ABOUT

BACKGROUND

- In 2021 the European Tour became the DP World Tour, transitioning DP World from a logistics partner to a headline partner.
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- Our challenge was to find a connection between the world of elite golf and the world of global supply – a connection that would seamlessly unite the two and give DP World an opportunity to demonstrate their capabilities through the lens of golf.

Objectives:
- Increase DP World’s visibility in the sports/golf sector
- Demonstrate DP World’s B2B logistics capabilities with golf/ sports

During the pandemic, there was a global shortage of golfing equipment due to manufacturing slowing down and supply chains being hit - creating a delay in the movement of new golf balls
Our desk research indicated that 1.5 billion golf balls could be lost or thrown away every year and that there was a need for these balls across organisations and individuals who can’t afford to purchase them
With their global supply expertise and the platform of the DP World Tour, we knew DP World were uniquely positioned to collect lost and used golf balls and give them to receptive beneficiaries.
This in turn gave us the perfect way to use the lens of golf to showcase DP World - educating B2B stakeholders and commercial targets of their expertise and capabilities
We developed the idea of The Second Life Container – a purpose-built shipping container that would use DP World’s end-to-end capabilities to travel around the world (via tournaments on the tour) and collect used and lost golf balls. Then, at the end of the season, all of these golf balls would be donated to grassroots golf organisations and charities
Although the container was empty inside, it was created with false walls and Perspex to give the impression it was full – creating a unique and eye-catching key visual at tournaments and to attract media attention. This crucially also drew an instant connection between the previously unconnected world’s of golf and end-to-end logistics
As the container visited tour locations, we developed a number of mechanics to collect golf balls. It involved collection through a lake diver, a dog with gift for finding lost balls, greenkeepers, scavenger hunts and fans donating balls at tournaments in exchange for the chance to win prizes
The container has travelled United Kingdom, UAE, Germany, Sweden, Netherlands and collected over 40k golf balls. We wanted to cover off a number of different tournaments across Europe in markets where DP World had significant presence and which tied into wider plans and activations
The Second Life Container is just the beginning of DP World using these capabilities to make golf more globally accessible

Execution
Edelman conceived, designed and oversaw built the container that was filled with golf balls throughout the journey – moving from Dubai to Europe
The container was designed to have a premium, eye catching look and feel – with the design creating the illusion that’s filled with golf balls
The journey of the container was planned around European Tour that started in January 2022 during Expo 2020 Dubai and ended in November
We showcased DP World B2B capabilities like track and trade the container while its traveling around the world and its multimodal facilities
Edelman identified beneficiaries who should be targeted to donate the golf balls
We conveyed the story and container’s journey continuously through ongoing earned and social media activations
Results
• The initiative was highly visible online. The initial launch announcement, DP World Tour tournaments and the reveal of beneficiaries, were key moments driving awareness of DPWT Container
• Container content generated high engagement on social, driven by owned channels, which helped increase reactions and positive/neutral sentiment
• Some miscellaneous news outlets participated in bringing the initiative to broader audiences, with ‘Marlo the dog’ and the ‘golf ball hunter’s’ notable stories
• In total, there were 224 social media posts across key markets, securing 444M potential impressions and 13.9K engagements
o Amongst these, earned were – 200+ social media posts and 13.3K engagements
• There were 114 news and blogs posts reaching news outlets in 14 countries
• The campaign garnered 100% neutral-to-positive sentiment. Millennials between the ages of 18-24 drove the highest percent of positive sentiment
• Social media commentary praised the creative product, consumers express their interest and primarily ask where they can purchase the sneakers. Negative commentary did not drive engagement