# Module 06 — Google Ads under STAOS
**Prepared by Slice of the Pie Marketing for Sun Day Red / TaylorMade** · Data month: July 2026 (Semrush, US database, pulled Aug 1, 2026)

> Honest framing up front: Sun Day Red **already runs Google Ads** — 114 paid keywords, ~$5.2K/mo estimated spend, essentially all branded defense plus light conquesting (Malbon, Primo, Macade). The pitch is not "turn ads on." It is **rebalancing a defense-only footprint into a brand + non-brand + Shopping engine** while competitors buy the category. (Semrush, Jul 2026)

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## Where they are

| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Paid keywords | 114 (all branded/conquest; zero generic category terms) | Semrush, Jul 2026 |
| Est. paid clicks | ~9,816/mo | Semrush, Jul 2026 |
| Est. paid spend | ~$5,240/mo | Semrush, Jul 2026 |
| Est. spend, Feb–Mar 2025 | ~$43–60K/mo (≈90% decline since) | Semrush rank history |

**Top paid keywords (Semrush, Jul 2026):** sunday red (#1, 33.1K vol, $0.38) · sun day red (#1, 22.2K) · sundayred (#1, 9.9K) · malbon golf (conquest, #3, 49.5K, $0.14) · sunday red golf shoes (#1, 5.4K, $0.80) · tiger woods golf shoes (#1, 3.6K, $0.66) · primo golf (conquest, #4) · macade golf (conquest, #6).

**Live ad copy observed:** "Sun Day Red by Tiger Woods | Buy Sun Day Red — Performance apparel for those who share Tiger's passion for competing, on & off the course"; seasonal "The Spring Traditions Drop… Augusta rewards those who study it"; "Summer Championship Collection."

### The threats
- **Rhoback** (est. ~$17K/mo, 213 paid KWs) holds **paid position 1 on "golf shirts" (49.5K/mo, $1.35)**, "golf shirts for men" (12.1K), "mens golf shirts" (9.9K), "golf attire," "golf belts" — and conquests **"peter millar" (201K/mo)** at positions 2–4. (Semrush, Jul 2026)
- **Brand-term pressure:** "tiger woods sunday red" carries a **$3.09 CPC** at 0.99 competition density — the brand's own term is being bid up. Defense at $0.38 on the head term is cheap insurance. (Semrush, Jul 2026)
- **Cheap category inventory being ignored:** golf shoes 90,500/mo @ $0.47 · golf shirts 49,500 @ $1.35 · golf pants 27,100 @ $0.99 · golf polos 12,100 @ $1.32 · golf hoodie 3,600 @ $1.23 (KD 10). (Semrush, Jul 2026)

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## S — Structure

**Campaign 1 · Brand Defense (Search):** core brand exact/phrase (sunday red, sun day red, sundayred) · brand+product (sunday red polo/shoes/hoodie/hat) · Tiger navigational (tiger woods sunday red — contested at $3.09).

**Campaign 2 · Non-brand Search (new)** — themed ad groups (all keywords real, Semrush Jul 2026):

| Ad group | Keywords (vol / CPC / KD) | Match | LP (concept) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Polos | golf polos (12,100/$1.32/23), golf polo (6,600/$1.28/26), best golf polo (590/$2.30/23) | Exact + phrase | store/collection.html |
| Shirts | golf shirts (49,500/$1.35/36), golf shirts for men (12,100/$1.50/30), mens golf shirts (9,900/$1.50/34) | Exact + phrase | store/collection.html |
| Performance / Fabric | moisture wicking golf polos (14,800/$1.26/15), performance polo (1,300/$1.79/28), mens golf apparel (1,900/$1.46/38), golf hoodie (3,600/$1.23/10) | Exact + phrase | store/product.html |
| Tiger-adjacent | tiger woods apparel (1,600/$0.98/30), tiger woods clothing (1,300/$0.98/34), taylormade apparel (590/$0.65/17), who owns sunday red (110/$6.74 — informational, high signal) | Exact | store/about.html |
| Footwear | golf shoes (90,500/$0.47/45 — capped test), tiger woods golf shoes (3,600/$0.66/24) | Exact + phrase | store/index.html (footwear band) |
| Gifts (seasonal) | golf gifts for men (8,100/$0.55/22) | Exact + phrase | store/collection.html |

Phase-2 expansion after pilot proof: golf pants (27,100/$0.99), golf shorts (18,100/$1.44), shop golf shirts (74,000/$1.42).

