For years, Bonobos has been designing and selling upscale men's clothing in a highly competitive apparel market. In 2022, the brand tasked CBS Sports with making its new golfwear line stand out, by showcasing how it blends “high-performance” with “effortless style.”
To make a splash amidst the major springtime tournaments, Bonobos tapped their brand ambassador and PGA Tour star Justin Rose, whom we crafted an exciting, multi-platform, integrated campaign around.
Given Bonobos’ desire to reach a broad male audience segment, which includes casual and avid golf fans, CBS Sports was the perfect partner to execute and distribute custom content. As broadcasters and streamers of many prominent golf events, we’ve built a passionate fanbase that routinely turns to us for the latest news and coverage tied to the sport.
To strategically promote Bonobos’ golf wear line, CBS Sports produced social-first branded content videos called “Decades of Drip.” It featured Justin Rose wearing a series of era-defining looks and playing with clubs utilized throughout the sport’s history. After modeling outfits from the 1920s, 1970s, and 1990s, commenting hilariously on the pros and cons of each, he puts on his modern-day Bonobos gear–a floral patterned “Performance Golf Polo”, navy blue “Performance Link Pants”, and a black “Clubhouse Stretch Belt.” This ensemble represented the “goldilocks” look and feel: Just right! Where “style and performance link up,” as Rose noted in the video. A featured title card informed people where they can purchase the aforementioned looks–Bonobos.com!
By tapping into the popular trend of athlete fashion (think: NBA players entering arenas) and social virality of vintage clothing content, “Decades of Drip” received a full-scale distribution plan surrounding the Open Championship (one of golf’s major tournaments). We optimized the video for TikTok and Instagram reels, creating a short-form, 30-second vertical cut, with a dynamic opening shot that quickly cycles through the various decades as Rose is taking what appears to be a single swing.
Meanwhile, we posted the full-length hero video on CBS Sports YouTube, CBS Sports Facebook, CBS Sports Twitter, CBS Sports HQ (our always-on, 24/7, digital-only news and highlights platform), and CBSSports.com—all on which longer form videos tend to perform better for us. Rose promoted the hero content on his social accounts and so did Bonobos.
To capitalize on the buzz around Open Championship weekend, we ran the video in CBS Sports HQ programming time, with an anchor teeing (no pun intended) it up by verbally mentioning Bonobos, describing how Justin Rose looks and feels his best wearing the brand’s pieces, then tossing to the long form.
The “Decades of Drip” videos reached our passionate golf audience along with more casual fans of the sport, while highlighting Bonobos’ array of clothing pieces built to boost style and performance.
The branded content alone drove 7.5 million impressions and 3.4 million video views. It surpassed CBS Sports TikTok benchmarks, garnering 700% more engagements than the average post on the platform. On Instagram, the video tallied 135% more video views than the average CBS Sports Instagram post, and on Facebook the content pulled in 282% more video views than the average post.
CBS Sports successfully met Bonobos’ goals of A) Reaching a massive golf audience that’s predominantly male, B) Showcasing the “effortless style” and “high-performance” of the brand’s golf wear products, and C) Executing highly engaging, social-first, first-to-market branded content videos that sports fans enjoy and relate to.
