IBM Creates U.S. Open App to Track Tiger Woods, Showcase Web Technology
International Business Machines Corp., a sponsor of this week’s U.S. Open golf tournament, is counting on Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and the rest of the world’s top golfers to showcase its Web technology.
The company developed a smartphone app that lets users track the tournament and players’ statistics. It even shows a so-called heat map of the course in Pebble Beach, California, revealing the most challenging holes. IBM also helps manage security, video and other features for the U.S. Open’s website.
IBM’s strategy isn’t about reaching more golf-loving consumers. Instead, it wants to show business customers how its technology can handle a huge surge in traffic without breaking the bank. While the number of people using the U.S. Open site jumped from a year earlier, IBM was able to cut the cost per user by 25 percent, said John Kent, program manager for the company’s sponsorship marketing.
“When we talk to our customers about that, they have the very same issues,” Kent said.
IBM declined to say how much it spends on the U.S. Open or what kind of return it gets from the event. The Armonk, New York-based company also sponsors the Masters Golf Tournament, as well as the U.S. Open tennis match and Wimbledon.
IBM fell 83 cents to $130.15 yesterday in New York Stock Exchange trading. The shares are little changed this year.
IPad Version
This is the second year in a row that IBM has offered an iPhone app for the U.S. Open. About 286,000 people downloaded the software last year. This time around, it also runs on Apple Inc.’s iPad and other smartphones such as the Droid. IBM already had 150,000 downloads by the first day of play.
The software gives up-to-the-minute scores and data for each competitor, and the map indicates whether players are shooting above or below par on each hole. The website also has high-definition coverage of the tournament.
IBM invites corporate customers to see its Web operations up close by visiting a trailer near the course. A staff of more than a dozen, supplied with Twizzlers and a mini-fridge filled with energy drinks, monitors global Internet security threats and viewership numbers.
“Our clients love golf,” said Rick Singer, IBM’s vice president for client executive marketing. “These relationships are all about business, and how we can further the perception of IBM, and really sell stuff.”
On the first day of the tournament, the heat map showed the difficulty of the Pebble Beach course, which is located about two hours from San Francisco. Woods and Mickelson, the world’s two best golfers, failed to make a single birdie -- a score that’s one stroke under par -- during the opening round.
Inside IBM’s trailer, the heat map was displayed on a 52- inch flat screen. Kent pointed to a red blob where players were performing better than expected.
“It looks like six is the only ‘easy’ hole out there,” he said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ryan Flinn in San Francisco at rflinn@bloomberg.net
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