**Campaign 3 · Shopping + PMax (new):** SFCC catalog → Merchant Center; supplemental feed with custom labels (collection, price tier, stock state). Standard Shopping with priority-tier brand sculpting. PMax asset groups by collection: Polos ($115–145) · Footwear (Osprey/Presidio/Pioneer Cypress) · Hoodies & Layers · Headwear · Featured drops (Royal Collection, Summer Championship).

### Sample RSA 1 — Non-brand · Polos *(Concept — uses only verbatim brand copy + real prices)*
Headlines (≤30): Sun Day Red Golf Polos · The Icon Polo II — $115 · Built to Tiger's Spec · It's More Than a Shirt · Heritage & TW Performance Fits · 175gsm Performance Jersey · Sewn-In Collar Stays · Stay-Tucked Stepped Hem · The 15-Stripe Tiger Logo · 7 Colors, Sizes XS–2XL · Free Shipping Over $150 · 30-Day Free Returns · Klarna — 4 Pays of $28.75 · Out Think. Out Work. · Shop the Polo Collection
Descriptions (≤90): "Performance apparel for those who share Tiger's passion for competing, on & off the course" · "Built to Tiger's requests for how a golf shirt fits, performs and looks. Polos from $115." · "Heritage, TW Performance and Refined fits. Sewn-in collar stays. 30-day free returns." · "Free shipping over $150. Klarna Pay-in-4 — four payments of $28.75 on the Icon Polo II."

### Sample RSA 2 — Brand Defense · Core *(Concept)*
Headlines (≤30): Sun Day Red — Official Site · Sun Day Red by Tiger Woods · It's More Than a Shirt · It's a Mindset · Out Think. Out Work. Out Play · The Icon Polo II — $115 · The Osprey Golf Shoe · Pioneer Cypress From $175 · Tiger's Favorites · The Royal Collection · New Arrivals Are Here · Free Shipping Over $150 · 30-Day Free Returns · Klarna Pay-in-4 Available · Shop Sun Day Red
Descriptions (≤90): "It's More Than a Shirt. It's a Mindset. Shop polos, footwear, headwear and new arrivals." · "The official home of Sun Day Red by Tiger Woods. Free shipping on orders over $150." · "The Icon Polo II from $115. Heritage, TW Performance and Refined fits, sizes XS–2XL." · "30-day returns with a free prepaid label. Klarna Pay-in-4 available at checkout."

### Negatives strategy
Shared lists day one: free, cheap, discount code, coupon, used, fake/replica/dupe, costume, jobs/careers, wallpaper/logo png, non-apparel intents, women's terms (until women's LPs exist). Cross-campaign: all brand terms negated in non-brand + Shopping low tier (brand clicks must never inflate non-brand ROAS). Conquest names confined to a capped conquest ad group. "Cheap/discount/coupon" negated everywhere — premium positioning guardrail.

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## T — Tracking
- **Enhanced Conversions** (hashed first-party email/phone on purchase), via gtag/SFCC tag layer.
- Primary conversion: Purchase (Ads tag, order value + transaction ID dedup). Secondary/observation: ATC, Begin Checkout, Email signup.
- **GA4 linked, not double-counted** — GA4 key events imported for audiences only; Ads tag is the bidding source.
- **Consent Mode v2** for EEA/UK + future-proofing.
- **UTM taxonomy:** `utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=sdr_search_nonbrand_polos&utm_content=rsa_icon115&utm_term={keyword}` — one taxonomy across Google/Meta/Klaviyo.
- Week 1 = tag + GTM audit on account access; no scale decisions on unverified data.

