Anheuser-Busch next year "will switch the brand affiliated with its various NASCAR sponsorships, with Budweiser out and Busch -- which was deeply invested in the sport for years -- back in," according to Adam Stern in this week's SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. Sources said that the move "comes after A-B conducted a comprehensive reassessment of its NASCAR deals, some of which were up for renewal in coming years." Those agreements include a primary sponsorship of Stewart-Haas Racing’s No. 4 Chevy, which "has been valued" at $11-13M annually, as well as assets with several ISC tracks, most notably the Budweiser Duel and Budweiser Speedweeks at Daytona Int'l Speedway. A-B also has a "nonexclusive deal" with the SMI-owned Bristol Motor Speedway to "sponsor the venue’s Bud Tap Room and Bud Tap Room Lounge." Sources said that during the internal evaluation, A-B "studied numerous options, including a possible exit from the sport ... but it ultimately decided to switch back to the Busch brand." A-B VP/Consumer Connections Lucas Herscovici: "NASCAR continues to be a priority platform for our beer portfolio. We will be shifting our brand equity in (Kevin) Harvick’s car and team from Budweiser to our Busch beer portfolio for the 2016 NASCAR season. The Busch brand is well positioned for this partnership given the brand’s storied history with the sport.” Busch was last involved with NASCAR in '07, its final season with entitlement of the sport's secondary series (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 8/24 issue).
HALF BAKERY? In Daytona Beach, Ken Willis wrote the "inconsistency of today’s affiliations" in NASCAR from a sponsorship perspective is "owed to the enormous costs of operating a year-round racing operation." Several years ago, many would "likely never heard of GoDaddy," which is the outgoing sponsor of Danica Patrick. Even if Nature’s Bakery, her new sponsor starting in '16, "leveraged itself by committing tens of millions, it might be a steal." But still, "looking through the field on any given weekend, the lack of consistent color schemes and corporate themes is surely playing a role in the struggle to regain the momentum of the past two most recent decades" (NEWS-JOURNALONLINE.com, 8/22).
