Subscribe to JohnWallStreet

June 16, 2023

Editor Note: Adam Grossman takes the controls on Friday mornings. You will find his latest Revenue Above Replacement column is below. No newsletter Monday (Juneteenth). I'll be back on Tuesday. Have a great weekend.

Uber Masters ‘Moment Marketing’ With Berry Henson at U.S. Open

Berry Henson took an unlikely path to the 2023 U.S. Open–a road he could not have traveled without Uber.

Henson has played professional golf, on over a dozen tours, for more than 20 years. But until this weekend, the 43-year-old had never participated in one of golf’s four majors.

Henson was one of 45 players, out of a record 10,187 entries, that the USGA accepted to play in this year’s tournament. His ability to qualify given those odds is a remarkable story in of itself. The fact that the spots often go to PGA Tour golfers who did not gain entrance via other means (e.g., having a high enough place in the Official Golf World Rankings) makes qualification even more impressive.

“It reminds us [of] what we love so much about sports and most importantly, the stories of underdogs and the unexpected,” Micheal Neuman (founder of Scout Sports and Entertainment) said.

Henson was only a position to pursue his dreams of playing in a major because of Uber. He has been supplementing his golf income with work as a part-time driver. 

His journey validates Uber’s brand proposition to the drivers central to its business model. Henson is the literal embodiment of the company’s “drive when you want, make what you need” tag line.

Credit Uber for quickly recognizing the relationship and for responding to the opportunity. Because it did, the transportation conglomerate was able to generate substantial impact from the tie-up before Henson even teed off in Los Angeles. 

Excel Analytics found in the day after the long-time pro qualified, Uber generated 33.5 million impressions across digital and social platforms, an 18.2% sentiment score, and $77.6 thousand in value. 

Each of these metrics warrants further analysis. 

The 33.5 million impressions were particularly valuable because they directly spotlighted Uber’s role in helping Henson to achieve his professional dreams. For example, an Associated Press headline stated, “Part-time Uber Driver Berry Henson Travels the World to Get to US Open.”

Sentiment scores measure how positive or negative the conversation is about a company, sports property, or a company and sports property that are mentioned together. We have found that average sentiment score in this context is 13.2% meaning the Henson-Uber content has 37.6% higher sentiment score. That is significant bump overall and particularly considering companies with a similar profile to Uber often have lower sentiment scores than the average. 

Value, in this context, is a measure of the revenue and brand impact that the impressions generate relative to the cost. The value already generated by Henson likely exceeds what Uber paid to sponsor him. If Henson performs well this weekend, Uber should be in position to enjoy a substantial increase value received. 

That last point is noteworthy given the idiosyncratic nature of golf’s biggest events.

Three of the sport's four majors are either open tournaments (see: U.S. Open, The Open Championship) or allow club professionals to compete (see: PGA Tour). Club professional Michael Block qualified, made a hole-in-one and finished 15th at the PGA Championship in May. He became one of the dominant media storylines during, and in the immediate wake of, the tournament. 

Block’s success makes Henson more likely to receive broadcast media coverage during the tournament given the similar storylines. Uber’s logo on the player's collar for at least two rounds (and maybe four) means the company should be well positioned to maximize brand exposure with millions of potential customers watching the broadcasts. 

Uber's existing relationship with Henson should position the company to reap greater returns than those who tied up with Block at a later stage of, or after, the PGA Championship.

Golf’s major championship structure allows for underdog stories that more brands should consider for investment. But the applicability of Henson’s story is not limited to golf. 

Organic partnership activation can be instrumental in driving value for companies. Content that organically comes about and tells a story is more likely to create audience engagement and increase brand sentiment than highly produced –and often more expensive– partnerships. 

Sports properties (leagues, teams, and events) and athletes that can proactively identify organic partnership opportunities with companies will increase their partnership dollars, while delivering their partners a greater ROI.

“Brand storytelling has rapidly evolved where the most prepared and creative brands are mastering a new art form of ‘moment marketing,” Neuman said. “[They are] expediting the time it takes to surgically introduce an organic story, or self-manufacture one and hope lighting is caught in the proverbial bottle.”   

About the Author: Adam Grossman is the Vice President of Business Insights & Analytics at Excel Sports Management. He works with companies, sports properties, media rights holders, athletes, agencies, and events to determine the value of their most important assets. Grossman is also a professor at Northwestern University Master’s In Sports Administration program and the co-author of The Sports Strategist: Developing Leaders for a High-Performance Industry. You can find him at [email protected].