Morgan Stanley is continuing to iterate on its “Old School Grit. New World Ideas” campaign that looks to combine the financial marketer’s legacy of determination with forward-thinking innovation. The brand’s latest spot, “Behind the Drive,” is timed to The Players Championship, the so-called “fifth major” PGA tournament that begins Thursday (March 13).
The new ad focuses on the dedication demonstrated by a young golfer rather than spotlighting a professional, as last year’s “From Grit to Vision” did with star Justin Rose. Morgan Stanley launched “Old School Grit. New World Ideas” in 2023, its first such global marketing effort since 2019.
“We thought it would be really neat to not just talk about a famous PGA champion and what his journey was, but the journey of everyday children and the coaches that help them succeed in their journey to play the game of golf and to become leaders,” said Morgan Stanley CMO Alice Milligan.
The 30-second spot will run in tandem with a 15-second version across online video, paid social, golf-specific digital publisher sponsorships and linear and streaming TV. In addition to its sports-focused message, the ad highlights Morgan Stanley’s partnership with First Tee, a youth development organization that empowers children to develop life skills through the game of golf.
Marketing Dive spoke with Milligan about how these purpose-driven efforts come alive in both ads and experiences, whether for fans or clients at the Players. The executive also discussed the brand’s programming as part of its deal with upstart women’s basketball league Unrivaled and other sport-focused initiatives.
The following interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
MARKETING DIVE: What has Morgan Stanley learned from 10 years as a partner with The Players Championship? How do you take advantage of all the channels that live sports entails?
ALICE MILLIGAN: Every year we try to step up our game, as does the PGA, when it comes to the Players. Every year we leverage new marketing channels, we test new ways to expose the brand to the audiences. We’re doing different things as it relates to where and how our logo shows up.
We’re being smart about our advertising. In the beginning, we ran one ad and it became very monotonous. Now, we’ll rotate through three different ads. We’re doing a lot in terms of the activations. We’ve really seen new ways to engage fans, whether they’re there at the Players or they’re at home.
How has new technology been a part of your efforts with the Players?
We try to push the envelope in terms of innovation and how we activate. We’ve been really thoughtful about what we do. We try to do it in a way that it is complementary to the event, not a shiny pebble or technology for technology’s sake.
Last year, we did the “Tour Through Time” through an augmented reality app. It was really well received. I think we had over 30,000 people engaged with that tool just during the week alone. It was amazing to see everybody get excited about it.
This year we’re using artificial intelligence, where we’re providing a tool for officials to map out the course setup. We took a little bit more of a data-driven and behind-the-scenes approach, but we’re already seeing excitement from the officials and from the PGA about what this could mean to a very manual process. For me, the technology components are additive to the experience.
How do you figure out the best ways to partner with organizations like First Tee in a way that is meaningful?
In any partnership we do as a firm, the first thing is: Are the values of the organization consistent with our values? First Tee was a great example of that. The second thing is that financial services sometimes can be scary. Sometimes not everybody has access to the tools, the education, the mentoring and the coaching that’s necessary to be successful in the space. That’s what was happening also in the game of golf, especially as you think about diverse audiences, women, all of those things. The synergies between that organization and ours and the work that we could do together was really what drove that partnership.
Speaking of that, how is Morgan Stanley staying committed to diversity through marketing?
Our brand believes that the thought leadership, the insight, the advice, the tools and financial empowerment are something that belongs to everybody. Ensuring that that access and opportunity exists universally is really what a lot of our sponsorships and our marketing is about, whether it’s investing in women’s sports or in coaching initiatives that help kids not only succeed in the game of golf, but also in life.
What we’re trying to do is break down barriers, not just for diverse groups, but for everyone who has a desire, a vision or a dream, and how they can use financial services and tools to empower and fuel that dream.
In that vein, can you talk more about the partnership with Unrivaled?
Micky Lawler, who is the commissioner of the league, is somebody we worked with when we were doing the [Women’s Tennis Association] partnership. In having conversations with her, what we saw was another opportunity to say, How do you coach, empower and guide these athletes in a way that’s meaningful? Because they were doing something really new, innovative and visionary, we wanted to be a part of that, especially as you think about the “New World Ideas” component of our brand campaign.
Unrivaled has a new business model that is giving athletes a stake and a share in the equity of the league. This model is very new for the athletes and it opens a world of opportunity for them as individuals, business owners, entrepreneurs and investors. To be there to help them think through what the implications of being a partner in this league is, and how they could start to establish their own financial empowerment through this process, was really compelling to us.
