Wyndham Hotel Group (WHG) will run its second paint scheme this weekend as a Roush Fenway Racing primary sponsor under the Wyndham Rewards banner, but the company plans to use several different brands as the deal goes on. Wyndham last month announced a new sponsorship with RFR’s No. 6 Cup Series Ford driven by Matt Kenseth, and the company will serve as primary seven times this year before the deal grows to a greater number of primaries next season. WHG VP/Worldwide Loyalty & Partnerships Eliot Hamlisch said the company could utilize its Super 8, Ramada, Days Inn and Howard Johnson. Hamlisch: “One of the most exciting aspects of WHG is we’ve got 20 brands, 8,000 hotels across 80 countries in the world, and many of those brands are really iconic brands that have become household names over time. So in addition to the common theme that unites them -- Wyndham Rewards -- I think it’s likely you’ll see different brands take advantage of that (primary sponsorship) opportunity as well to build awareness in upcoming races.” Regardless of the brand it uses on a given weekend, WHG is looking activating the deal in several different ways, including digital media, at-track hospitality with VIP experience winners, plus other giveaways and experiences that will be rolled into Wyndham Reward’s program, which has 56 million members. The company is looking at creating a sweepstakes that could include both hotel-redemption opportunities and non-hotel redemption opportunities, the latter of which including NASCAR-specific experiences like meet-and-greets with Kenseth. The company, which does its sports marketing with a mixture of in-house and external-agency work, is also looking to strike B2B deals in the sport -- both with Roush and other companies -- to have their employees stay at WHG properties.
