Not April Fool's Files: Tiger Rebrands To Not Create A Dependency That Would Undo Longevity!

It's been way too long since we've been blessed with a unique blend of authentic, frontier gibberish-speak.

But then we also didn't see Tiger Woods picking the Monday after his Safeway enter-and-the-WD to launch a rebranding and business expansion. Maybe he just felt that threatened by the Great White Shark transitioning redirecting to a single-color logo as he continues to pursue his love of hurricane-induced fitness, chainsaws and shirtless golf tips (and that's just in the last week!).

Elizabeth Segran of Fast Company got the exclusive lowdown on TGR, Tiger's new Magic/Lebron/Jack/Arnold-like empire of brands complete with a new logo "made up of three triangles that look like a tiger's stripes and also resemble a W."

Key word, resemble.

The story includes plenty of photo gallery fun and no shortage of prime B-speak. But why, oh why a rebranding now?

Though Woods's overall brand has been tarnished by highly publicized personal-life scandals, TGR will give him a platform from which to launch the next stage of his career. He had been thinking about building this kind of umbrella operation for several years now, but only began nailing down the details last December, shortly after his 40th birthday. Woods and key executives from his existing businesses started strategizing ways to create a brand that would take advantage of his position as one of the world's most recognizable athletes, but would not necessarily be directly tied to golf. They brought in Sub Rosa to help define what TGR would stand for and how it could scale across a wide range of industries. "If chapter one began when he was first on national television playing golf, now it's Tiger, the enterprise or Tiger, the portfolio activator," says Kempler. "He has a really clear mind-set about what his personal brand means."

Portfolio activator. I'm just going to give that gem some time to breathe.

Ok, continue on sir...

Sub Rosa was tasked with incorporating these ideas into the TGR narrative, so that as the brand scaled and entered new markets, it would be instantly identifiable as an extension of Woods. But they also wanted to create a business that could exist apart from its namesake, like, say, Paul Newman's food empire. "How can Tiger's global fame and recognizability both empower the new brand, but not create a dependency that would undo longevity?" says Kempler, describing the kinds of conversations he's had with Woods.

Translation: when you move on the Big Cat's Big 18 In The Sky, we want people to be able to keep making money off of your name, because we know how much you love that.

And there was this story ending...

Of course, Woods could, at the age of 40, still have many years ahead of him as a competitive golfer. Given his famously intense training regimen and diverse business interests, how will he manage everything? "I pride myself on being efficient," he says. "I also don't sleep much."

The story also speculated Woods might use the Nike equipment demise to start a club company. Mike Johnson considered that and the many other nuggets from the story in this GolfDigest.com assessment.

With the golf club business stagnant, it’s not clear how Woods could make a golf startup buck the current trends. That said, it’s also not clear how Woods could hope to negotiate a golf endorsement contract anywhere similar to the deals current top players like Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy are bringing in, let alone the last deal he signed with Nike in 2013. So starting his own golf club company could have a certain appeal.

Still, Woods hasn’t tipped his hand that he’s exploring other golf equipment deals yet. In footage from a charity outing at Pebble Beach last week, he was still clearly using Nike clubs. And while he’s still apparently a few months from competing again, that’s not enough time to start a new golf club company.

But the Nike deal is set to expire 2018, which gives Woods time to explore his own equipment brand.