Audi and Sky Media have created an exciting new golfing innovation as part of their extended Sky Sports media partnership. The innovative ‘Swing Design Sequence’ provides insight into golf techniques of the professionals to help viewers improve their own performance connecting them more to the game they love.
The innovation features as part of Audi’s renewal as the Official Innovation Partner for Sky Sports – a deal brokered between Sky Media and Omnicom Media Group’s PHD. The partnership is continuing into its third year.
The new ‘Swing Design Sequence’ is an innovation co-created with Audi and Sky Sports that will be introduced into the 2024 ‘Audi Performance Zone’. Sky Sports has collaborated with Skeletal tracking software company, Sportsbox AI to provide cutting-edge technology that will unlock the secrets of the top professionals. During PGA Tour coverage, slow-motion video will be converted into avatars, enriched with data and analysed by expert coaches to explain how synchronisation of the constituent parts of a golf swing can maximise performance. Golf fans will gain a unique understanding into how the best players in the World create speed, balance, power and accuracy and then apply these insights to improving their own golf game.
The ‘Audi Performance Zone’ goes live today within Sky Sports coverage of the RBC Heritage, which will be filmed in a brand-new Sky Sports Golf studio. Beyond RBC Heritage, viewers will continue to see Audi’s innovation partnership across the summer in coverage of Golf tournaments including the Zurich Classic, John Deere Classic, 3M Open and Wyndham.
Tony Moore, Head of Marketing, Audi UK said: “Vorsprung durch Technik is Audi’s DNA, with innovation at the heart. Our partnership with Sky Sports as its Official Innovation Partner continues to provide a unique and impactful platform that demonstrates our leadership in this area. We are incredibly pleased with the performance of the partnership, and the stories it is bringing to life.”
Karin Seymour, Director of Planning at Sky Media said: “Working with Audi has become a true partnership and great to see it continue into its third year. The collaborative output not only integrates Audi seamlessly in our world-class content, but enriches the viewer experience as well.”
Tom Rovery, Partnerships Business Director at PHD commented: “We at PHD are delighted to extend this campaign into a third year for Audi. The effectiveness continues to be clear in improving and maintaining brand metric scores and we see no reason why that can’t continue.”
The partnership renewal and golf tech development comes off the back of two years of innovative success. In 2022, Audi’s “Vorsprung durch Technik” fuelled Sky Sports’ most innovative Cricket format, The Hundred, with the Power Meter. Read more here. In 2023, alongside Co-Sponsorship of the PGA Tour coverage, the ‘Audi Performance Zone’ was launched and covered the year’s tournaments in the Sky Sports’ Golf Studio, with editorial integrations of two bespoke Audi innovations:
• ‘Force Plates’, inspired by Audi’s quattro technology – blending power and balance – measured the force and balance that a golfer uses to create their unique swing. Through the analysis of weight transfer and ground force, the analytics demonstrated club head speed, ball strike and power of the swing.
• ‘Zen Eye’, which mimicked the functionality of Audi’s Adaptive Headlight technology, brought the art of putting to life by showing audiences the perfect pace and line for any type of putt with a display on the green.
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