M&M’s brand this morning announced that it has extended its partnership as the official chocolate of NASCAR through ’19, a welcome sign for the sport from one of its more prominent business-to-consumer sponsors. M&M’s, which is also primary sponsor of Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18 Toyota driven by Kyle Busch, has held the official chocolate designation with NASCAR since ’00, meaning the brand will have held the title for two decades by the time the deal is now slated to expire. Financial terms of the deal were not released. Given the increasing presence of many business-to-business-focused sponsors in the sport, a renewal from a major company who has a key focus on reaching consumers will be seen as a notable win for the sport. Mars Inc. -- M&M's parent company -- has been in NASCAR for more than 25 years and activates some of its other brands within the sport, occasionally including Skittles and Pedigree dog food. M&M’s is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year and has been running special activations and paint schemes around that during the '16 season.
