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).

Six Months Into A “Crisis” Year and NASCAR Continues Its Strong Refinement…

July 1, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

If any sport could be hurt by the global economic problems it should be NASCAR. The essence of the “traveling circus” of a circuit, especially one built around the auto industry and legions of fans that have to travel to see their stars, makes survival problematic and growth questionable. Outside the US, racing in the form of Formula One has been devastated, with more bad news that good. Yet NASCAR, although taking a hit, has continued to build its brand, redefine itself and find ways to satisfy its core audience and find new, casual fans in these crazy times. How? By staying on message, looking for new avenues, listening to their fans and doing everything possible to keep their TV, digital and brand partners happy in these tough times. A look around this week sees the NASCAR story told point by point in USA Today , and in an indepth all access show on CNBC . Prior to that, away from the sports and business pages, the New York Times spent A Night Out with driver Jimmie Johnson recently in Manhattan, while SUNOCO re-launched their campaign for Free Fuel for NASCAR fans and loyal customers in early June. Are things all rosy? No. The discretionary dollar for many fans has dried up, which will hopefully lead them to TV or more digital coverage, but NASCAR has done a great job of showing all partners that they are remaining strong in these tough times and will do whatever it takes to reward all involved with their brand. Great mid-year push by a sport fueled by loyalty.

Raptors Extend Brand By Taking Care Of The Sport Up North…

June 23, 2008 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

As the NBA continues to forge new partnerships designed to expand their reach in the Far East, the sport has made two very important moves in North America to enhance the brand of basketball on the continent where it has its biggest presence.  The first was in April, when the league announced a long-reaching plan with the NCAA to develop the sport and find ways to market together, especially amongst the grassroots participant.  The second (found via Terry Lyons blog), came up this past week in Canada, where the Raptors are looking to take a much larger stance in working with the National Governing Body to  explore ways to grow the game by helping with the Canadian National team. The move makes great sense for a number of reasons.  The Raptors, led by Bryan Colangelo, remain the only professional hoops show in Canada, and the sport, although never really gaining huge marketshare, has had individual success through the years.  By helping install more nationalism and professionalism in evaluating talent, much like USA Basketball has done in this country, it gives the Raptors much more of an emotional stake in a country where sports have more tribal loyalties than in the United States.  It can lead to better branding, more attention for the NBA, and in turn greater business opportunities for the Raptors.  Combining this move with the NCAA’s larger committment to being involved with Canadian Collegiate teams will help grow the sport and the business opportunities that can arise and is worth watching over the next few years.  Nothing like taking care of those in your backyard.

It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time…

May 11, 2008 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

The preciseness with which athletes have to perform sometimes is underappreciated by fans, which is why all the prep stories and the backgrounders which give fans insight into the day to day dealings an athlete has to go through are so well recieved.  Similarly, on the business side, awareness of the timing of events, as well as the forethought and planning into making sure all involved are aware and on board, is also very key.  Three examples…first Maria Sharapova’s protests about the timing of a WTA ad campaign which we talked about earlier this week, and then the Papa John’s 23 cent pizza giveaway followed by Forumula One driver Lewis Hamilton’s appearance in a strange play the night before a race in Istanbul…all surfaced this week and showed how importand timing is to keep all on the same page and avoid distraction for the brand and the athlete.  The Papa John’s case, which included the chain giving out 23 cent pizza’s during a busy dinner rush hour as a giveback and apology to Akron and Cleveland area fans who took offense to a t-shirt giveaway mocking LeBron James, got the company great brand exposure and extra publicity for a stunt that maybe went wrong, but probably cost the company a large amount of capital in lost income.  The Hamilton episode, where the driver appeared in a version of A Space Odyssey suspended by cables on a stage, certainly didn’t cost the driver or his team any cash.  However the timing of the appearance and the risk associated with it, could have damaged his chance to race the next day, as well and questioned his dedication to the profession by those brands who have invested in him.  In both cases, the efforts were seemingly justified at first look.  Papa John’s needed a make good in an area where their reputation had taken a hit, and their executives said all the right things in getting the message to the community.  Heck, some savvy pros may even point out that the prolonged and perceived “bad” publicity gave the brand much more exposure than they have had in a while.  But the timing and the execution caused a great deal of problems in the community for town officials and others around the stores that the chain will have to continue to recover from, and being a company with shareholders, officials have to answer to a large loss of capital as well.  Hamilton’s issues are certainly more about the timing of the appearance and will be easier to get over in the future for a driver who is already well respected. All seemed like a good idea at the time, but strategic planning and clear communication always has to be the first thought to make sure even good ideas don’t go awry.  

