In a unique activation for this year’s Indianapolis 500, Chip Ganassi Racing sponsor Novo Nordisk will change the number of driver Charlie Kimball’s car to underscore how long the pharmaceutical company’s new insulin product lasts.
 |
Kimball’s Novo Nordisk-sponsored car will carry the names of 42 diabetes pioneers.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
|
The plan, to be announced this week, will feature a number of elements around the company’s new product, Tresiba, which is touted as lasting at least 42 hours for Type 1 and Type 2 diabetics. The activation ties organically into Ganassi Racing, because the team has long owned and been associated with the No. 42 in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series, which is another one of the five series it competes in.
On top of changing Kimball’s No. 83 Chevy for the race, the car will carry the names of 42 diabetes pioneers, including basketball hall of famer Dominique Wilkins and tennis great Billie Jean King. Also, Novo Nordisk will donate $4,200 each to local chapters of the American Diabetes Association in Indiana and Charlotte in the name of the drivers who lead the 42nd lap of the 500 and NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 later that day.
Ganassi Racing’s No. 42 Chevy in the Sprint Cup Series driven by Kyle Larson will carry Kimball’s name on it for the Coke 600.
Despite the inherent risk of potentially confusing fans who have come to associate Kimball and Novo with the No. 83, the company undertook the effort to try to cut through what is expected to be considerable marketing clutter at next week’s 100th running of the Indy 500, according to Ambre Brown Morley, Novo Nordisk’s senior director of product communications and patient relations for its diabetes and obesity marketing group.
“When you’re talking about the 100th running of the Indy 500, everything about that day is already going to be unique and special. And with this being a launch year for the product … we wanted to do something unique for the brand,” Brown Morley said.
Novo will support the effort via a media buy with USA Today, including banner ads on the paper’s For The Win digital property, and a print supplement in all Gannett newspapers. The company also will have on-the-ground activation in Indianapolis the week of the race.
