UP405 Wedge Issues: The Creation of Brand Bryson, and What It Means for Golf

Bryson Dechambeau heads to next week’s Open Championship at Troon as the reigning US Open champion, having beaten Rory McIlroy down the straight at Winged Foot in New York three weeks ago, confirming the American’s position as one of the very best players in the world today. But this is a conversation about what he’s done off the course over the last three years, that has changed his public image by becoming one of the most followed creators on social media.Brand Bryson is a masterclass in sports digital media strategy, a playbook as to how best to use YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Twitter to build long term value, both for himself and by extension the sport of golf. The bigger question is what the Dechambeau case study means for traditional rights holders such as the PGA TOUR, DP World Tour and the R&A.Our guests are Carsten Thode and  Rich Johnson.Carsten is a former Reuters, Manchester United and Synergy Sponsorship is co-founder of Aphetor, the Creator Games., which connects internet influencers with sports event rightsholders. Rich was formerly head of content for INEOS Grenadier Cycling Team, and the founder of Sports 3.0, which creates specialist agencies at the intersection of sports content, media, and technology. He’s launched a new agency this week, called CAPTAIN, a personal content agency for founders, CEOs & commercial teams in sports.Welcome to Wedge Issues, an Unofficial Partner Production.Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.