Dive Brief:

• American Honda Motor Co., parent company of Honda and Acura in North America, announced a multi-year partnership that makes the brands the official automotive partners and official vehicles of golf entertainment company Topgolf, per a press release.
• The partnership will feature new Topgolf player activations, including special offers and player programming, as well as vehicle test drives, vehicle displays and sweepstakes. More details will follow in the coming months.
• American Honda is billing the partnership as a way to engage with millennial and Gen Z car buyers who represent nearly half of Topgolf's venue players. The partnership will begin early this year at select venues.

Dive Insight:

American Honda's partnership with Topgolf puts its Honda and Acura brands front-and-center with a cohort of young car buyers. Topgolf's tech-enabled venues turn driving ranges into sports entertainment and draw more than 30 million players every year — nearly half of whom are millennial and Gen Z buyers, per the release. The chain has 87 venues globally, with 78 of those in the U.S.

"Our new partnership with Topgolf will align the Honda and Acura brands with the fun and excitement of the 'golf as entertainment' movement, which is already popular with Millennial and Gen Z car buyers who rank among Topgolf's most enthusiastic players," said Jessika Laudermilk, assistant vice president of marketing for American Honda, in the release.

The Topgolf partnership is the brands' latest play to engage younger, tech-savvy consumers. Honda has had a long partnership with esports organization Team Liquid and last year expanded beyond gaming by launching a lifestyle-focused Twitch channel called Honda DreamLab. For its part, Acura last year launched an NFT and opened a digital showroom in the metaverse, making it one of the first automakers to experiment with Web3 technology.

The deal also adds to American Honda's roster of sports marketing partnerships, including Honda's longtime relationship with the NHL, Acura's presence during the NCAA's March Madness tournament, and both brands' initiatives around motorsports. Honda has had a 42-year association with professional golf, a relationship the Topgolf deal builds upon.