Sunday best

Marketeer Tamra FitzGerald explains how working with International Polo Club Palm Beach on a powerhouse campaign raised not only its profile but its revenues, too

When John Wash, the former president of the International Polo Club, called me in 2012 and asked if our company would be interested in handling the marketing for the IPC, I hesitated. Although I’d lived in Palm Beach County for 24 years, I was not familiar with the club. In fact, I’d never even seen a polo match. And neither had nine out of 10 people of my acquaintance. Polo? I’d heard of Ralph Lauren. And Nacho Figueras – wasn’t he the model for the Ralph Lauren Polo brand? Did he really play polo?

The IPC viability was under threat, but it’s just this type of challenge that we like at Venue Marketing, so we agreed to create a strategic marketing programme that would fortify the club’s position as America’s premier polo facility. As we began to prepare for the club’s 10th anniversary in 2013, it became clear to us that people who follow polo absolutely love the sport. Readers of Hurlingham are those people. However, the majority of Americans are not. It was obvious to me that our goal had to be to introduce polo and, more importantly, its lifestyle, to the non-equestrian world.

So, how did we go from having fewer than 1,000 people at a Sunday match to averaging over 5,000 spectators during the 2016 season? Well, we developed and executed an aggressive public-relations programme, crafted new messaging that ignited fresh enthusiasm for IPC’s tournament matches, and steadily cultivated new markets to engage people in the excitement of the sport and the polo scene itself.

In short, our campaign introduced Palm Beach County to the ‘game of kings’. We communicated the athleticism of both players and ponies, the rules, the game-day traditions, even the fashion. We targeted a non-polo audience, while still reaching polo enthusiasts through both paid and earned media. The IPC was absolutely everywhere: on TV, radio, in newspapers and magazines, on billboards, and at the airport – not to mention all over social-media platforms.

We also aligned the IPC with Florida’s powerhouse tourism agencies and captured a slice of the audience share of the 95 million travellers who visit the region every year. Our efforts were recognised in 2013, when

Opposite The divot stomp at the 2015 US Open This page, from top Tamra FitzGerald, second from left, with members of the Venue team; jubilant crowds fill the IPC stands

Our goal was to introduce polo and its lifestyle to the non-equestrian world

IPC was awarded Palm Beach County’s highest tourism honour, the Providencia Award, as a formidable economic generator. Together with IPC management, Venue was increasing IPC’s visibility almost as quickly as Adolfo Cambiaso could ride from one end of the field to the other.

In just four seasons, we attracted well over 100 new members to the club. Year-on-year revenue realised steady increases. Participation levels and food-and-beverage revenue at the club hit an all-time high. IPC’s Sunday box-office revenue increased approximately 200 per cent in the same period. That’s an extraordinary percentage growth for any business. By 2014, we began selling out the Sunday brunch and polo experience at The Pavilion, which was open to the public. We also started selling out the public lawn seating at the stadium.

During the 2015 and 2016 seasons, new polo enthusiasts returned every weekend to participate in the matches and festivities. IPC Catering opened new public hospitality options, including the Lilly Pulitzer Patio, the Coco Polo Lounge, the Funky Buddha Beer Garden and the Veuve Clicquot Airstream Lounge. These venues sold out every Sunday – with guests who generally cared more about ‘the scene and being seen’ than watching polo! – and the after-parties continued until well after sunset.

It was deeply gratifying to know our strategy not only stabilised the club – with a triple-digit revenue increase – but also resulted in an unprecedented growth in its membership and visibility beyond the polo world. I’m proud that, in partnership with the IPC management, we met the challenge of uncertainty head on, and that our efforts achieved record-breaking numbers. We have to thank our friends in the media for their impressive dedication in reporting and featuring compelling stories and statistics on the matches, players, tournaments and the spectacle of the winter polo season to their readers around the world. The media has played a huge role in putting the IPC first and foremost as the epicentre of polo – the sport we have all grown to love.

The future is bright for the IPC. We worked hard to accomplish our goals and stayed true to the original vision of establishing the club as a global leader in the polo industry. The new owners, Wellington Equestrian Partners, led by CEO Mark Bellissimo, have a remarkable legacy on which to build, and we hope they continue to forge an extraordinary future.

I’ve now had the privilege of meeting Nacho Figueras many times. And, these days, if you ask people in Palm Beach if they’ve been to or heard of the IPC, nine out of 10 will say yes.

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