NASCAR

Beware Sponges Filled With Cash…And Other Lessons…

March 16, 2010 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Last year the brand of choice to fill displaced inventory on television and in stadia around the country was Spongetech. Their giant signs were splashed acroos all of MLB, their patches showed up on the NFL’s “Hard Knocks” show on Bengals jerseys, they appeared along the dasher boards at Madison Square Garden. Spongetech, and their pre-soaped sponges, appeared to be the cure-all for every team salesperson.  They helped balance budgets and create some buzz and all appeared grand.

IRL Gets A Chance To Get Back In The Branding Race…

March 15, 2010 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

February  was certainly one of the most intriguing months on the sports calendar in recent years. It began with a record Super Bowl, took us through a controversial Daytona 500, saw a very intriguing two weeks of Olympics, and a record setting NBA All-Star game.  So now as we hit the ides of March, we look to what the rest of the calendar can shape up to show us, outside of the usual hoopla of March Madness and spring training in the United States.  The month of March in past years brought us the AFL, the ideas of spring professional football, indoor soccer, and lots and lots of indoor and outdoor lacrosse, all of which have either gone the way of the Buffalo or are in some form of relaunch or reorganization.  So with those brands on hold or being re-jigged, there are two intriguing platforms which will kick it into high gear for what could be make or break years in terms of growth, IRL and soccer.

Racing Back To The Top…

February 14, 2010 by Joe Favorito · 1 Comment 

As one looks for continued signs of resurgence in sports marketing…record viewership for the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympic Opening ceremonies, more global sponsors building activation platforms, increased and more diverse ad spending dollars being but forth from ‘09…perhaps one should look to racing as a bell weather.  Yes it is true that “The Great American Race,” the Daytona 500, will just beginning NASCAR’s season this weekend, and that the aggressive new launch of IRL is still a few weeks away, but there are continued positive signs which are showing that racing, one of the the industries hit hardest in the recession the last few years, may be returning to form in terms of viewership, attention and brand awareness. NASCAR has started awareness campaigns in theaters across the country, designed to promote the personalities of the sport, has enhanced their digital presence and begun a more intense program to get their faces out to the widest possible audience going into the season.

Who Will Win The Battle of The Busiest Weekend On The Sports Calendar?

February 11, 2010 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

It is a good thing the NFL moved the Pro Bowl to the week prior to the Super Bowl this year.  The game got much-needed attention and a record crowd, and won’t have to deal with being an after-thought on perhaps the busiest big event weekend on the sports calendar.  Yes a week after the Super Bowl became the most watched television event of all-time, three major events…the opening of the Winter Olympics, the Daytona 500 and the NBA All-Star Game, will all battle for eyeballs, sponsor return and casual sports fans within 72 hours. Who will win?  The battle has already begun.

NASCAR Goes To The Big Screen(s)…

January 31, 2010 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

As we near Daytona and the start of NASCAR 2010, it is good to see the brand is again looking for more ways to engage the brand, the consumer and grow relevance among the casual fan.  The latest offering is a program launching in  thiusands of movie screens across North America, the first of a series of “short” videos that will promote ties to brands, drive personalities of the drivers and hopefully grow interest among those who may not be yet on the NASCAR bandwagon and now may tune in or log on to catch more of the excitement.   Now it is not unusual for brands, or even sports brands, to reach out to engage the movie goer.  The New York Liberty for example, used the screens of Cablevision’s Clearview Cinemas to promote ticket availability and awareness, and the Women’s World Cup had a similar program to drive awareness.   NASCAR’s IMAX experience, as well as others shot in large screen format, have also tried to draw feans of cinema to a unique aspect of sport.  What is different here is that the videos are more of a long-term awareness push rather than a call to action for just a race, or a ticket buying experience or a tune-in.  It gives the brands featured, each worked carefully into the short, great ROI with a new audience, and also offers great opprtunity to use the shorts virally as well.  In a time when brands need that ROI and NASCAR, like all sports, is battling for the casual fan and the discretionary dollar, the reach to theaters looks like a very clean, snart approach and if it works will be copied. Start  your engines fans.

Racing Looks To Find New Fans…Pinewood Derby Anyone?

January 26, 2010 by Joe Favorito · 1 Comment 

We are coming up fast on Daytona for NASCAR’s start,  the IRL is looking to rebrand and re-emerge after unification with IZOD as a title sponsor, even Forumula One is looking to find its place again. So as the economic times start to recede and sponsor dollars are becoming a tad looser again, what can racing do to find audiences to grow and keep adding fans for life.  One idea is for one of the circuits to embrace a time-honored tradition between thousands of boys and their dads with the Boy and Cub Scouts of America: brand the Pinewood Derby. For those who don’t know, Pinewood Derby is a mid-winter troop by troop competition in which dads and sons take a wooden block of five ounces and fashion it into a mini-soap box car to cpmpete against other troop members on a downhill track.  Pinewood Derby bonds fathers and sons, instills interest in science and design, gives kids an interest in racing away from a video screen and is just plain fun.  Virtually every troop in the United States has the race, and generations of scouts have enjoyed the practice over the years.  Yet, no one in racing has thought to find ways to honor design (especially now in the digital age), and add on some branding to enhance the car design. It probably is not a stretch that hosts of drivers, technicians and even sponsors who have gone through scouting can connect with Pinewood Derby as well.  To have one of the major circuits latch on and find ways to promote scouting through a Pinewood Derby promotion could be a cheap, affordable longlasting promotion at a time when racing is not top-of-mind, but could provide a great lead-in to the upcoming season.  Does it answer all the questions as to where racing can go to increase its viewership and demo?  No.  But it is a great grassroots tie to a group that has a strong  affinity for brands that support it (the scouts) and has very little downside or large cost associated with it.  Start your engines (or at least your blocks of wood).

