Driving Unprecedented Fan Engagement and Ticket Sales
CASE STUDY: How the Hero Dubai Desert Classic scored a social media hole-in-one, boosting fan attendance by 75%...
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The Hero Dubai Desert Classic (HDDC), the UAE’s longest-established golf tournament, partnered with creative & innovation agency Tactical to take its social media to the next level and to drive excitement and ticket sales for its 35th anniversary.
Standing Out in a Crowded Field
With over 20 professional golf tours taking place globally, these tournaments must distinguish themselves to drive engagement and attract large crowds. Founded in 1989, HDDC was the first European Tour event in the Arabian Peninsula and is part of the prestigious Rolex Series. As its 35th anniversary approached, HDDC aimed to celebrate its legacy and leverage social media to captivate and attract fans.
The Challenge
Enlisting Tactical for the third consecutive year, the challenge was to build on previous success and develop a celebratory social campaign that would raise the tournament’s profile across social media and significantly drive ticket sales for both hospitality and general admission.
The Approach
Tactical developed the creative platform, “Tournament like no other,” to highlight the event’s most iconic golfing moments as well as its historical significance in establishing golf in the Middle East.
Tactical transformed the brand’s existing social channels into vibrant, fan-centric hubs, bringing the tournament experience to life with exciting teasers and exclusive behind-the-scenes content with 13 pro golfers.
Over the course of the 8-day event itself, Tactical shot +60 hours worth of footage, creating +600 pieces of high-impact content for Instagram, Facebook, X, Google and LinkedIn, as well as launching HDDC’s TikTok channel to reach a new younger demographic. By launching this new channel, Tactical was able to jump on trending music and sounds driving massive reach and engagement for the brand with tangible results.
The Results
Focusing on bite-sized, impactful content, the HDDC campaign leaned into TikTok and Instagram Reels to deliver engaging and entertaining content for multiple age demographics. The results were remarkable, with the content reaching 85.94 million people and generating 9.36 million social engagements. Social content targeting ticket sales achieved a record-breaking 109,000 clicks, resulting in over 100,000 ticket registrations and selling out the event’s hospitality tickets.
Erica Smith, Head of Marketing at HDDC, praised the success of the social approach, stating, “The campaign from Tactical surpassed expectations; the sheer volume of exceptional and creative content delivered was outstanding. It was a core reason why the 2024 event was so successful, and we received many compliments that the HDDC accounts and content were next level compared to previous years.”
Mike Khouri, CEO at Tactical, added, “It was an honour to help drive excitement around such a significant moment in HDDC’s history. Today’s sport fans want more to do more than just passively watch tournaments unfold – they seek more info, context, and entertainment on and off the course. By delivering a huge volume and variety of content formats across platforms, we enabled round-the-clock engagement and, most critically, fuelled active fan participation.”
