viewers will also notice that the tournament is "powered" by IBM technology.

Tiger Woods makes his return
to professional golf at
the 2010 Masters Tournament.

No, IBM is not the state of Georgia's new utility provider. It means, according to Rick Singer, IBM's VP of client executive marketing, that IBM systems and staffers provide the IT backbone for Augusta National. "We provide virtually all of their technology needs from beginning to end," Singer says. That includes a wide range of tasks such as: core infrastructure and data center management; website design and interactive content development; networking and security; and golf scoring and player statistics, a.k.a. "data management."

Simply stated, Singer says, "We're helping them communicate with the world." And with Tiger Woods back roaming the fairways and greens of Augusta National, it will probably feel like most of the world will indeed be watching.

A Sponsorship Unlike Any Other

IBM's sponsorship-partnership arrangement with Augusta National is unique, especially when compared with your typical corporate sponsorship of golf events, tennis tournaments or other sports-related business schmoozefests. Those typically look like this: Show up on the day of event with clients, wine-and-dine, talk-a-little-business and offer up a reverential "golf clap" every so often.

1 2 3 next page »

You are here: Applications » Feature

Most Recent Applications Stories

White Papers »

Accelerate time to application value

For your IT organization to keep pace with the business, you need a new, faster approach to infrastructure deployment-an approach that increases agility and accelerates time to application value. That's HP Converged Systems. Built on Converged Infrastructure, these systems deliver the industry's first portfolio of pre-integrated, tested, and optimized infrastructure solutions for applications running in virtual, cloud, dedicated, or hybrid environments.

Top 10 Myths About Virtualizing Business-Critical Applications

Even though virtualization has brought positive change to enterprise IT over the last decade, some skepticism remains about how valuable virtualization can be in the way companies deliver and run business applications. Uncover the truth about how you can run your business critical applications with confi dence without sacrifi cing
availability or service quality-and at lower costs.

The Hidden Truth About Virtualizing Business-Critical Applications

This IDG whitepaper highlights key findings based on the Quickpoll Survey conducted with more than 300 Enterprise and Commercial IT decision makers worldwide about the state of their virtualization of business critical applications. This paper answers such questions as: What drivers are pushing companies to extend virtualization beyond servers? and What value are they realizing? Central to the paper are key results that expose risks of the past (fears of limited ISV support, performance impact) no longer are a factor for companies moving to 80+% virtualized.

Enterprise Java Applications on VMware: Unix to Linux Migration Guide

This guide focuses on key considerations for IT Architects who are in the process of migrating Java applications from UNIX to Linux as part of their VMware server consolidation project.

Virtualizing Tier 1 Applications: A Critical Step on the Journey Toward the Private Cloud

This IDC white paper explains how much of the Enterprise IT community is at a crossroads in extending their journey to the private cloud: Companies must virtualize their business critical applications in order to reap the benefits of cloud computing. The paper also includes two case studies and a sidebar highlighting the experiences of three enterprises with virtualizing their business-critical applications, which include Oracle and Microsoft SQL databases, SAP and enterprise Java, and a Microsoft Exchange email system.

Best Practices Guide: Microsoft Exchange 2010 on VMware

This guide provides best practice guidelines for deploying Exchange Server 2010 on vSphere.

Webcasts »

Apps QuickStart Series Part 2: Designing and Deploying SQL Server on VMware vSphere

Download this webcast to learn about the design considerations for virtualizing SQL workloads, performance and scalability information and high-availability options, as well as support considerations

Apps QuickStart Series Part 1: Designing and Deploying Exchange 2010 on VMware vSphere

Download this webcast to learn the virtual hardware design considerations for Exchange 2010, deployment using the building block approach, options for high-availability and disaster recovery and support considerations.

Virtualize Business-Critical Applications with Confidence

Virtualizing business-critical applications has become a key focus for organizations as they move along their virtualization journey. With the launch of VMware vSphere® 5, VMware is helping customers accelerate the deployment of business-critical applications, including Exchange, SQL, SAP and Oracle.

Discover the Benefits of Virtualization for Federal Applications

Want to say goodbye to missed SLAs? VMware can help you virtualize mission-critical applications such as Oracle, MS Exchange and SharePoint to achieve dramatic improvements in uptime, performance and responsiveness. In this webcast, we'll discuss the key benefits of virtualizing your agency's most critical applications and Oracle databases as a necessary first step in fulfilling OMB's mandate to move IT services to the cloud. With VMware, you'll be on the way to quick, effective and full compliance.

When Java EE Is Overkill: Lightweight Application Server Benefits

The complexity, cost and technological bloat of traditional Java EE application servers are often barriers to running a lean and efficient IT organization. Increased need for scalability and rapid application delivery are driving businesses to reconsider the platform they use for application deployment. By combining the portability and agility of the Spring framework with a lightweight application server, your organization can meet business demands while staying within budget constraints. VMware vFabric™ tc Server is a modern, lightweight Java application server based on Apache Tomcat. It improves developer productivity, control and manageability-and is the most flexible platform for virtualizing Java applications and workloads for the cloud. View this webcast to learn about real-world examples of companies that have adopted VMware vFabric tc Server and how to plan for future cloud deployments.

Introduction to VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5

Traditional disaster recovery solutions are often too expensive, complex and unreliable to meet business requirements. As a result, IT departments are hesitant to expand disaster protection beyond their most critical applications, largely because they are uncertain whether the quality of the protection is really worth its cost. VMware vCenter™ Site Recovery Manager 5 is the market-leading disaster recovery product that addresses this situation for organizations of all kinds. It complements VMware vSphere to ensure the simplest and most reliable disaster protection for all virtualized applications.

Newsletter Sign-Up »

Receive the latest news test, reviews and trends on your favorite technology topics

Choose a newsletter