Okay so maybe they’re not free, but there are programs that exist in the motorsports world today that can make sponsorships very lucrative (and cheap) for the companies involved.

Yesterday T.C. spoke about the NASCAR B2B Council and the economic impact it has on the companies that participate. In just one or two deals inside the council, teams can literally pay for an entire season’s sponsorship. While most of the dealings have little to do with their involvement in NASCAR, the payoff can be huge.

Similar to the B2B Council is the affiliate program, utilized most prominently by Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. This program is probably one of the best within the sport because of the value it adds to the sponsorship. Like the B2B Council it brings together different companies with similar needs and goals but utilizes existing sponsorship as the tool through which companies form alliances. For instance Target may put together a deal with Crest toothpaste. Crest receives space on the car and in turn pays Target for some amount of exclusivity within advertising. This is why you see the Target Dodge with Polaroid, Guitar Hero etc. on the quarter panels, the hood and any other place they can think of. They also do this with the Fastenal sponsored Nationwide car. Again, why Bosch, Lenox and Ingersoll-Rand show up on the hood of the car near the Fastenal logo.

These companies’ vendors receive great advertising at discounted prices (something they normally probably could not afford) and in turn the main sponsor makes money at every end. The Target deal, which is rumored to be incredibly expensive, really does not cost the company that much money (there is a reason Target is firmly planted at CGRFS). I would assume the same could be said for Fastenal.

What teams need to be doing right now is trying to increase the value of their sponsorship deals. In addition to the excellent exposure sponsors are already getting, they should be providing an arena (we’ll call this a team B2B council) for companies to wheel and deal. If you can get marketing executives from several companies together and say, “this sponsor we have sells phones and your company (also a sponsor) is looking to find a new phone vendor,” you not only saved them money and helped facilitate a deal, you built cross sponsor relationships and created goodwill toward your team.

Now obviously the vendor program is only feasible if a sponsor has vendors. This probably would not work for maybe Conway Freight. But for sponsors like Lowes, Office Depot and NAPA they sit upon a potential gold mine. So, I ask, why not set up meetings for company executives and show them the value of NASCAR sponsorship and the value of joining forces? The cheaper a sponsorship, the more lucrative a sponsorship, the more likely that company is going to stay with your team for a long time.

There is money out there right now, but teams need to start getting creative. The days of simply selling a $20 million rolling billboard are fast coming to an end. And in a sport where it is often difficult for executives to justify the cost, if you have hard deals that you helped to create, you are going to have a bargaining chip when hard times roll around.

Related posts:

• Have You Ever Heard of the NASCAR B2B Council?
• Hard Times for NCWTS Sponsorships
• Sponsorships Don’t Grow On Trees
• A Bad Year To Be A Free Agent
• What Doesn’t Kill Us Makes Us Stronger