PINELLAS PARK, Fla.--In its latest move to bring its message about “Healthy Sight” to increasing numbers of consumers, Transitions Optical has signed a deal with professional golf’s PGA Tour to provide a four-year title sponsorship of a PGA Tour event at the nearby Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club. The golf tournament will be called the Transitions Championship For Healthy Sight.

Transitions officials told VM the sponsorship may be the initial effort in a new strategy to get the company’s message out that could include additional sports marketing as well as possible associations with celebrities or other groups outside sports.

At the announcement of Transitions’ golf tournament sponsorship, (l to r) PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem applauds as Transitions’ Brett Craig and David Cole receive personalized golf bags from Sheila Johnson of Salamander Hospitality, owner of the Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club.

The week-long golf event--to be held March 16 to 22, 2009, at Innisbrook’s Copperhead course--is designed to enhance Transitions’ ongoing efforts to help elevate consumer awareness of the need for healthy sight, the importance of vision care and the benefits of sight-enhancing vision wear, according to a company announcement.

In announcing the PGA deal, five months in the making, Transitions president Brett Craig said, “Partnering with the PGA Tour aligns well with our company and brand. The tournament makes an important contribution to our local community, and the sponsorship is a tremendous opportunity to educate consumers about the importance of healthy sight.”

After the formal announcement of the sponsorship at Innisbrook, Dave Cole, managing director of the Americas, Australia and New Zealand for Transitions, told VM, “The PGA Tour is number one in charitable giving and has a tremendous reputation and integrity, so that platform and the ability to associate our brand with this event offers us a new voice to the consumer about the importance of vision care. This is a way of using our resources to communicate with consumers and reach a whole new, and logical, demographic for Transitions.”

The company is also in negotiations to become an official marketing partner of the PGA Tour, which could include being named the official eyewear of the Tour. An announcement on that is expected shortly.

Cole said Transitions is “still working out the details” on how to involve its trade partners--lens manufacturers, wholesale labs, optical retailers and eyecare professionals--in the promotional opportunities generated by the golf tournament. “Our next phase is to find ways to use this platform to work with our partners,” he noted. “This is a major event, offering so many opportunities it will take a little time to figure them all out.” ■
--Cathy Ciccolella