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Marketing and Sponsorship

Sherwin-Williams, NASCAR extend

Editor’s note: This story is revised from the print edition.

Sherwin-Williams will announce this week that it has extended its deal as the official paint of NASCAR for three years following what the company’s motorsports marketing executive called phenomenal sales growth resulting from its initial two-year sponsorship.

The deal, which sources valued in the low to mid-seven figures annually, now extends to the end of 2017. Sherwin-Williams initially signed on in 2013, when it started as NASCAR’s official architectural paint in May and thereafter picked up the automotive paint rights in November once Axalta didn’t extend.

Terms of the deal include Sherwin-Williams getting exclusivity in the paint, automotive paint, transportation coatings and transportation finishes categories. It also will remain as a contingency sponsor of NASCAR’s touring and weekly series, title sponsor of the fastest lap award in the Sprint Cup Series, and sponsor of NASCAR's IMSA sports car series.

Bobby Moody, director of motorsports for Sherwin-Williams, said he originally pushed for a five-year pact but the Cleveland-based company, which is nearing its 150th anniversary, typically limits sports marketing deals to three years.

The cost of the new deal is more than the prior agreement, according to Moody, who declined to reveal precise terms. Norris Scott, vice president of partnership marketing for NASCAR, said Sherwin-Williams will be investing at a greater rate because of the company’s added assets.

“By expanding categories, they’re going to be able to bring in more divisions of the company, whether it’s the paint stores, automotive, other groups, to kind of bring into their sponsorship mix with NASCAR,” Scott said. “So I think that’s part of the expansion.

“And then they’re going to be involved in a lot of different touch points: the contingency program, home tracks program, bring NASCAR in-store and continuing with digital and social support.”

In the first two years of the deal, Sherwin-Williams focused on bringing potential clients to races for hospitality. As part of the new pact, the paint company, which has about 4,000 stores and 75 percent market share in architectural paint nationwide, will begin in-store activation with signage. Moody said that while in-store signage may be seen as a small step for some companies, it’s a major one for Sherwin-Williams.

Moody added that Sherwin-Williams has enjoyed solid business-to-business results in the sport, citing deals with 3M, Ford, Toyota and a who’s who of NASCAR teams as proof. The company hosted just under 100 people representing around $28 million in potential business at this year’s Daytona 500, he said.

“It’s been phenomenal the [sales] growth that we’ve experienced by taking customers each and every week to the NASCAR events,” Moody said. “It’s become an integral, core part of our business to grow gallons. Entertaining existing and prospective customers, and the opportunity at the [NASCAR] Fuel For Business meetings, is huge.”

From NASCAR’s perspective, the paint company’s renewal is significant in part because it represents the first renewal for the sanctioning body among the six new sponsors it signed in 2013.

“It’s a good testament to what we do,” Scott said, “in terms of in just two years, they were able to see some positive metrics coming out of the sponsorship.”

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