Marketing article by Michelle DiPardo on November 27, 2013.

Once winter hits, golf courses tend to go dark. But the new St. John’s-based agency Ray wants to make sure that doesn’t happen to local club Clovelly. The new “Clovelly for Business” integrated campaign targets Atlantic Canada’s corporate community.

The awareness campaign aims to tell locals that there’s more to Clovelly than a golf course. Using a combination of golf and business lingo, the creative highlights the club’s unique setting, restaurant and custom menus, and various meeting facilities that often get overlooked when golf season ends.

“Clovelly is known for golf only. Once that closes, everyone thinks it’s dead. In reality, they’ve got a great restaurant, meeting facilities and a beautiful setting,” said Jenny Smith, creative director at Ray.

Campaign elements include magazine ads and inserts, online ads appearing in The Globe and Mail and the Telegram, as well as POS.

Ray also created a direct mail piece, which was sent to a number of local businesses. The green box contains four pieces of golf-ball shaped chocolate and a note that says “We invite you to try our business courses at Clovelly.”

Although the campaign is aimed at the corporate community, Smith said she did not want to adopt a stuffy, buttoned-up approach, and felt the need to inject a little bit of fun into the ads.

“Just because they’re created for a corporate audience doesn’t mean they have to have a corporate tone” she said.

Smith started Ray in July after leaving another St. John’s agency, Target. Currently looking for office space, Ray relies primarily on freelancers and consultants, although Smith has recently hired a full-time account manager and has one part-time employee to assist with PR and social media.

“Clovelly for Business,” Ray’s third official campaign, launched two weeks ago, and will run until April.