“October 1 marked an exciting new chapter in the history and the modern evolution of the European Tour as we unveiled our new brand identity along with our new website and app. More than a decade has elapsed since we last embarked on a brand refresh. It is fair to say both golf and the European Tour have changed immensely in the interim, particularly over the past four years as we have strived to lead the transformation of global golf through our creative content, our commitment to innovation and our desire to break new ground.
Latterly, we have found ourselves in a position where our organisation had accelerated beyond our brand, but the fresh, modern identity we have unveiled, flanked by our strapline ‘Driving Golf Further’ and underpinned by our three pillars of being innovative, inclusive and global, unequivocally reflects where we are at now. This is us. This is the European Tour as we head into 2020.Of course, that is not to say we do not also recognise and reflect our past. Just as I have always said, innovative formats such as GolfSixes are necessary to appeal to modern audiences but 72-hole stroke play, such as our Rolex Series tournaments, will always remain the core of our sport.
We are rightly proud of our history and we will continue to celebrate the tradition of the European Tour. During the BMW PGA Championship, six-time Major champion Sir Nick Faldo, one of the European Tour’s greatest players, visited our new-state-of-the art offices to see some of the changes we have made, including the construction of the Sir Nick Faldo Meeting Room, which showcases his considerable achievements in the game.
It is one of three meeting rooms we have created, alongside the Seve Ballesteros Room and the Colin Montgomerie Room, all named in honour of some of our true legends, while in our new-look boardroom, the latest technology is presided over by a powerful mural of our founding father John Jacobs. Furthermore, our players will continue to compete for the Harry Vardon trophy awarded to the person who wins our season-long Race to Dubai.
Our past, therefore, will continue to inform and shape our future. That will not change, but it was, important, if not essential, that we revisited our brand, our aesthetic and our positioning to reflect more accurately what we are doing as a Tour right now.
One of the key opportunities this affords us is the opportunity to engage better with our fans and with our partners. We want to have a deeper relationship with both and I feel our new brand enables us to do that.
As a business our focus has shifted in recent years from B2B to B2C through extending our ecosystem beyond traditional revenue sources and the existing model of simply staging golf tournaments.
Our new logo is representative of this evolution. It is more modern and more commercially friendly than before, with the ‘T’ more instantly recognisable and more flexible, giving us the ability to create greater brand identity.
Both our website and app have also been refreshed to allow us to showcase the incredible content that has become so synonymous with the European Tour over the last few years as we have developed our unique tone of voice in this space.
Fittingly, we have reprised one of our most popular pieces of recent times, The Content Committee, to help celebrate today’s brand roll out. Our players are, after all, central to everything we do and they are the key ingredient in our recipe for success. It is their Tour and they, along with our partners, will help us drive golf further.”