Hertz is lining up different marketing promotions and activations around its association with Hendrick Motorsports, part of a larger deal between the car rental company and team owner Rick Hendrick’s automotive empire. Hertz recently signed a two-year deal with HMS’ No. 24 Chevy driven by William Byron that included primary paint schemes for four points races plus the All-Star Race. Three of its four points races will be in the NASCAR playoffs in October and November (the fourth is coming in August at Watkins Glen), but the company is starting to formulate and roll out its marketing plan now. Hertz Senior VP/Marketing Jayesh Patel said that the B2C side of the deal is based around three elements: branding/awareness; race hospitality; and contest/sweepstakes. On the branding and awareness side, Hertz is planning to have paid social and digital media marketing around the deal plus elements of the deal at its physical locations. Among the messaging it will push is using the 20-year-old Byron to promote the fact Hertz rents to people 20-years-old and up and that it has a deal for AAA members that sees a fee for people between the ages of 20-25 waived. It will also leverage team owner Hendrick’s personal rags-to-riches story to appeal to small-business owners and is looking at doing some messaging with NASCAR HOF-inductee Jeff Gordon. Hertz most recently was with Team Penske, but has been out of the sport for a couple years.
FULLY JUMPING IN: Hertz will wrap cars at its dealerships with the No. 24 paint scheme and is looking at integrating Byron into other elements of its physical locations. It will host key partners and top clients at track during its four primary races with its hospitality assets, which could include meet-and-greets with HMS drivers and unique experiences like getting to drive a car on track. Hertz is launching the first of multiple sweepstakes in early July, and among those prizes will be new cars it will give away as part of its 100-year anniversary this year. The company is also interested in striking B2B deals with HMS partners and other companies in NASCAR, plus trying to grow its relationship with Hendrick. Patel said, “We do have a deep relationship with Hendrick Automotive Group and HMS; it’s multifaceted across different dimensions, and we’re excited to kind of grow our partnership in the motorsports/NASCAR angle, and re-enter to NASCAR. We’re also great partners with General Motors; we buy a lot of great cars from them and have done some specific things with Chevrolet. Obviously HMS with Chevy is a tight relationship on the NASCAR side but also on the dealer side -- we buy a lot of cars, sell a lot of cars, service a lot of rentals -- among other OEMs, so we saw this as a great opportunity to broaden the platform with them.”
