Indianapolis-based online financial service platform Gainbridge has a four-year deal to become the presenting sponsor of the Indianapolis 500 beginning this year in a deal that will help "create brand awareness and recognition" on a national level for its parent company, according to Jim Ayello of the INDIANAPOLIS STAR. Gainbridge, which launched this week as a new branch of insurance holding company Group 1001, also becomes the "official annuity and life insurance partner" of the NTT IndyCar Series, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indy 500. Gainbridge replaces PennGrade after three years as the race's presenting sponsor. Group 1001 "began serving as a full-season sponsor" last year for Andretti Autosport's No. 26 Honda driven by Zach Veach. Group 1001 President & CEO Dan Towriss believes between the momentum from the 100th running of the Indy 500 in '16 and IndyCar's new deal with NBC, the time was right to grow the company's "presence in racing" (INDYSTAR.com, 1/31). Financial terms were not disclosed, but a source said the deal is worth more than the PennGrade partnership, which was worth $1-1.5M annually. Assets include signage and hospitality, and Gainbridge will also purchase a season-long media buy with NBC Sports. IndyCar CEO Mark Miles said that he was comfortable with the deal because while Group 1001 had mainly been using IndyCar as a B2B tool up until now, Gainbridge is consumer facing and digitally focused and will market accordingly. This deal wraps up a busy 12 months for Miles, who has signed NTT to replace Verizon as the series' title partner, Speedway to replace Sunoco as the circuit's fuel sponsor and NBC to take the series’ full-season media rights (Adam Stern, THE DAILY).