Dealing With The Crisis of Olympic Proportions…As Well As With Formula One…

April 8, 2008 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

The growing controversy around the Olympic Torch Relay through Europe, as well as the growing negative sentiment with regard to the Beijing Olympics themselves, seems to be reaching crisis stage as evidenced by front page stories in most of the top 25 newspapers in the United States today (and will grow even more as the relay makes its only stop in the United States…in San Francisco…very soon).  Although crisis with regard to Olympic participation effected both the Moscow Olympics (solid book about those gilted Olympians called Boycott:  Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympics is now out and very relevant by the way) and the Los Angeles Olympics, the convergence of an American election year and the way the media can now cover and report such crisis where politics and sports overlap may be unprecendted.  The best piece of “expert” advice on the PR side was featured in today’s Toronto Star by industry experts Howard Rubenstein and Ari Fleischer, who offered their views to the IOC on next steps.  Ironically, while Rubenstein likened the IOC’s problems to the Berlin Olympics where Hitler got to showcase Nazi Germany for the world, Fleischer went the other way, showing that sponsors and television partners will have the opportunity to voice the opinion of the public by supporting the athletes outside of the political problems that will continue to fester. Although there really isn’t a “correct” answer to this situation right now as the IOC worksg to find stability in a very fluid crisis, it will be interesting to monitor the issue and see how brands react or capitalize on the debate.

Majoring In The Minors…Again…Altoona Throws a Curve With Season Long “Leip” Year Celebration

March 4, 2008 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

PR Move of the Day:  We haven’t done one of these in a while (and are looking forward to a summer of good ideas), but we turn to the Business of Minor League Baseball blog and give props to the Altoona Curve for announcing their season long “Leip” Year promotions, timed of course to last Friday’s February 29 Leap Day.   The promotions, ranging from honoring “leaplings” those born on that date, to a special “29″ section and “29″ giveaways are all in honor of the Curve Manager Tim Leiper and will run all season long…a great  way to play out the extra day and build momentum and sponsor interest with a very simple idea.

The Yin And Yang of Global Expansion…The Premier League Idea…

February 17, 2008 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

As NBA Commissioner David Stern talks about the vision of a European Division, the NHL looks toward European Expansion, even the UFC continues to take their successful North American Mixed Martial Arts business and tries to grow in Europe, we note a tale of caution coming the other way…The Premier League’s plans to add another round of matchups from the top clubs and play those matches globally, especially with an eye toward North America. The London Telegraph has several extensive stories on the plan, explaining the positive and the negative of the idea, hatched by Sir Rod Eddington, and Foxsports.com’s solid soccer guy Jamie Trecker has the silver lining in the plan for American fans in his piece. While the idea of friendly exhibitions has been around forever, the 24/7 world of sports today, along with the added incentive of business partners to attract more return on their investment globally, seems to be leading the biggest sports brands to figure out how to make games count on a global scale, and give local fans the feeling that they are seeing an event of value to the teams involved. American sport has tried to export games worldwide for years, sometimes with success as in basketball, sometimes with little success as in American football. The problem comes when the sports brands try to overshadow local customs, traditions and plans and almost force local business partners and fans to accept a game, or the outsiders version of a game, because it is the way it is marketed and presented abroad. The pushback and the longterm effects can be very harmful. Will cheerleaders and thundersticks work in Old Trafford? Probably not, but they are not needed to have sponsors, broadcasters and fans understand the value of staging a world class event in the venue. Would it be great to have people experience the best the Premier League has to offer around the globe? Yes. But not at the expense of adding short term “value” by sacrificing long term “health.” Given Newscorp’s interest in the idea (and the belief that MLS is going to continue to grow in the States), here’s looking forward to a great mix of dash and flash with respect for tradition when, not if, the plan goes through. For more balance on the piece, also check out mls.com, a solid q and a in the Houston Chronicle with MLS Commish Don Garber, and Formula One head Bernie Ecclestone’s own ideas on the subject.