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Zoysia as a Game Changer Tour

By Jill Odom, Total Landscape Care

Stacie Zinn Roberts, of What�s Your Avocado? Marketing & Public Relations, won a2016 Gardner Award � Special Projects for her"Zoysia as a Game Changer Tour." See whatin�uenced her approach.

Please brie�y describe your winning project.

The �Zoysia as a Game Changer Tour� wasone of the premier events held during theGCSAA�s 2015 Golf Industry Show in SanAntonio. Sponsored and presented by our client,Team Zoysia, more than 250 people from morethan 20 states and 20 countries attended. Theevent was held the Monday of the conference.In the morning, buses brought attendees toBladerunner Farms, the world's largestindependent zoysiagrass breeding facility.Attendees rotated through a half-dozenstations where they heard presentations from and asked questions of some of theworld's leading researchers on zoysiagrass for golf. In the afternoon, the buses tookthe group to the Golf Club of Texas where attendees toured the nation's �rst 100%zoysiagrass golf course to see the grass �rst-hand in a golf setting. Inside theclubhouse, there were multiple presentations from golf architects andsuperintendents.

What were your main objectives in developing this project?

We wanted to present concrete reasonswhy zoysia is changing the game of golf,emphasizing the sustainability andplayability of the grass. We workedalongside the GCSAA sta� to coordinatethe event and make it a legitimate part ofthe educational o�erings at GIS.

We also wanted to highlight how thebiggest projects in golf � the OlympicGolf Course built for the Games in Rio,Tiger Woods� �rst U.S. golf course, andthe new home of the AT&T Byron Nelsontournament � added credibility to ourclaim of zoysia�s burgeoning importanceto the game.

What in�uenced your approach?

Our approach was strongly in�uenced by the GCSAA�s need for the event to be non-commercial, yet tell our client�s story. This balance is what shaped how we createdmessaging and content, selected speakers who presented, even how we structured thescheduling of the day, to create an event of value.

Please tell us what you think stood out inyour winning entry.

I think the overall scope of the event waswhat made the entry stand out. The �rststage of promoting the event came in theJanuary issue of Golf Course Management,where we authored a major feature storyon zoysia grass in golf, and invited readersto attend the event in San Antonio thefollowing month. We wrote a press releasethat went out to all industry media thatresulted in coverage beforehand in all ofthe major industry trades, plus we hadcoverage the day-of and following from ahalf-dozen media who attended the event

605 Columbus Ave. South., New Prague, MN 56071 toca@gandgcomm.com Den Gardner, Executive Director Phone: 952-758-6340 Fax: 952-758-5813

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based on our invitation. GCSAA-TV covered the event. They created a 5-minute videothat streamed online during GIS and that still lives on their website. In addition, TeamZoysia's three core founding members were also interviewed live on GCSAA-TV's stageduring the show.

The �Zoysia as a Game Changer Tour� was so overwhelmingly successful that theGCSAA asked us if we would repeat the process again in 2018 when GIS returns to SanAntonio.