Ads tee off via GPS golf program

When you think about captive audiences, moviegoers certainly come to mind. Well, how about golfers on-course in a cart using a GPS satellite display system?

With more than 700 courses–mostly resort or daily-fee–hooked up, and a potential consumer base of 10 million cartriders annually checking out their GPS infoscreens, ProLink Solutions offers an on-screen ad program that puts marketers’ messages right next to playing tips, key info and diagrams of golf holes.

“We have a captive audience for four and a half to five hours, with a product the consumer is interactively using,” said Lawrence Bain, ProLink president/CEO.

For marketers, the program can be bought on a local scale or nationally, with space–in a quadrant of the screen–purchased in three, six and 12-month blocks. Rate cards list prices by the number of courses and holes. Cadillac, for instance, looking to tout its DTS model last fall, purchased a three-month program encompassing 105 courses. Displayed on five holes per 18-hole round, ads were seen for roughly 14 minutes per hole, times five.

“Our research found that consumer retention and unaided recall is very high,” said Bain. ProLink just began selling local ads the past few months, with courses sharing in revenues. Ads must be static. “Video would be too distracting,” said Bain.

ProLink’s growing ad roster includes Avis, BMW, British Airways, HBO, HSBC, 84 Lumber, Aquafina, Red Bull, Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse and Visa.