Teeing up: Launching crazy golf in the US

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At first glance, Swingers is an unusual name for a company. Yet, when people realise it is a crazy golf brand in central London, the reasons behind the branding become much clearer. In a British market used to somewhat irreverent humour, the name is an amusing marketing quirk – but how would the name translate elsewhere?

A couple of years ago, Swingers decided to expand into the US, aiming to appeal to the millennial and corporate booking markets. It wanted to open a branch in Washington DC, but was keen to examine whether its branding and business model would work on the other side of the Atlantic. The company approached Feeling Mutual to conduct research among its two target audiences in the city.

Tom Woodnutt, founder of Feeling Mutual, says that potential issues with Swingers’ communications and image needed to be run past a US audience before the Washington DC launch.

“The concern was there is a potentially risqué interpretation of the word Swingers, ” he explains. “The risk was ...