Marketers Question Staying Power Of Danica Without Victories

Marketers Feel Patrick Must Win To Sustain Popularity

Marketing experts said that IRL driver Danica Patrick “needs to win soon to sustain her mainstream popularity,” according to a front-page Cover Story by Nate Ryan of USA TODAY. Sports Business Group President David Carter said her appeal “could be relatively short-lived because it could be perceived as too gimmicky. Plenty of athletes have come and gone that were packaged well but didn’t win and people tired of them over time.” But Ryan notes marketing research “indicates her middling results haven’t hurt her allure so far.” She ranks between NASCAR drivers Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson in the Davie Brown Index. Millsport Senior VP/Motorsports Mike Bartelli: “If another couple of years go by [without a win], you’re going to see a steady erosion in the public’s appreciation of what she’s doing.” Ryan notes after Patrick’s merchandise outsold all other drivers combined at the ’05 Indianapolis 500 and accounted for 42.8% of the market share last year, her sales this year have fallen to 34.5% of the market. Motorola Dir of North American Marketing Kathleen Finato, whose company is the primary sponsor of Patrick’s car and recently launched an ad campaign featuring her, said it is “not imperative she win to make this valuable” for Motorola. Finato: “She transcends the sport of motor racing. ... You don’t have to watch Indy Racing to know who Danica Patrick is” (USA TODAY, 5/24).

INDY-PENDENT: GoDaddy, the presenting sponsor of ABC’s Indy 500 telecast, will not air an ad during race coverage that features Patrick debating company spokesperson Candice Michelle “over who is ‘racier.’” It will instead run a “tamer endorsement featuring Patrick.” GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons: “I didn’t go with that commercial because it headed nowhere” (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 5/24).