Callaway Partners with LinkedIn for Golfers

Callaway Golf Company (NYSE: ELY) today launched a social media networking campaign in partnership with LinkedIn.

The application, which lives on www.CallawayHitTheLinks.com, introduces a new approach to the long-held tradition of networking on the golf course.

Within the app, golfers designate an ultimate foursome using their LinkedIn network of professional contacts, and submit the group for a chance to win a golf “business” trip that includes a custom club fitting at Callaway’s California headquarters and a round of golf.

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“We are disrupting the traditional influence models in golf because golfers’ expectations about how they experience brands have changed dramatically,” said Harry Arnett, SVP, Callaway Golf.

The experience begins with users logging into the application via LinkedIn Connect, which then generates a recommended foursome through LinkedIn’s API (application programming interface). The three connection types created from the API within the foursome are:

The Company Insider: Someone within the user’s company. The API seeks out a golfer first, but if one isn’t available, then the person with the most appropriate title is selected.

The Business Contact: Someone in the user’s network and industry that the user has the most connections in common with.

The Golfer: To find the passionate golfer in the user’s network, the API references attributes such as interests and group membership. The person with the highest number of connections in common will be selected.

Participants can also “mulligan” out the recommended connections and handpick their foursome by browsing their professional network. The first 1,000 participants will receive a dozen Callaway HEX Chrome+ balls, the Company’s newly released, fastest Tour-level golf ball.

The Callaway campaign with LinkedIn, called “Hit the Links,” runs until May 24, 2013 at www.callawayhitthelinks.com