NASCAR last week announced one new sponsor, Ingersoll Rand power tools, and renewed with another, longtime partner Mechanix Wear gloves, as the sport gears up for its 2015 season.
Ingersoll Rand announced a multiyear sponsorship deal with NASCAR that designates the company as the sanctioning body’s official power tool. As part of the deal, Ingersoll Rand also becomes an official sponsor of the International Motor Sports Association road racing series as well as a contingency sponsor of the Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR’s other series. Financial terms were not available.
To activate the agreement, Ingersoll Rand will be on-site at tracks to provide demonstrations of its power tools plus expertise to both pit crews and fans. The company also will institute a text-to-win contest wherein winners will get rewards ranging from an Ingersoll Rand prize pack to meet-and-greets with pit crews and other racing personalities.
Just days earlier, California-based high-performance glove maker Mechanix Wear renewed its NASCAR sponsorship in a five-year extension that is valued in the high six figures annually. The company, which has sponsored NASCAR since 2002, elected to extend its performance partner-level deal because it has seen double-digit sales growth every year it has been officially associated with the sport, including a 13 percent spike in 2014, according to Michael Hale, Mechanix Wear brand manager.
“It’s hard to say, ‘Oh, OK, [the NASCAR sponsorship was responsible for] this exact percentage,’” Hale said. “But the fact that our sales are growing year over year and that 2014 was our largest year ever, I think it speaks volumes to our relationship with NASCAR.”
This deal’s high-six-figure cost was not an increase from the prior deal’s terms. As part of the extension, the glove maker will continue to be title sponsor of the end-of-season award for the most valuable pit crew.
To coincide with the deal, Mechanix Wear will launch its first nationally distributed TV spot by virtue of a six-figure media buy. The 30-second spot, which will air on ESPN and ESPN2 throughout 2015, intersperses scenes from pit road while touting the company’s motorsports roots and pitching some of the activities that its gloves can be used for, ranging from auto racing and work around the house to military combat missions.
Mechanix Wear handles most marketing in-house but used Charlie Co., California, for the TV spot.
“There’s a lot of branded performance-wear gloves that are not Mechanix Wear,” Hale said, “and we were the first. When all this competition is coming out and we’re naturally on defense, our offensive move had to be big. ”
Hale said that with the NASCAR deal, the company has benefited equally between consumer-facing sales and business-to-business efforts.
“A lot of our customers that we sell Mechanix Wear to see the same benefit in NASCAR, whether it’s Fastenal, Grainger, all these big companies — they see the same thing we do and we’re able to communicate our value as a provider of growth for them to their people,” Hale said. “So it’s this hub and spoke where NASCAR is dead center.”
