"We All Need Each Other To
Feed Multicultural Markets"

This Story Published April 25, 2005
By Tom Cordova
(REPRINTED- Page 25)

Finding multicultural participants at this year's PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando was like searching for a golf ball in the Open rough. Among the displays of gleaming new clubs, peacock apparel, grinning sales guys and tidal wave of white faces, there were relatively few faces of color beyond the amiable custodians and concession workers.

Yet nestled in a single booth far away from the glare and glamour of the big-timers, something was happening: the sprouting of minority golf entrepreneurialism. The seeds of nine fledgling African-American businesses had been planted together through the determined cultivation of Debert Cook, publisher of African American Golfer's Digest. Earnest business people like Glennon Bazzle, who offers what he considers the surest way to the world's best golf swing, pooled their resources and made it to the big show.

The thought conjures images of an Appalachian Spring where the emergence of a tiny bud is a hugely dramatic moment. It's a wonderful development for the entire golf industry that these newcomers now understand the show and have begun acquiring a degree of familiarity and comfort with the humongous undertaking. Certainly these advance scouts will communicate their experiences, success stories and frustrations to other hopeful minority enterprises.

PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando opened a small window to minority golf entrepreneurs Since Census 2000 was released, there has been great excitement and confusion over the potential of multicultural audiences. For corporate America, most of the conversation and subsequent efforts have focused on selling products to the burgeoning populace. That's only natural, as people tend to focus on their own needs. The enlightened reality is that everybody needs each other; often the best way to satisfy one's own needs is by satisfying those of others.

The needs of the fledgling businesses are obvious. Like any startup, they need meetings with decision-makers and influencers. They need encouragement, they need criticism, they need orders, and they need to be included. What's really neat about this situation is that the new kids on the block bring to your door things that are as much or more important than the actual goods and services they purvey. They bring knowledge of diverse cultures and customs; they bring a richer perspective that leads to new channels of thought. They bring awareness of the community. They bring news of trends way before the story in Newsweek. They bring immediate access. They help foster trust. The value of earning trust among multicultural customers cannot be overemphasized.

You can imagine the stories that spread through minority neighborhoods like cholera. Tales abound of shoddy products at high prices, of exploitation and of general disrespect. Studying Hispanic's purchasing traits clearly demonstrates that they have a value equation and a belief in quality. The proof is that Hispanic families have been loyal to quality brands like Tide detergent for multiple generations, because they trust the company and the value it delivers.

In African American Golfer's Digest, Debert Cook nicely establishes common ground. The full spectrum of golf is presented, from Champions Tour professional Jim Dent, to the Tee Divas and Tee Dudes of the Western States Golf Association, to what's wrong with Tiger's swing. There is a sense of community. Regular human beings who buy clubs, clothes and other stuff, are pictured beaming when their pictures were taken after playing probably the game of their lives.

This sort of publication helps erase the differences between black, white and brown. It demonstrates the universality of aspiration and determination, and the joy of a sand save. Companies that typically associate themselves with the golfing crowd, such as Morgan Stanley, wisely are advertising in the pub. Yet in the latest issue I read there are no ads for any major golf equipment manufacturers or many of the other products found in general audience golf magazines. Think about it: Few golf equipment ads in a golf publication.

A few things could improve the situation. Currently the PGA Foundation supports colleges focusing on creating golf pros. The focus must be extended to include minority golf entrepreneurs.

Next, PGA Merchandise Show owner and promoter Reed Exhibitions needs to collaborate with the PGA to create more opportunities for emerging companies to get noticed. Granted, Reed's job is to sell booth space, pure and simple. But by creating a special showcase for minority entrepreneurs, much like it aggregates Asian companies in a special setting, and running seminars to educate the golf business world about the dimensions of multicultural golf, it could sell more space.

In other words, by satisfying others needs, Reed and the show would satisfy their own. Finally, let's admit to ourselves that we love our sports jobs and are pleased as punch with ourselves for having them. Then let's push away the excuses, forgo some time slots with the usual suspects and open the doors for the new guys who want to come in and get acquainted. Let's see what kind of business we can hook up and seek out what there is to learn. It only makes sense. We're in each other's neighborhoods, and, we need each other to profit.