As the economy takes its effect on NASCAR, one thing that hasn’t suffered is the diversity and depth of innovative promotion and the PR support that goes with it.Texas Motor Speedway, which brought in celebrity chefs like Rachel Ray, Tim Lov.and Mario Batali, linked in drivers.fans and other partners to create an “Asphalt Chef” competitio.to the early November race. The resul.again lifted NASCAR to another level with the casual sports and entertainment fan…tieing the highly popular celebrity chefs and their ardent followers to the sport, which brings in new eyeballs at a time when the ardent fan is feeling the dollar crunch. It als.exposes the drivers involved, Bobby Labonte, Carl Edwards and Juan Pablo Montoya, to an audience away from the core, who will hopefully not just watch but activate with the other products each driver endorses, once again growing ROI for partners, the drivers and the sport at a critical time. Great effort, wider exposure, no downside at a time when “food tv” and the celebrity chefs associated with it are growing faster in popularity than almost any other TV genre.
Some other good reads…the Washington Post has a good read on Cal Ripken's trip to Nicaragua…CMO Magazine has a look at Soccer United Marketing's forcast for a bright future with MLS…si.com's Joe Posnanski makes a pitch for Davidson's Stephan Curry as SI “Sportsman of the Year“…and Soccer America has a good wrapup to Real Salt Lake's season, which ended Saturday night with the loss to the Red Bulls.
