Have You Ever Heard of the NASCAR B2B Council?

Something tells me most of you are answering this question with the word “no.”  I didn’t think so.

The NASCAR B2B Council is an organization that started in 2004 and consists of somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 to 30 major NASCAR sponsors, along with the sanctioning body itself.  For those of you that don’t know, B2B refers to “business-to-business.”  This council, which isn’t highly publicized outside of the meeting and board rooms, is one of the major reasons Fortune 500 companies decide to spend $20-$25 million a year on a sponsorship program in NASCAR.  Besides all the reasons you already know about (75 million fans, very brand loyal, etc.), the B2B Council offers NASCAR sponsors something other major sports sponsorships don’t.

What the council facilitates is the ability for one NASCAR sponsor to sell their products and services to another NASCAR sponsor.  During quarterly meetings, the major players from these companies are put into a room with each other and they are given the necessary platform to not only discuss how to improve their sponsorships, but also ways in which they can work with each other on business deals.

This may not sound like a big deal, but trust me, it is.  Instead of going through red tape and multiple levels of managers and decision makers to get deals done, the B2B Council allows these companies direct access to the highest level and most important decision makers.

Let me give you an example.  Lets say XYZ Corp. sells widgets.  These widgets are available to consumers and XYZ does a pretty good business.  But, they know their widgets are useful to people working for Fake & Co.  XYZ approaches the management of Fake & Co. at a B2B meeting, pitches their idea, and before you know it, everyone at Fake & Co. is using XYZ’s widget.  XYZ is now selling even more widgets, and probably has a multi-million dollar deal with Fake & Co.  Sometimes, its just that simple with B2B.

Companies like Sprint, UPS, Best Western, and Bank of America have all profited and benefited from relationships they struck because of the NASCAR B2B Council.  And in many cases, an entire Cup Series sponsorship has been paid for by one or two deals made within the council.

The major topic of conversation around the sport as we closed out the season has been about the economic climate and situation the sport is in currently.  Sponsors are becoming tougher to find and now jobs are being lost because of it.  Maybe its time NASCAR did more to leverage the power of the B2B Council and do a better job of exposing it to potential sponsors.  With the success stories that have come out of the Council, and all the surface benefits of a sponsorship, its tough to understand why any company wouldn’t want to get involved in NASCAR or why one would want to get out of the sport.

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