The PGA Championship returned to Valhalla Golf Club in 2024 for the first time in 10 years, and Lemonade PR was hired as the official agency of record in January of 2023. We worked directly with the Championship Director and team locally as well as the PGA Public Relations team out of Frisco to create an ongoing public relations campaign to support their marketing efforts and mission in order to create awareness of the Championship in the local and regional markets. We helped craft messaging and unique touch points that would resonate with this market and maintain buzz throughout the year leading up to the Championship itself.
Over the course of those 17 months, we worked on the following:
Awareness/Community Relations
- Announcements for ticket sales, official inventory, volunteer opportunities, transportation and more
- Photo opportunities around the city with the Wanamaker Trophy paired with ticket giveaways
Media Relations
- In April we hosted 40 members of the local and regional media at Valhalla for a round of golf and a fireside chat with Championship Director and Chairman to preview the Championship. We managed the invitation list and media prep for the speakers.
- Coordinated local news interviews with designated spokespeople from the PGA and Valhalla team throughout the year and provided media training as needed
- Worked with the PGA team in the media credential process, making recommendations on
- Managed all on-site media relations during Pre-Championship and Championship week including filling all news interview requests,
- On-site event support for PGA ancillary events including Secretary’s Cup andPGA WORKS Beyond The Green
- Crisis Communications counsel and close collaboration with PGA and city leadership
The Results
- Our work over these 17 months included over $9.5 million in earned media and over 315,000,000 impressions, making the 2024 PGA Championship a record-setter in ticket sales, hospitality sales and merchandise sales.
