{"id":20293,"date":"2025-07-24T10:33:14","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T10:33:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/20293\/"},"modified":"2025-07-24T10:33:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T10:33:14","slug":"us-bank-swings-into-golf-pop-culture-with-happy-gilmore-2-sponsorship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/20293\/","title":{"rendered":"US Bank Swings Into Golf Pop Culture With Happy Gilmore 2 Sponsorship"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"HappyGilmore2-USBank1\"<\/p>\n

U.S. Bank has a prominent presence as a tournament sponsor in the new Happy Gilmore 2 movie on … More Netflix, the brand’s latest venture into the world of golf.<\/p>\n

Netflix<\/p>\n

It seems like an incongruous final-round pairing at first blush: a bank with a history dating to Abraham Lincoln\u2019s administration and a staid image tied to strategic financial planning finding a natural fit in Adam Sandler\u2019s golf comedy universe.<\/p>\n

But when U.S. Bank learned of the opportunity to be a sponsor in the movie Happy Gilmore 2<\/a>, the 162-year-old financial institution jumped at the chance to reach younger audiences by embedding itself in a cultural institution \u2013 a long-awaited sequel overflowing with humor and nostalgia.<\/p>\n

The movie makes its public debut July 25 on Netflix and U.S. Bank is integrated into the movie as presenting sponsor of the fictional \u201cTour Championship,\u201d with its branding and logo prominently displayed on signage throughout the event. The U.S. Bank logo also appears on the bib of Happy Gilmore\u2019s caddie, played by music superstar Bad Bunny.<\/p>\n

“When we heard about this opportunity, we were like, `This is just perfect,\u2019” Michael Lacorazza, chief marketing officer for U.S. Bank, said at the movie\u2019s premiere in New York. “To be organically placed in the film as a fictional tour sponsor is really cool.”<\/p>\n

The U.S. Bank branding is prominent throughout the scenes in the fictional Tour Championship in … More Happy Gilmore 2 and the company logo is also on the bib of Gilmore’s caddie, played by Bad Bunny.<\/p>\n

Netflix<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s the first Hollywood partnership for U.S. Bank<\/a>, the integration builds on the company\u2019s existing presence in the golf world. The bank has sponsored Collin Morikawa since 2021 and regularly buys commercial time for golf broadcasts on NBC and the Golf Channel. That real-world golf connection makes the fictional tournament sponsorship feel natural rather than forced.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a strategic move, not only harnessing golf\u2019s expanding allure, but riding the nostalgic wave of Happy Gilmore\u2019s return to connect with existing customers as well as new \u201cyoung and midlife affluent audiences\u201d who are passionate about entertainment, sports and culture.<\/p>\n

The goal is to highlight U.S. Bank\u2019s presence as a modern and innovative partner in its customers\u2019 financial lives, and the collaboration extends beyond simply product placement. U.S. Bank worked directly with Happy Madison Productions and Netflix to create a 30-second commercial, \u201cHappy as Usual,\u201d that aligns the film with the bank\u2019s brand message. The spot features cameos from brand ambassador Morikawa, veteran announcer Verne Lundquist (a scene-stealer in the new movie), and Lundquist\u2019s broadcast sidekick in the movie, the fictional Jack Beard, who is played by producer Jack Giarraputo. The commercial was directed by Frank Coraci, the director of several other Sandler films, including “The Waterboy.”<\/p>\n

“It wasn’t something that we planned on initially, but as we started thinking about it, what would make it more creative and authentic than to have the people who created the film be a part of the production team?” said Lacorazza. “When you get to work with that team and get access to intellectual property you didn\u2019t have before, decisions get made more easily. And when you’re in it co-creating, there’s skin in the game for everybody.”<\/p>\n

The national campaign is running on Netflix\u2019s ad-supported plan as well as within the bank\u2019s existing brand media buy across channels: NBC, ESPN, Meta, YouTube, and Snapchat.<\/p>\n

Bad Bunny (left) and Adam Sandler (right) attend Netflix’s “Happy Gilmore 2” New York Premiere at … More Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. (Photo by Arturo Holmes\/WireImage)<\/p>\n

WireImage<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the heightened anticipation surrounding Sander\u2019s return to one of his defining characters of the 1990s is evident in that Happy Gilmore 2\u2019s trailer became the most-viewed in Netflix\u2019s history. For U.S. Bank, the sequel is a cultural touchstone that promises to reach multiple generations simultaneously, embracing the irreverent humor Sandler\u2019s films are known for while maintaining its core message of helping clients “power their potential” and find their “happy places.\u201d<\/p>\n

“It’s one of the things we loved about the opportunity,\u201d said Lacorazza, \u201cbecause you’ve got these OG fans that remember it from the 1990s and then you’ve got two generations after that that are going to get to experience it for the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"U.S. Bank has a prominent presence as a tournament sponsor in the new Happy Gilmore 2 movie on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20294,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[17179,49,48,622,17173,17176,17177,17178,82,17172,17175,17180,17174],"class_list":["post-20293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-adam-sandler-u-s-bank","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-golf","tag-happy-gilmore-2","tag-happy-gilmore-golf","tag-happy-gilmore-sponsor","tag-happy-gilmore-sponsorship","tag-sports","tag-u-s-bank","tag-u-s-bank-golf","tag-u-s-bank-golf-sponsorship","tag-u-s-bank-happy-gilmore-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}