What's Up at the PDGA?
What's Up at the PDGA?
Meet the Media & Marketing Team
Hayden Henry, communications manager, on assignment at a Disc Golf Pro Tour event in 2022.
This is the third article in a series that goes behind-the-scenes to highlight the structure and the people of the PDGA. Six department teams, each led by a director, make up the PDGA organizational structure: Operations, Event Support, Marketing & Media, Technology, Membership & Growth, and Competition. All report to the executive director.
Department Overview
The Media & Marketing (M&M) Team at the PDGA has experienced tremendous growth over the past 12-to-18 months – a direct result of the surge in membership beginning in 2020 and the need to communicate with those members. Additionally, opportunities for developing disc golf content across many forms of media continue to present themselves. The M&M team oversees that content as well.
In broad strokes, the general objective of the M&M team is to promote the game of disc golf to the widest possible audience, via written, audio and video content at PDGA.com, on PDGA social media channels, and other sources. Underlying themes of diversity, accessibility, education, membership development and retention, event promotion and coverage, and more, serve as guideposts in the team achieving this objective.
Popular content such as the PDGA Rules School video series, the PDGA Radio Podcast, and articles such as this one in the What’s Up at the PDGA series seek to inform and educate the public, entertain a growing disc golf audience, and shed light on how the PDGA operates.
The M&M team works very closely with other departments in the PDGA, including the Event Support Team and the Member Services Team, to help them achieve their objectives of serving and informing the membership at large, or supporting specific stakeholders, such as event directors.
The M&M team also fills a role in developing and promoting PDGA partnerships, including those with the Disc Golf Pro Tour (DGPT) and the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF). Through these partnerships, the team seeks to enrich the membership experience and build relationships with an increasingly global audience. Additionally, the M&M team works to develop corporate and financial partnerships in support of these disc golf initiatives.
The Team
Danny Voss, Director of Marketing
- Oversees Media & Marketing department
- Sets objectives and goals for team
- Focuses on high-level support, partnerships, sponsorships
Hayden Henry, Communications Manager
- Primary manager of social media channels
- Editor, PDGA Newsletter
- On-site representative/reporter at most Elite Series events
Matthew Rothstein, Media Manager
- Media vendor coordinator
- Producer for video content appearing on PDGA channels
- Creative project developer, examples: Rules School, PDGA Commercials
Grant Zellner, Brand Manager
- Voice of PDGA Radio
- PDGA Media commentary
- Educator and contributor on PDGA-branded properties
Jennie Weigand, Digital Marketing Specialist
- Oversees the primary media/marketing property - PDGA.com
- Graphic designer for physical and digital media
- Manager/Creator of content, including Women's Wednesday, member spotlights and Photo of the Week
Kaitlyn Sapone, Graphic Design Specialist
- Designer for new PDGA graphic assets
- Manager for partner design work, including caddie books, logos, ads, etc.
- Developer of PDGA’s visual identity, brand standards
Media & Marketing – Current and Future Projects
The Media and Marketing Team is in a state of constant development of thematic content designed to educate and support the PDGA’s overall mission, and highlight the organization’s core competencies of:
- Membership Support
- Event Sanctioning
Several existing initiatives to expand media coverage of different aspects of the disc golf environment, including event coverage particularly of PDGA Majors, are ongoing, and will develop further in 2022 and beyond.
The team is also currently producing or developing other branded content, including:
- PDGA Radio podcast
- Expanded Event Coverage - Especially PDGA Majors
- Award and Member Spotlights
- PDGA News and Announcements
- Social Media Content
- Stories and Video Highlighting PDGA Core Values
If you have comments or questions about PDGA content, want to share an idea, or would like to be a guest contributor, reach out to the M&M team at [email protected].