| NASCAR BUSCH SERIES SPONSOR |
| OF THE YEAR |
| | | |
| GENERAL NUTRITION CENTERS |
|  |
Sponsoring Hank Parker Jr.’s car was GNC’s first foray into the Busch series. |
When General Nutrition Centers, the health-store chain commonly known as GNC, decided to take a taste of NASCAR last year, it did so conservatively, with the primary sponsorship of a Busch car driven by Hank Parker Jr.
By the end of the season, GNC had bought a NASCAR category sponsorship, created a licensed NASCAR children's vitamin, run a national NASCAR-themed sweepstakes at 4,500 stores, produced NASCAR-themed commercials, and slapped its name on four races.
"We just kept seeing more opportunities that might make sense," said Bob Emilian, senior sales director for GNC. "We thought we could drive traffic to stores with the program. And it has worked very well and been very well received."
GNC was attracted to NASCAR when it studied the sport's demographics and found them similar to those of its customers, not only in terms of age and household income, but likes and dislikes. The company thought a GNC-sponsored showcar on display at a store might drive traffic.
That was enough to get the company to take a shot at a Busch program. But as it got inside NASCAR's velvet ropes, GNC saw other marketing options that fit.
In May, it signed on as an official-status sponsor in a "health and wellness" category that NASCAR carved out for the brand. A month later, it became a NASCAR licensee, rolling out a children's multivitamin that tastes like fruit punch and is shaped like a stock car.
To promote the vitamin, GNC gave away a die-cast model of its Busch car with each purchase. On the weekend it launched the product, GNC bought title sponsorships of two races in Milwaukee, a 200-mile truck race and 250-mile Busch race. GNC set up a tent at the speedway, where it gave away NASCAR merchandise and vitamin samples.
"Every other day we were getting a call from a track somewhere that was looking for a title sponsor," Emilian said. "So we tried it. We brought the vitamins and the other aspects of our program together and did some marketing that produced results."
GNC has sold vitamins and attracted new customers because of its NASCAR sponsorship, Emilian said.
"It has far exceeded our expectations," Emilian said. "That's why we kept taking that next step."
