Earlier this month, one day after healthy-snack maker Nature’s Bakery announced a new primary sponsorship of NASCAR driver Danica Patrick, USA Today splashed the deal on its front page.
Dave and Sam Marson, co-founders of the Nevada-based company, hoped for considerable response from the news that they had signed the multiyear pact to succeed GoDaddy with Patrick on Stewart-Haas Racing’s No. 10 Chevrolet. But USA Today featuring Patrick above the fold wearing a Nature’s Bakery-branded polo plus the copy “Danica Takes Care Of Business” struck them.
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From left, Nature’s Bakery co-founders Sam and Dave Marson announce the new NASCAR sponsorship Aug. 18 with Danica Patrick and Stewart-Haas Racing co-owner Tony Stewart.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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“Everybody kept talking about, ‘This is a big deal,’ and then Dave and I were just cautiously optimistic,” Sam Marson said. “When you haven’t been down that road, you really don’t know what to expect. And then seeing it roll out in the days and week that’s followed — that Danica, she can make a splash, that’s for sure.”
It’s this virality that the Marsons are counting on to help vault the fig-bar company, which was founded in 2010 and has never agreed to a marketing expenditure like this before, into the hearts and minds — as well as cabinets and pantries — of the American consumer.
Financial details were not disclosed, but a source had said that SHR originally was seeking $18 million to fill GoDaddy’s void. When asked whether SHR had to take less money because it was dealing with a non-Fortune 500 company, Mike Verlander, SHR’s vice president of sales and marketing, said that “was not the case.”
The exact length of the deal also was not revealed, but Tony Stewart, co-owner of SHR, indicated it is at least a three-year pact. With that in mind, Nature’s Bakery has mapped out a three-year plan.
■ Year one is about establishing the brand and getting product samples into as many hands as possible.
■ Year two is about layering in a larger paid-media push.
■ Year three is about tying the first two elements together.
On top of trying to build the company’s brand name in general, the giveaway aspect is one of Nature’s Bakery’s foremost goals. The giveaways, which the company has found success with in the past, could be done via avenues such as social media contests. But the company also is planning to have its product at track, which seems to portend potential deals with track promoters like International Speedway Corp. and Speedway Motorsports Inc.
“Sampling is going to be a big part of putting the product in the hands of fans at racetracks on weekends, but doing it in a fun way,” said Verlander, who said the deal took a little over two months to complete. “It’s, ‘How can we get Danica out to the display? How can we engage moms and kids — who she obviously indexes very well with — and [get the product] in their hands?’”
Nature’s Bakery, which up to now focused on grassroots marketing, is looking to hire a full-service agency for the sponsorship. The timetable for that has yet to be determined.
The company, which was attracted to the partnership in part because it was seeking to bolster its presence in the Southeast and because most of its competitors are not in the sport, also has its eyes set on the business-to-business benefits of NASCAR. Nature’s Bakery already has a sizable presence at grocery stores throughout the country but is seeking to make inroads with convenience-store chains, represented in the NASCAR space by the likes of Love’s Travel Stops, Pilot Flying J and QuikTrip.
The company is considering employing the pass-through rights for paint schemes that many other teams and brands in NASCAR use. That way, Nature’s Bakery could offer logo space on Patrick’s car to stores with whom it is doing deals or negotiating.
From SHR’s perspective, landing a challenger brand like Nature’s Bakery — which is not the Fortune 500 company many have come to expect on the cars of NASCAR’s most popular drivers — was actually preferable to landing one more recognized, according to Verlander. While a Fortune 500 company may have deeper pockets, he said, it also would have a tougher time seeing whether the return on investment is there because of the sprawling scope of its operations.
“There will be zero ambiguity if this program is working,” Verlander said. “The growth in social media following, brand awareness and market share — that’s exciting. But ultimately, what Mr. Marson is going to judge us on is how many fig bars — and if they were to have other products roll out — how much of that can we sell?
“We know that right now here’s what their distribution is. We also know that they’re going to start meeting with people and leveraging the race program. Any increased distribution tied to being able to introduce people to Danica Patrick or put logos on race cars or exclusive in-store point-of-sale [displays], that’s all incremental and is tied back to Stewart-Haas Racing and the NASCAR platform.”
Verlander said the company is trying to “create GoDaddy 2.0.”
“All of us at times, we try and call the Fortune 50 companies and we’re fortunate to have some here. … But at the same point, I think it can be equally intriguing and even more powerful for NASCAR to be able to tell the story of putting a company on Danica’s back to an extent and letting them grow.”
