3M on Friday announced that it is continuing its longstanding official sponsorship of NASCAR, with the company’s automotive-aftermarket division taking the lead role moving forward. The five-year extension, which includes contingency rights that put the company’s logo on every Sprint Cup car, ensures a key renewal for NASCAR and takes the length of the two sides’ relationship to nearly two decades. The automotive-aftermarket division will continue to have rights to put NASCAR marks on products, and get hospitality assets, which are a major facet of its B2B-focused NASCAR program. 3M automotive-aftermarket division U.S. Marketing Operations Manager Dale Ross said that the company is having that division take the leading role because that was the core part of the business that originally sparked the company’s involvement in NASCAR, and it made sense to get back to that focus. He said, “The automotive-aftermarket division was the first division of 3M to get involved in NASCAR ... because our customer base is right in their wheel house, so it was a natural we got involved in the first place ... (the program) eventually grew and grew within 3M -- and now we’re going back to a more strategic focus for our division and customer base.”
GOOD FOR BUSINESS: Ross, who said the company entertains VIP types, customers and occasionally contest winners during races, added that its hospitality efforts have helped it grow incremental sales, because “the users of our products are technicians working in the body shop, and the body-shop owner is the one buying the products through distribution -- we sell our product through automotive distributors.” These are the sort of clients the company hosts at events. He said the brand will look to continue promotions like ones it has done in the past, such as one in recent years called “Your Ticket to the Track” where certain products that carried NASCAR marks had special stickers on them, and if you found one, you got merchandise or an opportunity to attend a race. For its part, NASCAR Exec VP & CMO Steve Phelps in a statement said the partnership “is driven by the authentic integration of 3M products across our sport” and that the renewal “continues the recent trend of innovative companies partnering with NASCAR.” The governing body earlier this year renewed with Sherwin-Williams, K&N Filters and United Technical Institute among others. It has also added new deals with the likes of Microsoft and DraftKings. Some brands with team deals have announced that they will leave the sport after this year -- such as GoDaddy and Aaron’s -- but others, like Hisense, Nature’s Bakery and PowerShares QQQ, have entered the fold at the same time. Meanwhile, Ross said 3M was not yet ready to release its forthcoming sponsorship plans with Hendrick Motorsports, which is the team 3M is aligned with through retiring driver Jeff Gordon’s No. 24 Chevy.
