Character- driven content for the hottest brand in golf
MANORS GOLF IS THE BRAND REWRITING WHAT GOLF LOOKS AND SOUNDS LIKE — ROOTED IN THE SPORT’S PAST, MADE FOR THE PEOPLE PLAYING IT NOW.
With The Open Championship returning to Northern Ireland for only the second time since 1951, Manors Golf saw a unique opportunity: to create a culturally resonant campaign that captured the spirit of golf in Northern Ireland. Not just the sport but the people, the places, and the stories that define it.
Fresh off the back of their successful collaboration with Reebok – “No Thanks, I’ll Walk”, this project was another statement of intent: authentic, stylish, and rooted in culture.
increase in views compared with the average of 14.8K views across the three most previous social posts.
The Challenge
The Open Championship was returning to Northern Ireland for only the second time since 1951 — a rare, high-attention moment for golf in the region. Manors needed content that did more than promote product: it had to build hype among people who live and breathe golf, speak authentically to Portrush’s local culture, and still land with Manors’ large American audience.
The brief was intentionally open, but the pressure was real. We planned a brand storytelling campaign built for online attention. Our flexibility mattered when the product delay hit: instead of pushing the shoot back, we pivoted the concept within days.
The process
We took a social-first approach from the start — content built for attention, authenticity and adaptability, rather than a single polished set-piece. That flexibility mattered when the product delay hit: instead of pushing the shoot back or scaling down, we pivoted the concept within days.
We shifted focus to the Harbour Bar in Portrush and its dog-loving barman, Alex — a local institution that embodies the humour, warmth and resilience we wanted the brand to be associated with. The location became the story, not the backdrop.
From there, we shot a character-driven short film styled to feel organic and conversational. The visual treatment drew on archival footage of Portrush — grainy, warm, nostalgic — paired with old-time music to give it a heritage feel that mirrored the town’s own place in golfing history.
Solution
The finished piece set a tone locals would nod at and outsiders would want to be part of — capturing the spirit of Northern Irish golf without leaning on cliché or straight product marketing. It delivered on the brief’s real ask: hype built on culture, not just visibility.
