The strategic communications campaign surrounding English cricket took a two-way approach to research. The primary source of information for the campaign came from interviews with prominent figures in English cricket, including professional players, coaches, managers, and marketing coordinators. The goal of the interviews was to work out the prevailing attitudes towards the sport, while determining what structural changes can be made to broaden the sport’s appeal.
The second I began reading about the perceptions of cricket in England, I noticed an immediate parallel in an American sport and this quote summarizes it perfectly:
“One of the challenges facing contemporary professional cricket is the need to generate interest in what is seen by many as a game which belongs to a bygone age and that is played at County clubs that can be experienced as stuffy or unwelcoming”
Maria Hopwood, 2005.
There’s really no way around it: young Americans hate golf. It’s viewed as boring, too slow, bad for the environment, and is usually played at stuffy and unwelcoming country clubs. There is currently a TikTok creator who exclusively makes videos about hating golf and she has over 100,000 followers and 3.3 million likes.
The main barrier of entry for getting into golf for most Americans is the cost. The annual cost of a golf club membership can range anywhere from $3,000 to $100,000, and single round of golf in Virginia can be up to $100. Much like cricket, golf is seen as a sport for the older and wealthier people of the country.
The target of the English cricket campaign was young people, as they’re likely to stay with a club for much longer. Golf clubs could take a similar approach with a concerted effort to court the membership of young people. Interviewing a range of people within the sport while also surveying younger demographics about their opinions on golf would be an effective way to determine what changes can be made to the sport in order to court younger demographics. Much like cricket in 2003, golf needs to find a way to shed it’s current reputation in order to secure it’s future in the United States.