Good Good, Callaway, and How Much Brand Value You Can Destroy in 60 Seconds

What one disastrous golf ad teaches every organization about approval, judgment, and protecting brand value.

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Good Good, Callaway, and How Much Brand Value You Can Destroy in 60 Seconds

We spend enormous amounts of time and money building our brands, strengthening our reputations, connecting with customers, and adding value to what we sell.

But how quickly can we destroy all that value?

But First, a Story

True confession: Other than putt-putt, I’ve never played 18 holes. I didn’t know about this controversy, and I didn’t even know who Good Good Golf was until my friend Hank clued me in.

Good Good started as a group of young golfers making YouTube videos and grew into a significant brand with millions of followers, a partnership with Callaway Golf, Golf Channel programming, and a multi-year agreement to become title sponsor of a PGA Tour event.

Then they produced a promotional video for Callaway’s new Quantum driver.

In the video, Good Good co-founder Garrett Clark runs toward fellow creator Alexis Miestowski as she reaches for a club in his bag, shoves her to the ground, stands over her and says, “Do not touch my new driver.”

Good Good and Callaway said that the video was intended as a parody of a scene from the movie Obsession. Viewers saw something else, and the fallout was immediate.

Callaway ended its relationship with Good Good and committed $1 million to organizations addressing violence against women. Major retailers pulled Good Good merchandise, Golf Channel canceled the planned Big Break x Good Good season, and Good Good stepped away from its PGA Tour event sponsorship.

Years of value unraveled because of a 60-second video.

When You’re Explaining, You’re Losing

CEO Matt Kendrick apologized. Garrett Clark explained the parody, stressed that Miestowski wasn’t hurt, and released an eight-minute video explaining what they intended.

Which brings us back to one of the simplest rules about communication:

“When you’re explaining, you’re losing.”

Your audience does not respond to your intentions. They respond to what they saw, heard, and felt.

Who Said Yes?

But there’s another point I find even more intriguing. Who said yes?

Someone came up with the idea, people discussed it, a crew shot it, an editor assembled it, executives watched it, and both Good Good and Callaway approved it.

All because no one asked:

“Are we sure we want to do this?”

Whether you’re a golfer or not, this matters to you because almost everyone in your organization has access to tools that once belonged to professional publishers, broadcasters, and advertising agencies. AI can now write copy, create images, generate video, produce the soundtrack, and help distribute all of it.

Sure, technology makes it easier than ever to create content. But it doesn’t make it any easier to know what should never see the light of day.

Which means judgment is becoming more valuable.

The person who questions the joke, wonders how something will look outside the room, or simply asks, “Are we sure?” may not be slowing you down.

They may be adding value.

We now know the consequences reached inside the companies: Good Good fired members of its marketing team, a Callaway content executive involved in the approval is leaving, and both companies say they’re strengthening their approval and review processes. Still, we don’t know what this episode will ultimately cost Good Good.

So while technology continues to give more people in your organization the power to communicate with the world, perhaps the question we should be asking is who has the judgment and authority to protect the value you’ve spent years building?

Do You Want to Add More Value?

I help leaders and organizations understand what they stand for, what the people they serve really want, and how to turn those insights into value people recognize, remember, and recommend.

If that’s a conversation your organization should be having, bring me in.