While it’s becoming more common for a race car to feature two primary sponsors — what’s called co-primaries — Gillett Evernham Motorsports’ No. 19 Dodge will have what it’s calling tri-mary sponsors this year with Best Buy, Stanley Tools and McDonald’s sharing the cost of a primary sponsorship.
“In our mind, it’s the evolution of dealing with multiple partners for a team,” said David Jessey, vice president of sales and development for Gillett Evernham Motorsports. “With costs escalating, only a few sponsors are going to be able to afford the whole season.”
Some primary sponsorships have risen as high as $20 million a year, depending on the marquee value of the driver and the assets involved. Jessey admits that a tri-mary model is more challenging because the look of the car might be changing each week, but Gillett Evernham Motorsports is trying to make sure each sponsor has an identity with the No. 19 car, including equal representation on the hauler and other visuals.
Best Buy and McDonald’s are also sponsors of the Montreal Canadiens, which, like Gillett Evernham Motorsports, is owned by George Gillett. In fact, it was during a Canadiens game last month, with all three sponsors sitting together, that they agreed to partner on a tri-mary deal. Stanley is investigating a sponsorship with the Canadiens, Jessey said, as well as a business-to-business relationship with Gillett’s collection of 32 auto dealerships.
“I don’t think sponsors are coming into the sport as primaries any more,” said Alex Gillett, George’s son and a co-owner. “There’s more of a process where they dip their toe in the water. A tri-mary is a marrying of sponsors and they may grow or they may not. We’re happy to do a tri-mary, but we hope to show them enough value to move them on up.”
Ganassi Racing, highlighting its diverse driver
lineup, is pitching sponsorships overseas.
Ganassi’s global play: With a roster that includes six drivers from countries outside the U.S., Ganassi Racing has put much of its marketing focus on companies abroad. Steve Lauletta, president of Ganassi Racing, said last week that his marketing team has sent out more than 20 DVDs to prospective sponsors in other countries. Those seven- to 10-minute DVDs in various languages provide companies that have little or no awareness of NASCAR an introduction to the sport.
In the U.S., the challenge is often differentiating one team from another, Lauletta said. “As soon as there’s a sponsor that’s interested in NASCAR, every team is reaching out to them,” he said. “The sponsors we’re talking to overseas, we’re the only team talking to them. So it’s more of an educational process on how NASCAR can help their business.”
Banking on NASCAR: Affinity credit cards are Bank of America’s most visible touchpoint with consumers, but a lesser-known group within the bank is gobbling up business in the NASCAR community. The collection of about 10 commercial and private bankers form what Bank of America is calling the Motorsports Advisory Committee and they’ve worked on everything from the change of ownership at GEM to financing Speedway Motorsports’ purchase of New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
The bankers typically work the garage area at Sprint Cup events each week to forge new relationships or deepen existing ones with teams, owners and drivers. The bank reports that 23 new private banking relationships were created last year.
“We’re talking about supporting the growth of teams, owners and drivers, the key business players in the sport,” said Mike Hargrave, Bank of America’s motorsports platform executive. “Our bankers are trying to be creative with the special needs of the NASCAR community.”
Easy access: NASCAR is placing video equipment in many of the top teams’ headquarters to make it easier for drivers and crew members to accommodate media requests. The HD-capable equipment, which is being provided by NASCAR at no charge, will allow teams to create their own studios within their shops.
In the past, if an out-of-town TV station wanted time with a driver, the driver had to travel to a local TV affiliate or to NASCAR Images’ location in Charlotte to shoot the interview. Once the equipment is installed at the various team shops — Ganassi is the first to be up and running — interviews can be conducted at the team’s makeshift studio.
The video content will be owned by the NASCAR Media Group. Glowpoint Inc. is working with the teams and NASCAR to establish the video communications link. The studios also will aid sponsors that want video access to their driver and help online sites create video content.