## A — Analyze
- **KPI stack:** Executive — MER (blended) + new-customer revenue % (weekly). Channel — Google ROAS **always split brand vs non-brand** (brand defense ROAS is structurally heroic; it must never subsidize the non-brand story). Campaign — CPA/ROAS by ad group, Shopping ROAS by collection label. Query — weekly N-grams + impression share.
- **Seasonality calendar (flighting tied to the majors):** Masters week (Apr) — peak flight · PGA Championship (May) · U.S. Open + Father's Day (Jun) — gifts flight ("golf gifts for men" 8.1K/$0.55) · The Open (Jul) — links/heritage angle · Aug–Oct shoulder — testing + footwear · Nov–Dec holiday — Shopping/PMax max.

## O — Optimize
- **Query mining:** weekly full review weeks 1–6 (converting queries → exact; waste → negatives), bi-weekly N-gram thereafter; PMax search-term insights weekly.
- **Kill/scale thresholds** *(illustrative until calibrated to real CPA/AOV)*: kill keyword at 2× target CPA spend with 0 conversions; rebuild/cut ad group at <0.5× target ROAS over 14 days; scale +20% steps when beating target ROAS with ≥80% IS headroom.
- **Budget rules:** brand defense capped at <5% lost IS; monthly winner-take-more reallocation; majors flights pre-committed.
- **LP mapping (store concept pages as the standard):** Brand → store/index.html · Polos/Shirts → store/collection.html (in-stock-first grid — fixes live site's OOS-on-top merchandising) · Performance/Fabric → store/product.html (Icon Polo II PDP) · Tiger-adjacent → store/about.html · Footwear → store/index.html footwear band (Osprey = #1 sell-through at PGA Tour Superstore — Forbes, 2026) · Gifts → curated collection view.

## S — Scale ($10K/mo per-channel pilot anchor)

| Tier | Budget | Split | Unlocks | Milestones (illustrative) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 — Pilot | **$10K/mo × 90 days** | Brand defense $1.5K · Non-brand Search $5K · Shopping+PMax $3.5K | Full tracking build, 6 non-brand ad groups, Shopping feed + 5 PMax asset groups | Wk 2 clean conversion data · Wk 4 CPC reality vs Semrush · Wk 8 ad-group winners · Wk 12 scale/hold/kill decision |
| 2 — Growth | $25K/mo | Brand $2K · Non-brand $12K · Shopping/PMax $8K · Conquest+tests $3K | Pants/shorts groups (45K combined vol), structured conquest vs Rhoback, RSA iteration, MC promotions | IS targets on "golf polos"/"golf shirts"; non-brand revenue as weekly board line |
| 3 — Category leadership | $50K+/mo | + YouTube / Demand Gen | "Golf shoes" (90.5K/mo) contested, YouTube vs golf-content audience, geo incrementality tests | Majors-week share-of-voice; brand-search lift as KPI |

Context: $50K/mo is roughly the brand's own early-2025 estimated level — but structured for net-new demand instead of ~all-branded spend. (Semrush rank history)

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## Sources & methods
- **Semrush** — US database, July 2026 data month (pulled Aug 1, 2026): domain overview, rank history, paid search (sundayred.com, rhoback.com, travismathew.com), keyword research.
- **sundayred.com live crawl (Aug 2026)** — verbatim copy, prices, shipping/returns/Klarna facts.
- **Forbes (2026)** — Osprey #1 sell-through at PGA Tour Superstore.

**Verify live in the meeting:** Semrush ≠ actual account data — all spend/click/CPC figures are modeled estimates; actual budgets, ROAS, tag health and the reason for the 2025 pullback require a **Google Ads account audit on access** (week 1). Zero-non-branded-paid is a Semrush observation — confirm in live SERP + account keyword list. All thresholds/milestones illustrative until calibrated.

— Jim Smith · Slice of the Pie Marketing · jim@sliceofthepiemarketing.com · (503) 539-7059