MLK Day A Missed Branding Oppt. For Sports?

January 18, 2010 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Monday is a National Holiday honoring the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  It would seem a perfect time…NFL in full postseason, NBA and NHL gearing up for All-Star, college sports pushing ahead, the Olympics on the horizon, the holidays in the distance…for a brand or an organization to take ownership of the weekend, especially in the area of community service and philanthropy. Yes, the NBA does do a good job of playing during the day and looking at projects that serve the spirit of Dr. King well.  Yes, some NFL teams like the 48ers are doing community service events Monday.  However, as brands look to be more community oriented and find opportunities to partner on community programs that give back, there remains no national push.  Maybe it should not be the professional teams or leagues, who would find it hard to muster full support on a Monday in January.  Maybe it should be the NCAA or High Schools that should find a brand to turn the day into one where young athletes and coaches each give back in their community. Maybe it should be the announcement of a mentoring program by each or any of the leagues, with some kind of tie to Dr. King’s spirit. Maybe it should be MLS, coming off their draft and meetings last week, or the PBR, who just started, or tennis or golf, both looking for more diversity. It just seems like with the issues of elite athletes today, and the obvious need for brands to connect to the community, that this mid-January weekend would be a prime spot to reflect, connect and reenergize the spirit and influence that athletes can have, especially young people looking for role models on any level.

Sports Philanthropy For Brands…Same Spend, Twice Return?

January 12, 2010 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Cause related marketing for brands, even in a down economy, remains one of the growth areas for active consumer brands. With overall marketing dollars slashed last, companies had to find more efficient ways to reach consumers, and one of the biggest ways was combining dollars earmarked for straight advertising and rallying behind a cause.  Instead of just asking the consumer to buy product straight out, brands went more for social responsibility, with x dollars tied to a local or national charity.  The result was at least the feeling that brands were accomplishing three goals…effective spending of limited ad dollars, a direct, emotional tie to the consumer and a bigger outreach for philanthropic endeavors.  Little downside of the expenditure with a wider ROI.

Can Jimmie Johnson and NASCAR win New York?

November 26, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Jimmie Johnson was in one of the few races this week that he has yet to win. The race to make his brand, and in a larger part the brand of NASCAR, relevant to the casual sports fan and the discretionary spender in the world’s largest marketplace, the New York tri-state area.

Old School Branding:Mallards Give Everyone Something To Quack About…

October 20, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Maybe its because baseball just lends itself more to creativity because of the summer communal atmosphere and the tradition of promotion that the minor leagues lends itself to, or maybe we just notice it more because baseball has a bigger platform of a season, but it always seemed like that entreprenurial spirit of creativity should apply just as much to minor league hockey as it does o baseball. After all there are less dates usually to fill, in most cases less seats and in many cases less competition for the discretionary dollar in the winter than baseball combats in the summer. Yet for some reason, minor league hockey in the U.S…maybe there is less affinity to the game, maybe there is less money and less time spent on brand development, maybe the fans don’t connect to the team like in baseball…has never made the promotional impact that baseball has. Well don’t tell that to the Quad City Mallards. The Mallards have taken the page, well probably the whole book, from promotional and brand partnership, and under new owner Chris Lencheski have sought to redfine how minor league hockey brands and markets itself in an area where minor league sports can be king. From lockerroom access for fans to a great new in-goal Hardees promotion (written about by Sarah Talalay in the Florida Sun Sentinel and sure to be copied by others) the Mallards are providing a steady flow of information to media, creating compelling new partnerships and promotions, and making the team a must see for fun if not for hockey. They have created media partnerships with a junior reporter program, and found every possible way to connect to the community to drive interest as the season opens. Is it tough to stay relevant in an area which does not have a huge professional or even college sports following? Maybe. But the Mallards are taking every step possible to give fans and business partners a reason to support their efforts on and off the ice. The result may not be great in-game success but it will be a better, stronger brand, a quality family experience and good exposure to the sport for all involved, not to mention programs that could become even more of a best practice for arenas and their teams as they are for their baseball colleagues and their fields in the summer. Rocket science? Not at all. Understanding the marketplace, what attracts brands and how to communicate that experience to the media and to the fans? Absolutely. Hockey at all levels is a great experiential game. Here’s hoping that the Mallards and the experience they are building leads to an explosion of interest and smart business practices in the sport, just like we have in baseball.

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