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Ratings and Research

What resonated with fans among NASCAR sponsors?

Goodyear’s results call for a Victory Lane burnout

Sixty-four percent  of NASCAR fans correctly identified Goodyear as the property’s official tire, the highest recognition rate any brand earned in any of the seven comparable Sponsor Breakthrough studies conducted this year for Sports Business Journal by Turnkey Intelligence.

In fact, in the 13 years since we began surveying MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, MLS, NASCAR, NCAA and PGA Tour fans — 97 surveys and 522 possible brand-property combinations in all — NASCAR fan awareness of Goodyear’s sponsorship in 2019 is the fifth-highest of all time and the best performance in a decade.

Recognition compared to 2018 survey

+14% points: Geico — First-year sponsor was also NASCAR’s biggest TV spender, with $7.2 million.

+6% points: Busch Beer — It was the highest awareness level since 2009 for a NASCAR beer sponsor.

+4% points: Sunoco — A partner since 2004, it was the brand’s highest awareness level ever in our survey.

+2% points: Monster Energy — With its three-year title sponsorship over, retaining its recognition will be challenging.

Other notable findings: 

■ M&M’s received significant exposure last season as the primary sponsor of 2019 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch’s No. 18 car, a status it has held since 2008. The brand’s new M&M’s Glampground VIP space at Kentucky Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway sold out immediately.

■ It took four full seasons, but Credit One finally ate into Visa’s mindshare. Twenty percent of NASCAR fans knew that Credit One was the official credit card, a year-over-year 4-percentage point improvement. Visa held that designation from 1999-2015.

Ad effectiveness

Turnkey draws from its database of more than 400 ads to analyze the impact of creative spots running on sports programming.

MOBIL 1, “PAID SPOKESMAN”
Grade: 10 (EXCELLENT)

Tiny Kevin Harvick emerges from a store shelf to convince a customer to buy Mobil 1. When the buyer expresses pessimism over trusting a “paid spokesman,” Harvick introduces equally small Clint Boyer as an “unpaid spokesman.” Boyer’s humorous response, “Wait, I’m not getting paid for this?” helped the BBDO-produced spot exceed all of Turnkey’s benchmarks.


XFINITY, “NASCAR FANS: ARE YOU READY?”
Grade: 9 (VERY GOOD)

The spot opens with Xfinity inviting fans to take their Wi-Fi to the next level with xFi, which boasts fast speeds and enhanced coverage. Fans were interested in the information provided, and found the Goodby Silverstein & Partners-produced creative to be very distinctive, contributing to strong branding scores.

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