9-913-578
REV. MAY 1, 2014

ROBERT J. DOLAN
SUNRU YONG

Altius Golf and the Fighter Brand
Introduction
Evelyn Gracie, CEO of Altius Golf, took a deep breath before introducing the company’s new golf ball strategy to the board. Several years after the global recession of 2008–2010, the private-equityowned company’s revenues had not fully recovered, and there had been grumbling among some of the directors that the old strategy was no longer working. Gracie had been hired at the end of 2012 to turn things around. Over the last six months, she and Austin Kai, the chief marketing officer, had worked on a plan to shake up the golf ball market and strengthen Altius’s leadership position. Now
Gracie needed to communicate to her board a clear, compelling vision, backed by a well-articulated rationale: As everyone knows, the long-term industry trends have been worrisome. The number of new golfers has fallen, and the few who take up the sport tend to be less serious and more pricesensitive. We have seen this magnified in our own business as lower-priced competitors have stolen market share. We believe Altius’s long-term success will come from fostering a new generation of loyal golfers, and this will come when we make our brand more fun, affordable, and accessible. If we can attract new and casual golfers into our brand, we will gradually migrate them to our flagship products. This thinking is at the heart of Altius Elevate.
Gracie proceeded to outline the Elevate program in broad strokes. Previously, Altius had built and maintained its leading share in the golf ball market by introducing generation after generation of advanced, super-premium offerings so consumers could emulate their favorite professional golfers.
With Elevate, Altius would introduce a ball that was priced more than 40% below the company’s flagship Victor TX line. The ball would be