Callaway Golf Hires Young & Rubicam as Agency of Record

July 8, 2004 at 10:01 AM EDT

CARLSBAD, Calif., Jul 8, 2004 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- After a comprehensive agency review process involving several premier advertising agencies, Callaway Golf Company (NYSE:ELY) today announced it has named Young & Rubicam Brands, Southern California (Y&R) as its agency of record.

Y&R will partner with the Company to help take the Callaway Golf brands in a fresh, new creative direction aimed at strengthening Callaway Golf's position as the brand leader in the golf equipment category. The agency will handle golf club and golf ball communication and will immediately begin developing creative campaigns that integrate across a broad array of communications platforms.

"Y&R has an impressive track record of working with premium brands like Callaway Golf and strengthening those brands while simultaneously driving sales," said Patrice Hutin, President and COO of Callaway Golf. "We are looking forward to a great partnership with Y&R as we embark together on developing exciting new approaches to our advertising and corporate branding and communication strategies for Callaway Golf."

"Callaway Golf is a powerful brand with a well-established history of innovation and leadership," added David Murphy, President and CEO of Young & Rubicam Brands, Southern California. "We are thrilled by the opportunity to work with Callaway Golf. We have relevant experience working with other leading premium brands such as Land Rover and Sony, and we will draw on that experience to help Callaway Golf fortify its status as the leading brand in the golf equipment market."

Callaway Golf Company makes and sells Big Bertha(R) Metal Woods and Irons, including ERC(R) Fusion(R) Drivers and Fairway Woods, Great Big Bertha(R) II Titanium Drivers and Fairway Woods, Great Big Bertha II 415 Titanium Drivers, Big Bertha Titanium Drivers and Big Bertha Stainless Steel Fairway Woods, Hawk Eye(R) VFT(R) Tungsten Injected(TM) Titanium Irons, Big Bertha Stainless Steel Irons, Steelhead X-16(R) and Steelhead X-16 Pro Series Stainless Steel Irons, Game Enjoyment System(TM) (GES(TM)), Callaway Golf Forged+ Wedges and Callaway Golf Forged Wedges, and Callaway Golf Tour Blue(TM) Putters. Callaway Golf Company also makes and sells Odyssey(R) Putters, including White Hot(R), TriHot(R), DFX(R) and Dual Force(R) Putters. Callaway Golf Company makes and sells the Callaway Golf(R) HX(R) Tour balls, HX Blue and HX Red balls, Big Bertha(TM) Blue and Big Bertha Red balls, and the Warbird(TM) balls. Callaway Golf also owns and operates The Top-Flite Golf Company, a wholly owned subsidiary that includes the Top-Flite(R), Strata(R) and Ben Hogan(R) brands. For more information about Callaway Golf Company, please visit our websites at www.callawaygolf.com, www.topflite.com and www.odysseygolf.com.

About Young & Rubicam Brands, Southern California

Located in Irvine, California, the five-year-old agency has a tradition of innovating new ways of serving its client partners. Young & Rubicam Brands launched its Southern California office in 1999 with the mission to integrate the brand-building services of Y&R, Wunderman, Landor, The Bravo Group, Mendoza Dillon and mediaedge:cia. This unique agency model has attracted blue chip client partners such as Callaway Golf, Sony Electronics, Jaguar, Land Rover, Microsoft and Mattel. Young & Rubicam Brands is a member of WPP.

SOURCE: Callaway Golf Company

CONTACT:
Callaway Golf Company
Larry Dorman, 760-931-1771