Award-winning Direct Golf, Europe’s leading multi-channel specialist golf retailer, has appointed golf marcomms specialist The Azalea Group to manage its PR outreach.
Founded in 1991, and still wholly owned by PGA professional John Andrew, Direct Golf has enjoyed massive growth in 23 successful years of trading. It started with one small shop in Huddersfield, but owing to its reputation for offering golfers the widest choice and best prices, the brand has grown to 20 retail outlets nationwide and is responsible for a significant proportion of the web and mail-order golf market.
Managing director Neil Bell explained: “We felt we needed to supplement our existing activity with some focused communication in both consumer and trade markets. There is a lot more to the company than selling top brands at discounted prices – but those messages need to be transmitted in a different way, and we feel Azalea, with its proven track record and reputation in the industry, in this country and beyond, is the ideal partner to achieve our aims.
“We have a great understanding of each other’s businesses and Direct Golf has some really engaging stories to push out this year. We know how Azalea works; it’s innovative and creative and with good media relationships which lead to some eye-opening PR for their clients.”
His sentiments were echoed by Azalea director Andy Barwell, who added: “This is a very exciting time for Direct Golf, and John and his team have a number of new projects in the pipeline which need to be communicated to the market via specific channels. We look forward to helping them enjoy a busy 2014 and beyond.”
Now in its eighth year of trading, Azalea has established itself as one of Europe’s leading specialist agencies, working with some of the continent’s major national and regional tourist boards, flagship golf and lifestyle resorts, and golf’s leading brands.
The Azalea Group www.theazaleagroup.com
Direct Golf UK www.direct-golf.co.uk