Stewart-Haas Racing this morning unveiled a deal with online tax solutions company TaxAct to sponsor Danica Patrick's No. 10 Sprint Cup Series Chevy. The company will serve as the co-primary sponsor with GoDaddy for the Feb. 14 Sprint Unlimited at Daytona Int’l Speedway and appear on the C-post of the car during the rest of Budweiser Speedweeks. TaxAct also will be Patrick's primary sponsor for the March 29 race at Martinsville Speedway. The company will activate the deal by running an online sweepstakes on TaxAct.com/Danica, in which the first-place winner gets a behind-the-scenes meet-and-great with Patrick (Adam Stern, Staff Writer).
TURBO BOOST: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Mike Shields reported Turbo Tax during the 1:00am ET edition of "SportsCenter" Saturday morning ran a 30-second ad that marks the "first 'programmatic' ad" ESPN has sold for the show. ESPN indicated that Turbo Tax bought the ad "via a Web-based auction," the net's first sale of an ad "as part of a new initiative announced last month." The spot "did not run during a standard commercial break." Instead, an anchor announced "SportsCenter" was taking a 30-second break. The net then "cut to the ad, which was played on a giant video screen on the 'SportsCenter' set" (WSJ.com, 1/12).
X GONNA GIVE IT TO YA: Jeep is returning as the exclusive automotive sponsor of ESPN's Winter X Games broadcast for the 12th year and will break a new ad campaign coinciding with the event. The effort includes a 30-second spot titled "Polar Vortex" and includes print, digital, social and experiential extensions (Jeep).
A SIGN OF THINGS TO COME? In Phoenix, Andrew Joseph notes a mock up of "what appears to be an early prototype" of adidas' new Arizona State football jersey was posted to Twitter on Sunday. The image shows a "white helmet with the copper pitchfork, just like what ASU wore in November for its home game against Notre Dame." A white jersey includes a pitchfork "in the middle of the chest instead of the words 'Arizona State'" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 1/13).
