TaylorMade wants you to celebrate a legacy … that dates all the way back to … (checks notes) … 2019.
What TaylorMade doesn’t want to do is get overly specific about what that actually means.
So here you go.
The TP5 Collector’s Edition features a dozen golf balls ornately accented in enough gold to outfit a White House ballroom and promises “iconic designs” without getting too (or any other kind of) specific about what it is that makes them iconic.
What you’re buying (sort of)
If you’re looking to spend money while having a minimal idea what it is you’re actually getting, this is the limited-edition collection for you.
The TP5 Collector’s Edition is golf’s mystery box. Twelve golf balls that represent the pinnacle of TaylorMade’s visual technology legacy—which, again, covers the last six or seven years (I have a 15-year-old daughter so I just shuffled my hands after writing that last sentence).
A growing catalog of designs
To be fair, TaylorMade has plenty of good options to choose from.
Since 2019, they’ve printed more than a few things on golf balls. What started out as a challenge—”it took everything we had just to figure out how to put 12 logos on a ball”—has become a large part of the ball business with visual tech now accounting for a significant portion of TP5 sales.
Pickles, pizza, donuts, tacos—if you can think it, TaylorMade has probably printed it on a golf ball and probably sold out shortly thereafter.
I suspect there’s a market for this, even with the lack of clarity around what it is we’re buying.
An obvious connection
There’s an obvious comparison here that TaylorMade won’t make. Callaway’s Supersoft Advent calendar has been a hit heading into the holiday season.
The TP5 Collector’s Edition follows the same format and, while I’m tempted to say the company may have found some inspiration in the Callaway offering, the reality is that generally these kinds of things are planned out well in advance. Frankly, once you decide you’re going to hide what’s in the box behind perforated cutouts, you’re invariably going to end up with something reminiscent of advent calendar.
A new gold standard (in packaging)
Credit where it’s due: TaylorMade didn’t cheap out on presentation.
The packaging is well executed: solid gold base color, vintage black script, uniform black border. It’s the kind of box you’d probably want to keep long after the original contents have been lost.
The interior messaging talks about the “iconic nature of the collection” while maintaining that carefully cultivated mystery. Packing rules being what they are, you also get the French version.
(Thanks, Canada.)
Anyway, it’s clear a lot of work went into something that’s likely to sit unopened on the shelf because people won’t want to mess up the presentation (or maybe ruin the collectable value).
The gamble
I’m not sure if what TaylorMade created is brilliant marketing, elaborate trolling or both.
Beyond the packaging, are you getting a celebration of iconic designs or mix bag of PIX overruns?
At minimum, there’s a fair amount of audacity in asking golfers to pay a limited-edition upcharge while being coy about what’s in the collection.
Either way, the TP Collector’s Edition represents a fascinating moment in golf marketing. It’s a premium product built on the assumption that TaylorMade’s reputation is strong enough to sell mystery boxes to golfers who typically demand specifications, data and/or at least adequate descriptions before buying anything.
Whether that works for you depends on how much you trust TaylorMade’s definition of “iconic” and whether the reveal lives up to packaging that promises everything … while revealing nothing.
The TP5 Collector’s Edition is available now.
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