Darren Rovell, MLB, Media Post, NASCAR, NHL, Olympics

NASCAR Grades Itself At The Halfway Point And Continues On The Activation Highway…

With Dover taking place this past weekend, the long NASCAR season reached its halfway point, and the industry leader in sponsorship activation, brand building and diverse media attention took pause on its own site to grade the sponsorship winners and losers of the first half of the season.  The report is even more interesting because of the place where it is posted…NASCAR took the time to show not just the happy news, but also spun a look which activations and brands have not passed muster.  It is a very good read into what has worked and why with the kings of activation.  Also on the NASCAR front, another good read came from last week’s Brandweek, with Steve Miller profiling the partnership between Kyle Busch and Pedigree Dog Food to work with animal rescue groups…great activation to a visible sponsorship with a socially responsible spin, a winner on all counts….Busch should also get some solid coverage this weekend when he travels to three tracks to race over the weekend, a great proactive push by the NASCAR PR team which will get the driver, the brand and the tracks additional mainstream coverage in a very crowded sports weekend with the Belmont Stakes, The NBA Finals, and The NHL Finals.   

Some other good pieces to check out over recent days…nice piece in the Cleveland Plain Dealer this week on the duties and antics of the chain crew for the AFL Cleveland Gladiators…great non player story placement that got solid coverage and exposed more about the behind the scenes that fans love to see...Media Post has a nice summary on all the thought and activation that went into the NHL’s announced North American sponsorship deal with Anheuser Busch that was announced today which explains the pros and the cons of the partnership and how activation will work in the U.S. and Canada…Darren Rovell has a solid q and a with mlb.com head Bob Bowman , and with the AVP Crocs Tour heating its action up, CEO Leonard Armato had a series of good audio pieces on WCBS radio that give some good insight into the brand and the summer schedule that are worth listening to.