Robert A. Sereci, CCM, General Manager/Chief Operating Officer, Medinah (Ill.) Country Club, says branding isn’t just for cattle anymore. But just as a rancher brands cows to show ownership, managers should own, nurture and care for their club, and claim it appropriately with a consistent and well-defined brand that goes beyond mission statements and vision, to state who you are and why you do what you do.
Often, clubs confuse branding with recognition. They are not the same. Name recognition is not an indicator of a brand strategy. Simply stated, recognition and reputation are byproducts of your branding strategy.
We can consider Medinah Country Club’s brand position today as strong proof of this concept. By all accounts, eight years ago, Medinah seemed to have a recipe for success. Our club was a household name; we were on every discerning golfer’s bucket list, as our Course #3 is known worldwide for hosting historic tournaments; our clubhouse was the sixth-most iconic clubhouse in the world, and across the globe, people were proudly wearing our branded apparel.
With that level of notoriety, one would have thought we must have had a very long member waiting list; however, even after the conclusion of the 2012 Ryder Cup, we were still below our member capacity.
The diagnosis was a simple one. Our brand at the time was narrowly defined as a golf-centric club, with a rich history of hosting major tournaments. While true, our rich golf history was only a small part of who we are and what we do.
Stated differently, we had, over time, focused too much on what we did and not enough on our reason for being in the first place. The club was founded by fraternal Shriners and created to provide families with an oasis from the city, so members and their families could spend time enjoying a myriad of different leisure activities with like-minded fraternal brothers and their families—activities that included archery, tennis, swimming, horseback riding, fishing, boating, skeet shooting and winter sports, as well as golf.
The private club that the founders built evolved over time into a world-renowned golf facility. In essence, we recently and very deliberately rebranded Medinah as the family club it was always intended to be, and as our raison de terre, with a rich history of golf.
But telling members and prospective members who we were and what we believed about at our club was not enough. Tangible evidence was required— visual proof to support our claim.
In addition to building paddle and tennis courts, we remodeled our restaurants and pools. We created “Meacham’s Garden,” an area with a large organic vegetable garden, a chicken coop with a variety of 40 laying hens, as well as three bee colonies. We began to tap, harvest and bottle maple syrup from maple trees right on our courses.
Our food truck and golfboards are indications that we are continuing to bring youthful fun and a bit of whimsy to the game of golf as well. All of these are tangible proof of our brand, and through savvy marketing we are able to communicate that brand to those who have not yet experienced the Medinah community.
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