The issue of access, activation and engagement for brands tied to sports properties certainly has not gotten any easier during The Pandemic, and even as we start to move back to some sense of normalcy, the ability to find unique ways to have athletes, even fans, engage continues to be both challenging and creative.
Some examples of what lies ahead for MLB Spring Training for example, were outlined this week by Tim Kurkjian, which included things like no contacts between fans and players and limited access which takes away from the uniqueness of preseason baseball afternoons, all of which are necessary but troublesome for the traditional baseball business side of the spring in Arizona and Florida.
In short, there is only so much you can do to maximize an experience with gift bags, Zoom interaction and lots of masks and hand sanitizer.
However not all on the creative side is or will be lost this spring. Case in point was the creativity of NASCAR during the long rain delays around Daytona. Sports Business Journal’s Adam Stern documented how drivers got out and about with some takeout as they were sitting idly, a great impromptu and highly social move that got great play and helped boost the awareness of some key brands where they might not have gotten a bounce at all.
Haas Racing driver Chase Briscoe’s wife, Marissa, tweeted a picture of him grabbing Panda Express from a drive-through during the lengthy Daytona 500 rain delay, a couple NASCAR drivers with restaurant/QSR sponsors quickly followed with visits to their affiliated establishments. Chip Ganassi Racing’s new No. 42 Chevrolet driver Ross Chastain went to McDonald’s, the longtime CGR partner, and ordered food for his team in his fire suit, to the delight of the worker handling his transaction. CGR posted the exchange on the team’s Twitter account, where the post had more than 1,200 retweets and 7,600-plus likes at press time.
Meanwhile, Richard Childress Racing driver Tyler Reddick visited a Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen location across the street from the track. The Darden Restaurants brand recently extended and expanded its relationship with the team for a second season. SHR’s Briscoe is not sponsored by Panda Express. The organization does have a QSR sponsor in Jimmy John’s, but that company is only affiliated with its No. 4 program driven by Kevin Harvick.
Now for sure NASCAR fans would have preferred a rain free start to the season, but in a time when you are looking for a positive edge to distract, and even enhance, all the protocols going into place that keep reminding us how unusual this spring is and how far we still have to go to return to a sense of normalcy, you have to give NASCAR some strong kudos, and hope this keeps the wheels turning for other sports as fans come back in stages, and brands are not going to sit still with make goods.
A nice pivot for a rainy day in Florida.
