Once in a while lightening strikes a small business. That may be the case for a small putter manufacturer located right here in Franklin, Tennessee. It seems that Zack Johnson, winner of the Masters on Sunday, used a putter made by SeeMore Putter Co.
From the Tennessean:
The four-person company based in Franklin received some major publicity thanks to Zach Johnson’s winning the Masters golf championship on Sunday in Augusta, Ga.
Johnson used a SeeMore putter to stiff-arm Tiger Woods and win the green jacket. Television commentators Nick Faldo and Jim Nantz constantly referred to Johnson’s superb putting, and CBS routinely showed close-ups of the putter.
“We probably got way more free publicity than we could ever pay in advertising,” said Jim Grundberg, managing director of SeeMore.
Grundberg said he was jumping around his Brentwood home with family Sunday during the action. Johnson’s playing partner and good friend, Vaughn Taylor, also was using a SeeMore putter, used by only a handful of PGA Tour players.
So an unlikely winner teams up with a small-time player in the golf equipment industry and both hit it big. Cool story!
SeeMore needs to carefully nurture this publicity. They need to leverage it to build momentum for their company. They cannot just rely on their fifteen minutes of fame. They have done a great first step at their website, which is already full of the big news for their little company.
On the flip side, they also need to be ready for a possible onslaught of demand. If they do not monitor and manage their growth carefully, their own success could sink them. They do not meet demand and have the systems in place to satisfy what can be a fickle market.
I hope Zack and SeeMore make the most of their success and that both are around for a long time!