Grass Measurements Shouldn't Get 1.1 Million Impressions.
The only newsletter where the pimento cheese sandwich is a case study
Augusta National posted six grass measurements on social media this week.
No hashtags. No creator strategy. No trending audio.
The fairways are cut to 3/8 of an inch. Greens at 1/8. Tees at 5/16. Collars at 1/4. They posted the full spec sheet and called it “The Details.”
Because that is the brand. Every single detail counts.
In case you’re wondering, yes, this newsletter inspired by a Linkedin post I did last year where I became obsessed with The Masters.
Cut to me putting the old green jacket on, again. This time looking kind of like Chris Farley in Tommy Boy.
People have been talking about this for 2 decades. But Augusta’s digital team really does operate like a newsroom. Over 150 pieces of content in two weeks during tournament time. 48 videos a day. Every post crafted with the same obsessive precision applied to the grass.
Leave Money on the Table
The TV rights cost CBS, ESPN and — for the first time this year — Amazon, exactly zero dollars. Augusta grants broadcast rights for free. In exchange for total production control. Four minutes of commercials per hour. Their cameras. Their call.
Amazon just got two hours of Thursday and Friday coverage. They described getting the deal as an honour. They should.
The merch is only on site. No drop. No Shopify. The merch case of you had to be there. They’ll do about $70 million during tournament week. A collectible gnome has become one of the most coveted items in sports. 125 styles of baseball caps. Gone in hours.
The Cheapest Food in Sports. On Purpose.
The egg salad and pimento cheese sandwiches continue to be $1.50. Have been since 2002. Pork barbecue $1.50. Masters Club, chicken salad, ham and cheese on rye, classic chicken all $3. Beer and wine max out at $6. Coffee is $2.
This year Augusta introduced a new candy bar. Dark-milk chocolate blend with caramel, rice crisps and hazelnut crunch, made in partnership with Bitzel’s, an artisan chocolate factory near Atlanta. $2.25.
The Georgia Peach Ice Cream Sandwich — peach ice cream between two soft sugar cookies — is $3 and apparently a staff favourite at every outlet that covers this tournament.
The concession menu isn’t cheap because Augusta can’t charge more.
It’s cheap because the experience is the product.
The experience is the brand. That’s the lesson.
The Rules Are the Brand
The other thing about The Masters and Augusta is the rules.
Magnolia Lane is 330 yards. 61 magnolia trees on each side.
You are a patron, not a spectator.
You cannot run.
Your chair cannot have arms.
You cannot wear your hat backwards.
You cannot take sand home without being arrested.
The logo hasn’t meaningfully changed since 1934.
The tournament wasn’t even called The Masters yet.
The brand was already figured out.
Meanwhile, Everyone Else Is Sprinting Too
Sports Business Journal ran a piece about MLB teams building in-house content studios this week too. It’s worth the read.
The Dodgers generated $101 million in social media value last season. Not revenue. Not ticket sales. Social media value. The number defined as the equivalent cost of reaching that same audience through paid advertising. 2.51 billion impressions. 122 million engagements. From their own accounts.
The Mariners used to rely on an outside agency for their commercials. Not anymore. Everything in-house now. This spring they produced a series of digital shorts, they won’t call them commercials.
One features their All-Star catcher Cal Raleigh playing a fictional alter ego called “Hal Baleigh.” Another is called “Babyproof” — built around the influx of new dads on the roster. Both went viral.
“One advantage to going in-house is we have the ability to build relationships with these players,” Mariners Creative Director Keri Zierler told SBJ. “We get to know them on a more human level, so we have insights into their personalities more so than an external agency just coming in cold would have.”
The Brewers went further. Their senior manager of content Ezra Siegel calls their internal philosophy “Arthouse Baseball.”
This spring they filmed a stunt making it look like pitcher Jacob Misiorowski who touches 104 mph, threw a fastball that knocked an apple off a prospect’s head. People genuinely couldn’t tell if it was real.
The Mets went long-form. Full two-part documentary on Juan Soto. A series called “Inside the Diamond.” Behind-the-scenes travel content.
“Content has gone from kind of a support function to now being the main driver of the business,” said Mets VP of creative content Bobby Clemens.
The NBA Built a Second Brain
The NBA took a different approach entirely. They built a second account. @nbaresdev is the “NBA Research & Development.” This account bills itself as the official unofficial testing lab for the league. And if testing means pop culture and fun.
Content like “Does starting a podcast make you worse at basketball?” and “Why Summer House is like the Brooklyn Nets.” And most importantly, players responding to being called hot. Or Dwyane Wade’s legacy analyzed like a true crime conspiracy board.
None of it reflects the NBA brand per se. All of it extends it to new audiences.
The Gap
Every sports team and property is sprinting in a different direction trying to find new people. Building studios, launching alter egos, making GTA parodies, testing things in R&D accounts nobody expects to work.
Augusta posts grass measurements and gets 1.1 million impressions from the audience it already owns.
The Brewers are doing genuinely interesting work. The Dodgers’ numbers are staggering even if their feed isn’t all that compelling. The NBA R&D account is legitimately clever especially if you are a cross over Bravo fan.
You can build a content studio.
It’s harder to manufacture 90 years of earned obsession.
Cocktail of the Week: The 13th Hole
The official Masters Azalea is vodka, lemonade and grenadine. Elegant. Appropriate. Very on brand.
This is not that.
The 13th Hole is what you make at home on the couch when you can’t get a ticket and you’ve decided to commit to watching 40 hours of golf anyway.
2 oz bourbon
1 oz fresh lemon juice
½ oz grenadine
Top with cream soda
Build over ice in a rocks glass. Add bourbon, lemon and grenadine, stir once. Top with the trashiest cream soda you can find. Don’t shake it. Garnish with a cherry and a lemon wheel.
It’s pink. It’s loud. It tastes like the 13th hole looks.
Pair it with a $3 Georgia Peach Ice Cream Sandwich if you can find one.
Augusta would never serve this drink. Make two and enjoy with Carl.
The Drink Cart. A newsletter version of sitting at a really good bar with someone who thinks too much about advertising and won’t shut up about it. Wednesdays and Fridays.