Target's Move To End Ganassi Partnership Part Of Direction Under New Chair

Target's decision to ends its 27-year partnership with Chip Ganassi Racing's IndyCar team is the "latest overhaul" under new Chair & CEO Brian Cornell, who has been "pushing Target to rethink every part of its business from its corporative giving to its marketing to the products it carries on its shelves," according to Kavita Kumar of the Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE. Target VP/Communications Katie Boylan said, "The decision is really about injecting some newness around our approach to sports marketing. If you think about Target and our brand, we're always looking for what's new." Boylan added that Target is "still in the process of deciding what its next iteration will look like but hopes to announce plans in the near future." Target did "not disclose how much it has invested in the motor racing sponsorships" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 7/28). NBCSPORTS.com's Tony DiZinno wrote Target's decision to leave IndyCar leaves a "giant void that no company will be able to fill -- at least not immediately." Target was "always on par with Marlboro as one of the two most well-known sponsors in the sport." It then became the "pre-eminent sponsor in the sport when new tobacco restrictions forced Marlboro colors off the Team Penske cars" in '09. Target's departure "comes because the new people in charge of overseeing the marketing programs don't see the ROI and value in IndyCar racing today." It is a "legacy departure that comes as a result" of the 12-year open-wheel racing civil war that concluded in '08 and the "lack of value that has persisted in the interim years" (NBCSPORTS.com, 7/27).