Graeme Storm may have taken home a cheque for ZAR15,000,000 for winning the BMW SA Open, hosted by City of Ekurhuleni, last week, but he didn’t have the widest smile.
That belonged to the four lucky golf fans who won the use of a stunning BMW i8 supercar for a weekend in an interactive promotion hosted by one of the world’s leading sports activation agencies, Provision Events (PVE).
The most popular area in the European Tour’s spectator area was undoubtedly the BMW ‘welcome village’, which featured a nearest-the-pin simulator and ‘impossible long-putt challenge’, provided for the title sponsor by PVE, which has offices in the UK, USA and UAE.
Over the four days of competition, 40 people managed to hole the teasing 14m putt – which proved the main attraction in the spectator village – and each was entered into a draw to win the weekend’s use of the critically acclaimed supercar, while daily TaylorMade prizes were awarded on the simulator, as spectators flocked to PVE’s experiential events.
PVE’s co-founder Nick Clemens said: “It’s always a pleasure to work with the various promotional teams at BMW and the village at Glendower Golf Club was one of the busiest parts of the course – with the long-putt challenge attracting a lot of interest.
“But we don’t have long to sit back and congratulate ourselves on a job well done, as we move on to the PGA Show in Orlando, and then both tennis and golf events next month.”
The hub of the village at the South African Open was the first of many such ‘fan zones’ to be provided by PVE across the globe in 2017, with the 13-year-old company expecting to provide its 1,000th event during the year. And, among those events will be various ‘fan zone’ experiences at around a dozen European Tour tournaments.
Freelance events manager James Maclay has worked with PVE on many occasions and said: “Every time we work with Provision Golf we thoroughly enjoy ourselves and our clients are so very impressed. The attention to detail and knowledge is second to none and that quality shines through. We have worked with (co-founders) Nick and Konrad all round Europe – always 100 per cent client satisfaction. I cannot say more than that.”
Working primarily in golf and tennis, PVE offers brand experience strategy; planning and creative; event production; storage and logistics and delivery, all with a ‘get the job done no matter what’ ethos as the company established itself as the ‘go to’ expert in providing ‘fan zones’ at sporting events.
PVE has provided activations for one-day events, week-long championships, and even year-round roadshows, for clients as diverse as multi-national blue chip companies and local sports clubs.
Its impressively extensive client list includes, among others, Barclays, BMW, Emirates, Google, Shell, Stella Artois, Volvo and Exeter Squash Club. And, in golf itself, the client portfolio is no less impressive, featuring the likes of Callaway Golf, the European Tour, Nike, the PGA Tour, the R&A and TaylorMade.
Provision Events www.provisionevents.co.uk