Cadillac To Become Official Vehicle Of PGA Of America In 3-Year Deal

Cadillac is re-entering familiar space.

The luxury auto brand has inked a three-year deal to become the Official Vehicle of the PGA of America, PGA Championship, KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship and KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

This is not Cadillac’s first (or even second, for that matter) foray into the golf space. The General Motors-owned company, which relinquished its sponsorship of The Masters in 2007 after forty years, returned with the PGA TOUR in 2010 as the title sponsor of the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship. That agreement; however, was terminated in 2016 due to then-presidential candidate Donald Trump’s ownership of Trump National Doral in Miami and controversial comments made during his campaign.

Now, Cadillac is returning to the golf space with the PGA of America and with a number of different assets and touchpoints planned. The partnership will feature on-site activation at the Championships, including Cadillacs for spectators to see and vehicle fleets for players to use. There will also be media buys on CBS and ESPN – the two networks that will be broadcasting the events.

Additionally, Cadillac will be a partner for the KPMG Women’s Leadership Summit. This should be no surprise given its recent focus on women. The company partnered with Girlboss, a community of entrepreneurial-minded women, and ran a recent commercial with all females.

This is certainly a shift for the 116-year-old company, given its 2017 stance. “Cadillac has moved away from golf, where our competitors are focused, and doubled down on art, fashion, travel and entertainment,” Katie Kim, Cadillac’s Manager of Brand Partnerships and Experiences, told IEG. “Cadillac has always been a pop culture muse and icon and the brand can leverage that equity in a new way by committing to the arts and culture, areas of high interest to our target audience.”

Yet, Deborah Wahl, Cadillac’s Global Chief Marketing Officer who was hired in March 2018, is clearly paving her own path for the historic brand. “Cadillac is in a very exciting time, as we are introducing a new vehicle every six months for the next three years, so partnering with the PGA of America provides the perfect platform to showcase the brand and our expanding portfolio of luxury vehicles,” Wahl said in a press release. “Additionally, the PGA enables Cadillac to reach and engage a diverse demographic with multiple large-scale touchpoints each year. We are thrilled to be re-entering the sports landscape with a premier partner in the PGA of America.”