Seeing an opportunity to host clients in locales where the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series doesn’t travel plus the chance to refurbish an iconic facility, Sherwin-Williams earlier this year quietly struck a joint deal with IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The two-year pact, which sources said includes significant value-in-kind, will be announced this week.
The Cleveland-based company becomes the official paint of both IndyCar and IMS, which is undergoing a $30 million renovation ahead of next year’s 100th running of the Indianapolis 500. Sherwin-Williams will supply the paint used on the refurbishment — a wrinkle that adds “north of several hundred thousand dollars” to the deal, according to Bobby Moody, director of motorsports for Sherwin-Williams.
Sherwin-Williams also becomes the automotive-finish supplier for all IndyCar teams that didn’t have a previous official paint supplier — so in this case all but Team Penske, which has a long-running deal with rival PPG Industries. The company also gets signage and hospitality assets as part of the deal and has started hosting clients and other guests at various races this season.
The deal significantly expands Sherwin-Williams’ motorsports portfolio, which already featured an official NASCAR sponsorship that is valued in the low to mid-seven figures annually and was extended earlier this year for three years.
“What we’re doing with IndyCar is very similar to what we’re doing with NASCAR from an official-status standpoint and entertaining customers at select events,” Moody said. “There’s diverse segments inside North America and Canada that we are able to touch with IndyCar, so it made sense to take advantage of that, and then with the refurbishing of the speedway and using our products to do so, it was a good fit.”
Toronto, the Milwaukee Mile, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Iowa Speedway, to which NASCAR travels but not for its premium Sprint Cup Series, were all listed by Moody as areas where the company now will be able to entertain clients.
Sherwin-Williams already is working with the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and the group that runs the Toronto street race, and Moody said forging partnerships with other tracks is a key goal. He added that the company has learned in NASCAR that having team deals before a league deal is not optimal.
“If we could turn back the hands of time, we probably would’ve done it the way with the IndyCar program,” Moody said. “It’s always nice to have the leagues supporting what you’re doing. … We don’t regret how we built our NASCAR program, but we learned a lot once we got going and it makes it easier to have a relationship with the sanctioning body.”
While the deal is business-to-business heavy, Sherwin-Williams is considering in-store point-of-sale displays. Those likely would not be ready until 2016, Moody said.
Sherwin-Williams negotiated the IndyCar/IMS deal in-house.
From IndyCar’s perspective, the deal further cements what has been a strong sponsorship run over the last year and a half, according to Jay Frye, chief revenue officer of Hulman Motorsports, which owns the racing series. During that span, IndyCar has landed a series title sponsorship with Verizon, new deals with Panasonic, Angie’s List, Lilly Diabetes and Tag Heuer, as well as renewals with Chevrolet and Sunoco.
